Noel Tata’s Journey: From Zara to Zudio, Building Tata Group’s Retail Empire

Noel Tata retail journey

Noel Tata’s Journey: Ratan Tata’s passing is a big deal for the Tata Group which is a $165 billion business spread across 100 countries. He was the industry legend who built India’s first multinational company through big ticket acquisitions and steered the group across steel and autos.

The last rites of Ratan Tata were performed with full state honours. Family members including Noel Tata and top executives of the Tata Group were present. PM Narendra Modi also condoled with Noel Tata saying the industry has lost a big one.

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Noel Tata is a key person in the trusts and will control the holding companies of the group. He has been doing a great job in his current roles; since 2014 he has been the chairman of Trent Limited which has done incredibly well with its shares rising over 6,000% in the last 10 years. Trent has become a major player in the fast fashion space and has added people and stores when most of its peers were shrinking.

Noel joined the Sir Ratan Tata Trust board in 2019 and became the vice chairman of Titan Company in 2018 and then vice chairman of Tata Steel in March 2022. He has been the chairman of Tata International Ltd earlier and led the company to become a major player in commodity trading. He is also the chairman of Voltas and Tata Investment Corporation.

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In a move to demonstrate the family’s commitment to philanthropy, Noel’s three children - Maya, Neville and Leah - were recently appointed as trustees of various philanthropic organisations under Tata Trusts which manages the $150 billion Tata Group. This generational involvement is to strengthen the governance of the Trusts and perpetuate the philanthropic legacy of their forefathers.

Noel Tata is a low key leader unlike Ratan Tata who was very public. While Ratan Tata’s leadership was all about media and visibility, Noel is focused on the international and retail businesses of the group. He joined the Tata Group in 1999 and has been instrumental in building the retail arm of the group, Trent.

Under his leadership Trent has grown significantly and now manages multiple brands like Westside, Star Bazaar and Zudio besides global brands like Zara and Massimo Dutti. The company had a consolidated revenue of Rs 12,669 crore for FY24. In 2010 he joined Tata International where he was till 2021 and currently holds important roles in the Tata Group.

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