InGovern, a proxy advisory firm, has urged the RBI to insist Tata Sons to move towards a listed structure in a time-bound manner and become regulatory compliant as it remains the only CIC (Core Investment Company) that has been non-compliant with the RBI regulations.
RBI has neither accepted nor rejected Tata Sons’ deregistration application, but has indicated in many ways that large CICs should be listed.
If Tata Sons remains systemically relevant for regulatory purposes, there is a strong argument that it should also be systemically transparent in governance terms, said InGovern.
InGovern argued that if the RBI continues to treat Tata Sons as significant enough to remain under the upper-layer NBFC framework, then disclosure expectations should also rise accordingly. The report said “systemic importance” should be matched with “systemic transparency”.
Holding co influence
Collectively, the listed Tata group entities account for over ₹25 lakh crore in market capitalisation, spanning companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Titan and Tata Power and representing a significant weight within key Indian benchmark indices such as the Nifty 50 and the Sensex.
The Tata group’s listed market footprint represents a meaningful share of the overall market capitalisation of Indian stock exchanges, including the BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India.
A holding company exercising influence over businesses of such scale — affecting over 1.20 crore of retail shareholders, pension funds, insurance companies, and mutual funds — cannot reasonably remain outside the governance and transparency expectations increasingly associated with systemically important financial and industrial conglomerates, it said.
Trustees opinion differ
Reports of differing opinions among Tata trustees are important because they show that the issue has moved beyond a closed internal consensus and into a broader governance debate.
InGovern has argued that concerns over a possible holding-company discount cannot be used as grounds to keep Tata Sons outside a listed-company framework, saying the group’s scale and influence now demand greater public transparency.
“Regulators are not meant to preserve private valuation convenience; they are meant to ensure fair disclosure and orderly markets,” it said.
On concerns that listing could weaken Tata Sons’ ability to support group companies during periods of stress, InGovern cited examples including Bajaj Holdings & Investment, ITC and Aditya Birla Capital as large listed entities that continue to pursue long-term investments while operating under public market disclosure norms.
The report also highlighted the position of minority shareholders, including the SP Group, saying a listing would improve price discovery and provide a clearer exit route for investors. It noted that several listed Tata group companies have together held around 12 per cent in Tata Sons for decades and could unlock value through a transparent market mechanism.