From Zara to Zudio: Noel Tata’s journey building the Tata group’s retail behemoth

Noel Tata, the newly appointed head of Tata Trusts who succeeded his late half-brother Ratan Tata, has a number of achievements under his belt, building the huge retail business side of the group.

He was appointed as chairman of Tata Trusts, the conglomerate’s philanthropic arm on Friday, October 11, 2024, which is a matter of significance since Tata Trusts owns around 66% of Tata Sons, the private holding company for all the other major Tata companies.

Noel Tata and Trent

Noel Tata became the Managing Director of Trent Ltd in 1999. It is the primary retail arm of the group founded by his mother Simone Tata.

Though it started off as a single store in south Mumbai’s Hughes Road, it has now become the fourth largest company in the Tata Group after TCS, Titan, and Tata Motors.

This happened after it expanded its network of stores to 823 across India under Noel Tata’s leadership.

The Westside story

The now well known fashion brand Westside started out as an acquisition of a department store chain called Littlewoods International by Trent under Noel Tata.

Zudio

One of Trent’s biggest successes was the 2016 launch of private label menswear chain Zudio. Though it started out in the affordable segment for men, it expanded its offerings to women and kids, and also sold accessories.

It has now grown to become one of the biggest apparel retailers in India surpassing even Westside in terms of number of stores and revenue, of which, it contributes more than a third to Trent’s total revenue.

Noel Tata brings international giants to India

Noel Tata was also behind the launch of several international brands in India. The list includes apparel major Zara, personal care brand Sisley, and footwear manufacturer Wolverine among others.

He also led a joint venture with British multinational department store chain Tesco to operate stores including Star Bazaar, Star Daily, Star Market in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Chennai. Its tag line was, ‘A Tata and Tesco Enterprise’.

Cromā

Noel Tata was also behind consumer electronics and durables retailer Cromā, though it is a subsidiary of Tata Digital rather than Trent. It currently has more than 400 stores across over 130 Indian cities.

Tata International

Noel Tata led Tata International as Managing Director from 2010 to 2021, having joined it after graduating. The company’s revenues rose from $500 million to over $3 billion under his leadership.

What is the story behind Noel Tata’s succession of Ratan Tata?

Ratan Tata passed away at Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital on the night of October 09, 2024, at the age of 86 from issues related to old age.

He never married and left behind no children, which made his succession a prominent point of focus.

Ratan Tata was the son of Naval Tata and his first wife Sooni Tata. His parents separated in 1948 when he was just around 10 years old. Meanwhile, Noel Tata was the son of Naval Tata and his second wife Simone Tata, making him his half-brother.

Noel Tata earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Sussex and went through an International Executive Programme at France’s INSEAD business school.