The Tata Sons annual general meeting was adjourned around 3 pm on Tuesday after it failed to meet the required quorum — the first time in the holding company’s history that an AGM has been called off for lack of quorum. A new date for the meeting will be announced later, people in the know said.
The meeting, held virtually, was attended by shareholders including individuals and Tata Group companies. However, with the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) barred from holding meetings, the largest shareholder — Tata Trusts, which owns 66% of Tata Sons — could not nominate a representative.
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, independent director Anita George and other Tata Sons officials joined from Bombay House. Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts and a nominee director of the Trusts on the Tata Sons board, was present. Former Tata Trusts board member Mehli Mistry also attended, in his capacity as executor of Ratan Tata’s will.
Also present were Tata Steel’s Koushik Chatterjee, Tata Power’s Praveer Sinha and Indian Hotels Company’s Puneet Chhatwal, representing the group companies that hold cross-holdings in Tata Sons.
The meeting began at 2.30 pm. Under Tata Sons’ Articles of Association, if quorum is not met within half an hour of the commencement of the AGM, the meeting stands adjourned. In the absence of the joint Trusts nominee, quorum could not be reached and the meeting was terminated.
The way forward now hinges on the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner’s decision on the ban on SRTT convening meetings. The trust has sought interim relief, so far without success. The ban stems from an ongoing investigation into alleged governance lapses at SRTT; it could be lifted once the investigation concludes, though that will depend on the pace of the probe and its report.
It is not yet clear whether SRTT will approach higher judicial authorities for interim or longer-term relief.
Once the ban is lifted, SRTT will need to convene a board meeting to nominate a member to jointly represent it and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, the other key promoter trust, and to decide how the trust will vote on the AGM’s agenda items.
Apart from approval of the year’s accounts and dividend, the agenda includes the renewal of N Chandrasekaran’s directorship on the board. The Trusts are believed to have blocked the second week of September for their next board meeting, though this too is contingent on SRTT getting relief from the meeting ban.
Only after that is the Tata Sons board expected to meet and finalise a new date for the AGM, the people cited above said.