The city built by the Tatas would host the Tata Steel board of directors' meeting on March 2, a day before Founder's Day, for the first time in nearly three decades, reviving a grand old tradition that stopped in the late 1980s.
It has been learnt that hosting the board of directors meeting again in Jamshedpur has been taken by Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata as a goodwill gesture for Tata Steel shareholders who backed the group's recent decisions to oust Cyrus Mistry and Nusli Wadia.
"Not only did Ratan Tata want the new chairman N. Chandrasekaran and other board directors to see on Founder's Day the city and Works established by Tata Steel over a century ago, the meeting is also seen as a move to reiterate that the city and its interests are of paramount importance to the Tata Group, which will boost the morale of workers and shareholders," a well-placed source said.
Tata Steel board of directors comprise chairman and non-executive director N. Chandrasekaran; former SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt and chairman emeritus of Eicher Group of Companies Subodh Bhargava (both independent, non-executive directors), Tata Group executive director (finance and corporate) Koushik Chatterjee; Ishaat Hussain and D.K. Mehrotra (both non-independent and non-executive directors); Tata Steel managing director (India and Southeast Asia) T.V. Narendran; and Andrew M. Robb, Dr Peter Blauwhoff and Mallika Srinivasan (all independent, non-executive directors).
They will start arriving from March 1 onward and will leave Jamshedpur on March 4 morning. They will stay at the Director's Bungalow in Northern Town, Bistupur.
It is likely that the revenue budget will be proposed for discussion in the meeting along with talks on the company's expansion plans, especially in Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar in Odisha. Discussions are likely on Tata Steel associate companies as well as projects incurring heavy capital expenditure.
Though Tata Steel spokesperson Amresh Sinha declined to comment on the reasons behind holding the board of directors' meeting in Jamshedpur, calling it an "internal company decision", he confirmed it would be held on March 2 morning at the boardroom adjacent to the managing director's office at General Office.
The trend of holding board of directors meeting in Jamshedpur on March 2 began under the tenure of then chairman-cum-managing director Russi Mody and went on till "possibly 1989", a Tata old-timer recalled. "The logic was that since most directors came to Jamshedpur for Founder's Day celebrations, it was considered suitable to organise a board of directors meeting in the steel city. But, the practice ended due to hectic schedules of most board directors who preferred to come in the evening of March 2 and leave early on March 3," he said.
Former Tata Steel vice-president Niroop Mohanty described the proposed board of directors' meeting as a "great gesture" by the company. "It's being held here after many years. It's a momentous occasion for workers and the city at large," he said.
Jamshedpur city SP Prashant Anand said Tata Steel chief security officer Gopal Choudhary sought a meeting to review security arrangements for the board of directors' meeting and Founder's Day celebrations.
"We will hold a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) on deployment of traffic police and police personnel on important routes to be taken by the VVIPs during their stay in the city and also on routes important in view of Founder's Day celebrations especially near Jubilee Park and other landmark spots managed by Tata Steel. We have CCTV surveillance on most important roads and Tata Steel also has its own CCTV network near roads outside its plant and VVIP bungalows. We will extend all support to the corporate house. They will also deploy State Industrial Security Force (SISF) forces inside their Works," the city SP said.
