Mumbai, Sept. 30 -- On 17 September, Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata placed an unusual proposal before the Tata Sons board. It was an offer from his wife's family. The Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) group, Mint reported, was willing to sell back up to three percentage points of its 18.37% stake in the Tata group holding company for about Rs.25,000 crore. It was meant to stave off a listing of Tata Sons.

The plumbing was pure Tata. The proposed deal called for a selective capital reduction in two tranches over 18 months, and at a price arrived at by the income-tax department's Rule 11UA, a framework to determine the fair market value of unquoted assets.

The arithmetic was brutal. About Rs.25,000 crore for a roughly 3% stake values Tata Sons at abou...