New Delhi: Several reports that a total of 12,000 complaints have been made against the Tata Group in whistleblower complaints during N Chandrasekaran’s second tenure as chairman of the Tata Sons. The figure highlights the conglomerates’ internal grievance management during the top-end manchange.
Chandrasekaran was appointed as the chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons starting 21 February 2017, and announced in August 2026 that he’d be leaving at the end of his second term in February 2027. The period of time for the complaint count is then nearing the end.
Formal Whistleblowing mechanisms are in place in large Indian Companies. For example, the policy in Tata Communications allows its Audit Committee to have concerns related to illegality, fraud, employee misconduct, internal accounting controls and material non-publication of price sensitive information or matters related to the questionable accounting or auditing practice. The high number of complaints may be seen in two ways. It could be a sign of issues at work or that employees feel comfortable enough to use them. This alone isn’t enough to determine which.
The group at the top is also grappling with governance issues. Tata Sons is in the upper tier of the NBFC category and the proposed restructuring has raised concerns on listing, disclosure, and consultation of all the Tata trustees. The Sir Ratan Tata Trust, however, has not been able to hold its board following a ban by the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner on holding meetings and passing resolutions in May.
The numbers are heavier when they come in large groups. The report does not provide details on whether those claims were substantiated, but it also doesn’t indicate the resolution time for complaints, nor does it detail how many were made by Tata companies. The figure of 12,000 complaints is a small proportion of the total Tata employee base, which is 1,160,125 as of March 2026.
The next forks in the road that governance watchers will watch will concern the percentage of complaints that are considered valid, the time it takes to resolve a complaint and any steps taken against the complainant’s name. The incoming chairman will take over the complaints system and the need to demonstrate its effectiveness.
At the time of writing, no comment has been issued by Tata Sons on the report.
