S PADMANABHAN NOMINATED AS TATA POWER CHAIRMAN

Tata Sons on Wednesday nominated S Padmanabhan as the chairman of Tata Power with immediate effect, Tata Power said in a statement to the BSE.

According to the statement, Tata Sons in its capacity as promoter has the right to nominate the chairman of the company’s board as long as the word ‘TATA’ is associated with the name of the company. S Padmanabhan is currently an additional director on the board.

On December 19, Cyurs Mistry, who earlier served as the chairman on Tata Power’s board, resigned from all of the board positions he held on various listed Tata group companies. Following Mistry’s ouster as the chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, Tata Sons had proposed Mistry’s removal from the Tata Power board. The company also called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on December 26 to seek shareholders’ approval for the removal.

However, with Mistry’s resignation on December 19, the planned EGM was later called off.

Padmanabhan’s nomination to Tata Power board as chairman is the latest in a series of new appointments made by Tata Sons on various Tata group company boards. On November 10, Tata Sons appointed Ishaat Hussain as the interim chairman of Tata Consultancy Services. In a similar manner, Harish Bhat was appointed chairman of Tata Global Beverages on November 16. An old hand in the group, Padmanabhan has spent 34 years with the group, which included 26 years at Tata Consultancy Services.

In his earlier stint at Tata Power, Padmanabhan was the executive director of operations in the company before he resigned in 2014, to assume a bigger role at Tata Sons. In July 2014, Padmanabhan was appointed the executive chairman of Tata Quality Management Services at the group level.

On December 16, Padmanabhan returned to Tata Power as additional director through a fresh appointment.

Padmanabhan was also appointed a director on the board of Tata Chemicals after a shareholder approval taken at its extra ordinary general meeting on December 23.