The bitter boardroom battle raging within the Tatas, India’s oldest and largest business empire, has rocked the global corporate world. Understandably so. The 157-year-old conglomerate is entwined with almost every facet of Indian life—from salt to software, from tea to textiles, and from automotives to aviation. With an annual revenue of ₹15.34 lakh crore and over a million employees, the Tatas are the country’s largest private-sector employer. It is, therefore, unsurprising that even Union Ministers Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman have stepped in at the request of the rival factions, setting aside the usual aversion to state intervention in corporate disputes.

The media, too, has been abuzz with the Tata turmoil. Yet, few have noticed its Kerala connection. One of the flashpoints in this high-voltage tussle is the reappointment of two independent directors to Tata Sons, the group’s holding company—Vijay Singh, former Defence Secretary, and Anita Marangoly George, who has roots in Kerala. While exhaustive profiles have appeared on many of the dramatis personae in this corporate saga, little has been written about Anita—even by Kerala’s media, usually quick to claim any Malayali angle in national stories.

Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, reportedly supports the reappointment of both Singh and George, while a rival group of four Tata trustees vehemently opposes it. Before exploring the reasons for this rift, it is worth pausing to know who Anita George is.

A widely respected expert in global finance and sustainable governance, Anita is the daughter of V.M. Marangoly, former Delhi representative of Malayala Manorama, from the Marangoly family of Thalayolaparambu in Kottayam district. After earning her MBA from Boston University, she joined the World Bank in 1991 and later worked with the International Finance Corporation for nearly two decades, specialising in infrastructure, natural resources, and finance. She went on to hold senior roles at Siemens AG, where she helped establish its financial services arm in India, and at the Canadian pension fund giant CDPQ Global.

Anita is the founder of Edhina Capital, an investment fund focused on........

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