No one knows what information has been divulged in the closed-door meetings of Tata Trusts holding a majority stake in the Tata Group. Noel Tata, half-brother of Ratan Tata, is all set to take over as chairman of Tata Trusts after the meeting on Friday morning to name a successor for the late Ratan Tata. The philanthropic arms of Tata Trusts are likely to name Noel Tata for the prized position.

An observer on the two big trusts-the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which together own 66% of Tata Sons, the holding company for the diversified Tata Group, from salt to software. Although Tata Trusts hasn't officially weighed in on the nomination, all around it appears there is broad backing for having someone with a Tata surname as successor. While the announcement brought an end to the speculation, most of the Parsis still considered Noel as the unanimous choice under a deep-rooted tradition of leadership well-rooted in the family.

Venu Srinivasan, TVS's CMD, and former defense secretary Vijay Singh also have been appointed the vice-chairmen of Tata Trusts since 2018, which underlines the collaborative governance model. Unlike the highly visible leader-style of Ratan Tata with lots of media engagements and significant public presence, Noel Tata has relatively been unspectacular. The major focus of Noel Tata has been Tata Group's global ventures and the retail sector keeping him away from limelight.

He was the last one to occupy the two positions together of chairman of Tata Trusts and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. But a change occurred in 2022 when Tata Sons board amended its Articles of Association to make sure that one person was not holding both those positions at the same time. It is a very important affidavit filed to the Supreme Court as part of the legal battle against Cyrus Mistry that Ratan Tata was quoted saying that though he was, at present the chairman of the trusts, tomorrow someone might be, for all he cared, not necessarily carrying the Tata name.

Noel Tata has over four decades with the Tata Group and assumes many important roles within the Tata Group. He chairs many Tata company boards - chairman Tata International Limited, Voltas and Tata Investment Corporation and vice chairman Tata Steel and Titan Company Limited. His very long experience cuts across all guns blazing with him having been the managing director of Trent who led significant growth of the retail chain into a company valued at Rs 2.8 lakh crore in a decade, among other tenures that have been successful. Noel Tata has also assisted the company to increase its turnover from $500 million in August 2010 to more than $3 billion by November 2021 when he was working as managing director in Tata International Limited.

Noel Tata is a post-graduate from Sussex University in the UK. In addition, Noel has trained under the International Executive Programme of INSEAD and considerably assisted him in understanding business leadership from an international viewpoint. His family's hand is firmly still planted in the Tata Group; his son, Neville Tata, joined Trent in 2016 and recently took charge of Star Bazaar. This marks the growing influence of the young generation within the Tata legacy. No stranger to innovation, Noel Tata's daughters also make their mark within the Tata group: Leah Tata was recently mandated to lead the Gateway brand at Indian Hotels, and Maya Tata works at Tata Digital, focusing on new-age analytics and technology. Additional trustees of five trusts associated with the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust have been appointed as Leah, Maya, and Neville. As Noel Tata enters this new turn, he cements in a manner the succession leadership legacy that has been engraved within the Tata Group for generations, meanwhile, scion of this family into business and social change lays down further steps toward the continuation of the path.