Chandrasekaran, Venu Srinivasan did not disclose family firm deal to Tata Sons board

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Venu Srinivasan, a Tata Trusts nominee on the Tata Sons board, reportedly did not disclose a business relationship involving Chandrasekaran’s family-owned company and TVS Motor to the Tata Sons board or Tata Trusts.

According to a report in Livemint, Chandrasekaran’s wife Lalitha and son Pranav own Hanno One Warehousing Pvt. Ltd, which is developing a ₹330-crore industrial park in Karnataka to serve TVS Motor and its Tier-1 suppliers. Neither Chandrasekaran, nor Srinivasan disclosed the business relationship to Tata Sons.

Srinivasan is chairman-emeritus of TVS Motor and a Tata Trusts nominee director on the Tata Sons board. It was Srinivasan’s decisive vote that helped Chandrasekaran secure a third five-year term on September 17, a decision that has since been disputed by Tata Trusts that has termed it ‘legal nullity’.

The lack of disclosure has raised questions among corporate governance experts on whether the transactions represent a conflict of interest or breach the Tata Code of Conduct, the report stated. The code states that a conflict arises when an employee can obtain an unfair benefit for themselves, a family member or someone close by influencing decisions concerning a deal. It requires executive directors to disclose real or potential conflicts to the board.

Srinivasan’s role is significant as he is a member of the Tata Sons nomination and remuneration committee, which evaluates Chandrasekaran’s performance and pay.

Hanno is not considered a related party of TVS Motor under Indian law because Chandrasekaran is not a TVS director. Therefore, the transactions do not fall under TVS’s related-party disclosures.

The industrial park is located on 35 acres in the state-run Immavu Industrial Area, about 10 km from TVS Motor’s Mysuru factory. The Karnataka Land Audit Committee recommended the full land allotment, and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) allotted the land to Hanno for about ₹27 crore. Hanno paid ₹7.91 crore in FY26.

This Karnataka project is the second TVS-linked project involving Hanno. In June 2025, TVS Motor leased about 17 acres of farmland near its Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu to Hanno. HDFC Bank offered Hanno a ₹60-crore construction loan for a 3.3-lakh sq ft warehouse, with the project cost estimated at ₹106.3 crore.

Together, Hanno’s two projects near TVS Motor plants in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have proposed investments of about ₹436 crore.