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Tata Sons was classified as an upper-layer non-banking financial company in September 2022 by the Reserve Bank of India. The operating company of the Tata Group was required to be listed on the stock exchanges by September 2025, unless it obtained an exemption.

RBI stated in its 2021 guidelines that upper-layer NBFCs must be listed within three years of being identified as such. A few, such as Piramal Capital and Housing Finance, and Aditya Birla Finance, have tried to sidestep this by announcing mergers with their listed parents.

RBI regulations categorise NBFCs into four layers—base layer, middle layer, upper layer, and top layer—based on size, activity, and perceived risk. The upper layer comprises prominent names like Tata Sons, LIC Housing Finance, L&T Finance, and Shriram Finance.

On 6 August last year, Mint first reported that Tata Sons had become nearly debt-free, with just ₹5 crore of borrowing remaining through non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

“The move towards becoming debt-free is being seen as a step towards avoiding getting listed under a Reserve Bank of India guideline, because loans from financial institutions is one of the metrics assessed by the regulator when it looks at classifying upper-layer NBFCs such as Tata Sons. Upper-layer NBFCs like Tata Sons have to get listed by September 2025," Mint had reported.

Read: Tata Sons goes debt-free as it seeks listing exemption

On 31 July this year, Mint reported that Tata Trusts, led by chairman Noel Tata, had directed Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran to explore all possible options to ensure that the holding company of the Tata Group remained private.

“The chairman of Tata Sons is requested to exercise best endeavours to ensure that Tata Sons does not change its current status as an unlisted private company and that Tata Sons fully engages with the Reserve Bank of India in this regard," read a resolution passed at the board meeting of Sir Ratan Tata Trusts on 28 July, Mint reported.

Read: Tata Trusts to Tata Sons: Try everything to stay private, consider exit for SP Group

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