With the intention of streamlining its business strategy by rejigging various business units, the Tata group is bringing together a team of strategists who can drive the transformation, as per a Bloomberg report.  

According to the report, the Tata group, in the leadership of chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran is planning to combine the technology firms, bring all the infrastructure firms under one umbrella, merge the consumer and retail businesses, and also club the defense units together. 

As a result, nearly one-third of the group’s 100-plus units could be eliminated, in the bid to trim out the unprofitable businesses. 

To engineer this reorganization, Tata Sons Ltd. is in the process of hiring several senior BFSI professionals, who can play the role of dealmakers for the project. In May, former investment banker Saurabh Agrawal was appointed as the group CFO, taking up a role that was not occupied for the last 5 years. 

Prior to that, the group hired Ankur Verma (previously with Bank of America) and Nipun Aggarwal (former Standard Chartered executive director), both experienced in deal making and restructuring organizations. In addition to that, Shuva Mandal joined Tata Sons as the group general counsel in May, replacing former legal head Bharat Vasani. More senior-level hirings from banks are expected to follow, in the coming months.

Chandrasekaran is hoping to increase the efficiency of the conglomerate and exit from businesses which don’t fit the group’s priorities or don’t have the ability to scale," Harish H. V., who is a partner at consultancy firm Grant Thornton India LLP was quoted as saying in a report.

“He is trying to simplify the complex conglomerate business structures, many of which were created in another era due to licensing and other regulatory reasons or the need to form joint ventures,” Harish added.