New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- Bengaluru,

Mumbai :

A casting vote by the most tenured independent director at Tata Sons helped N. Chandrasekaran secure a third, five-year term as Tata Sons chairman at the group's board meeting on Thursday.

Under Section 121 of Tata Sons' rules, a majority vote of the Tata Trustees' nominees was needed to appoint or reappoint Chandrasekaran. Since Tata Trusts chair Noel N. Tata voted against the reappointment at the four-hour meeting and Venu Srinivasan, the second Tata Trustees' nominee, voted in favour, the vote ended in a tie.

Besides Chandrasekaran, Noel and Srinivasan, the Tata Sons board includes group chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal and independent directors Harish Manwani and Anita Marangoly Ge...