The newly-minted chairman of Tata Trusts, 67-year-old Noel Naval Tata, finds himself in a unique position. Besides the Tata surname, he is also the son-in-law of the Mistry family—thus, a part of both the families who own 100% of Tata Sons. No wonder, when the Tata Group was scouting for Ratan Tata’s replacement in 2012, he was considered a strong contender. However, when Ratan Tata gave an interview to foreign media saying that Noel lacked experience, it was perceived as a hint to the selection committee.
Twelve years later, Ratan Tata’s half-brother finds himself in the hot seat as chairman of Tata Trusts.
Low-profile Noel is known to have contrasting traits. While he loves to zoom on the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway at the speed of 100 kilometres, he also takes time out to relax at his Alibaug home (near Mumbai) on weekends and enjoy eating out at some of the fine dining restaurants in Mumbai with close family members and friends.
But what sets him apart is that he is “a great businessman with a kind heart”, said a long-time associate who did not want to be quoted. “It’s long due,” the associate added about the appointment.
While Tata is on board of many Tata companies and vice chairman at Titan and Tata Steel, what stands apart is his performance at retail firm Trent and the group’s export arm, Tata International. Noel became MD of Trent, set up by his mother, Simone Tata, in June 1999.
When most chains struggled to remain profitable and some, like Future Group, shut their businesses due to debt and losses, Trent was among the few consistently profitable retailers. Twenty-five years after Noel took over as MD and then became chairman, Trent on a standalone basis saw losses in just one year in FY21, data collated by FE showed. Trent’s sales grew 33% and profits 19% on a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) since FY99.
At a time when Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, Aditya Birla’s chain More (now owned by others), and others aggressively expanded during 2007-2012, Trent was cautious about expansion in an uncertain environment. “He wanted to make sure that every store was profitable before opening the next one,” said the associate quoted earlier.
It took 10 years to open the first 40 Westside stores, but then changed gears in FY19 and went on opening about 40 Westside and a similar number of Star stores, in the next two years.
“Since we have a proper back end and processes in place, we could scale up in a big way,” said a senior Trent executive. It has about 860 stores now across Westside, Zudio and Star Bazaar.
The executive said Noel was instrumental in forming a joint venture with the UK’s Tesco, leaving behind Bharti and Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, and also in forming a JV with global fast fashion chain Zara. The executive also said the rise of Zudio as a popular mass fashion brand also holds testimony to the business acumen of Noel and other senior management at Trent.
In FY24, Zudio surpassed sales of Westside, and its per-square-foot sales are twice the industry average. It runs 559 stores as of June. Recently, it launched a new standalone store format, Zudio Beauty.
He has also played a stellar role in growing Tata International. “Tata International is focusing a lot on exporting to the US and Latin America after Noel joined the firm,” said a Trent executive.
Noel graduated from the University of Sussex, UK, and furthered his education with the International Executive Programme at INSEAD in France.
Noel and Aloo Mistry have two children. Both work for the Tata Group. Son Neville Tata joined Trent in 2016 and recently took charge of Star Bazaar. Eldest daughter Leah Tata is vice president at Tata Group’s Indian Hotels Company, and the other daughter is with Tata Capital.
From: financialexpress
Financial News
