Who runs Tata? The Indian conglomerate(企业集团)’s board meeting on September 17th offers no easy answer. One claimant(主张者、争夺者) is Noel Tata, who chairs Tata Trusts(塔塔信托，塔塔集团最大股东), a group of charities that is Tata’s largest shareholder. The other is Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Sons, the holding company that runs the businesses. The board split four to one, with Mr Tata the only dissent(持异议者)er, to give Mr Chandrasekaran a third five-year term, though he had said a month earlier that he would not seek one. The board also voted to stop fighting a demand(停止对抗一项要求) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)(印度储备银行，印度央行), the central bank, for Tata Sons to list. That too was against Mr Tata’s objections.
谁在掌管塔塔？这家印度企业集团9月17日的董事会会议没有给出简单答案。一方是诺埃尔·塔塔，他担任塔塔信托的主席，该信托是一个慈善团体，也是塔塔最大的股东。另一方是纳塔拉詹·钱德拉塞卡兰，他是塔塔之子——负责运营各项业务的控股公司——的董事长。董事会以四比一的分裂投票，授予钱德拉塞卡兰第三个五年任期，尽管他一个月前曾表示不会寻求连任。塔塔先生是唯一的反对者。董事会还投票决定，不再对抗印度储备银行（央行）要求塔塔之子上市的命令。这同样违背了塔塔先生的反对意见。
The meeting matters beyond Bombay House(孟买大厦，塔塔集团总部), the group’s headquarters in south Mumbai. The steel-to-software giant is one of a handful of national champion(国家冠军企业)s central to the industrial ambitions of Narendra Modi(纳伦德拉·莫迪，印度总理)’s government. Indian-made chips should roll off(下线、生产出来) a Tata Electronics fab line(晶圆生产线) early next year. Tata produces 46% of Apple’s Indian-made iPhones. It is responsible for turning around Air India, the privatised struggling flag-carrier(载旗航空公司), which commands about a quarter of domestic routes.
这次会议的影响远超孟买南部的集团总部孟买大厦。这家从钢铁到软件的巨头，是莫迪政府工业雄心所倚重的少数国家冠军企业之一。印度制造的芯片应于明年初从塔塔电子的晶圆厂下线。塔塔生产了苹果在印度制造的iPhone中的46%。它还负责扭转印度航空——这家私有化后仍举步维艰的载旗航空公司——的颓势，后者占据约四分之一的国内航线。
Most of those champions are identified with a powerful owner-manager, or promoter(发起人、控股股东), such as Gautam Adani of Adani Group or Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries. At Tata that figure was once Ratan Tata(拉坦·塔塔，塔塔集团前掌门人), Noel’s half-brother(同父异母或同母异父的兄弟) and for many years the chair of both the Trusts and the holding company. Ratan twice passed over Noel to run Tata Sons. He first chose Cyrus Mistry(赛勒斯·米斯特里，塔塔前董事长), whom he oust(罢免、驱逐)ed in 2016 (and who died in 2022). He then picked Mr Chandrasekaran, who climbed the ranks of Tata Consultancy Services, an IT outsourcer. Almost as soon as Noel became chair of Tata Trusts after Ratan’s death in 2024, he clashed with Mr Chandrasekaran.
这些冠军企业大多与一位强势的 owner-manager（即“发起人”）紧密相连，比如阿达尼集团的 Gautam Adani 或信实工业的 Mukesh Ambani。在塔塔，这个角色曾是拉坦·塔塔——诺埃尔的同父异母哥哥，多年来同时担任信托和控股公司的主席。拉坦两次跳过诺埃尔，不让他执掌塔塔之子。他先选了 Cyrus Mistry，2016年又将其罢免（后者于2022年去世）。随后他选中了钱德拉塞卡兰，此人从 IT 外包公司塔塔咨询服务公司一路晋升。2024年拉坦去世后，诺埃尔几乎一当上塔塔信托主席，就与钱德拉塞卡兰发生了冲突。