Trent Chairman Noel Tata to Step Down Before End of Year

Noel Tata will step down as chairman of Trent Limited before the end of this calendar year. He made the announcement at the company’s 47th annual general meeting on Tuesday. The decision follows Tata Group’s governance norms. Non-executive directors in the group retire at 70. Tata, who is also chairman of Tata Trusts, turns 70 in November. His association with Trent spans nearly three decades. Noel joined the company’s board as a director in 1998, shortly after Trent was established. The company was set up by his mother, Simone Tata, following the divestment of Lakme. He took charge as Trent’s first managing director in June 1999. Under Noel Tata’s chairmanship, Trent’s revenue rose by nearly Rs 20,000 crore in FY26. The company expanded from a single Westside store to a network of over 1,200 stores. Its portfolio now includes Zudio and Star, both of which have grown into significant contributors to the business. During Tuesday’s AGM, Tata said the retailer has already achieved more than 2.5 times growth in revenue and profitability since outlining its ambitious 10x growth vision at the company’s 2023 AGM. However, he noted that relying solely on Westside and Zudio would not be sufficient to meet that target. Tata also said the ₹2,500-crore equity fundraise approved by the board last month will be used to build warehouses, acquire real estate, upgrade stores and deploy artificial intelligence to automate supply-chain operations. Outlining Trent’s long-term expansion plans, he said the company aims to more than double its Westside store network to 700 outlets from around 300 currently, while expanding Zudio over five-fold to 5,000 stores from 963 at present. “As we look ahead, I firmly believe that the best years of Trent are ahead of us. The opportunities before us are vast — not just in India,” Tata said in the company’s FY26 annual report. He added that Trent would expand across categories and explore new geographies in the years to come.