New Delhi, Sept. 30 -- Have the trusts that own 66% of Tata Sons found an escape hatch from regulatory pressure to take the company public? In Tata Trusts' view, a merger of Tata Sons with two operating firms, Tata Electronics Systems Solutions Pvt Ltd (TESS) and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE), would rejig the combine's revenues and assets in a way that will enable the group's holding company to drop its 'financial' tag along with a tickbox that required it to give up private ownership.

While both TESS and TCE are currently subsidiaries of Tata Sons, the idea represents a wager on the future stability of such a union's balance-sheet math. This plan would also need the approval of India's central bank, Tata Sons' regulator, apart from a ...