A significant rift is emerging within the Tata conglomerate as Noel Tata opposes listing the parent firm Tata Sons despite upcoming Reserve Bank of India regulations. According to reports from Bloomberg News, two trustees will propose a public listing at an upcoming board meeting on May 8, with Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh advocating for the transition to bring necessary transparency and rigor to the conglomerate's parent company. This move represents a departure from the Trusts' previous position of resisting a public float due to concerns about diluting control over listed companies, as Noel still wants to keep Tata Sons closely held. The rift has emerged as Noel seeks to assert his authority over the holding company, with the Shapoorji Pallonji Group positioned as the biggest winner if forced into an IPO, as it has pledged its 18.4% stake to raise costly debt.
Two Indian conglomerates are looking to spend nearly $1 billion to build domestic capabilities in electric-vehicle and battery technologies, according to reports from Bloomberg News. Tata Group and JSW Group are separately funding research and development centers aimed at building in-house expertise in next-generation battery technologies and advanced EV systems. The investments reflect a growing urgency among the country's biggest companies to reduce their reliance on Chinese technology, as China is growing increasingly guarded about sharing critical technology amid a tariff war with the US.
According to reports from Bloomberg News, Tata's battery unit, Agratas Ltd., is spending more than $400 million on a new R&D facility in Bengaluru focused on developing lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, and lithium manganese iron phosphate technologies. The center is designed to help Tata develop and eventually manufacture those cells at home, building intellectual property in the process. Agratas currently has access to nickel manganese cobalt battery technology sourced from South Korea, but the new facility will focus on creating products for which it currently depends from China.
As reported by Bloomberg News, JSW Motors Ltd., the passenger-vehicle arm of billionaire Sajjan Jindal's conglomerate, is pursuing a parallel investment track. The company plans to invest at least $500 million over the next five to six years in a research hub at Maharashtra, according to CEO Ranjan Nayak. The JSW center will focus on localizing vehicles developed with global partners, building proprietary software capabilities, and advancing work on connected vehicles.
The investments signal a more deliberate push by Indian companies to build local capability as batteries are the priciest and most technically demanding part of an EV. With less than two months before new RBI regulations kick in on July 1, Tata Sons is awaiting informal guidance from the regulator while weighing whether to seek more time to comply. The RBI has informally conveyed to the Tata trustees that it's unwilling to make an exception for the conglomerate, as any exemption could trigger similar demands from other entities and complicate the regulatory landscape. Companies that built their EV programs around Chinese technology are confronting delays, higher compliance burdens and fewer guarantees of access to latest technology.
