The shareholder named as owner of one Tata Sons share was Maharawal Virendrasinhji Natwarsinhji Chauhan, the former ruler of Chota Udaipur. A 2017 Scroll investigation traced the reported holding to a larger parcel of shares, most of which his son said he sold in 1998 to finance a Bengaluru garment business. The account also described a family succession dispute that complicated what happened to the remaining share after Virendrasinhji’s death in 2005. A later report says a March 2023 shareholding snapshot still listed him, but that does not establish who appears on Tata Sons’ register today.
Who was Virendra Singh Chauhan?
The name that drew attention in a Tata Sons shareholder list referred to Maharawal Virendrasinhji Natwarsinhji Chauhan, a former ruler of Chota Udaipur. Scroll’s 2017 investigation reported that he had died in 2005, more than a decade before the article appeared. The list showed one Tata Sons share under his name at that time. Scroll’s investigation, published March 28, 2017, is the main account of how the holding came about.
How did he come to own Tata Sons shares?
Virendrasinhji’s son, Jai Pratap Sinhji, told Scroll that his father received roughly twelve or thirteen Tata Sons shares sometime in the 1980s, reportedly because of his close relationship with JRD Tata. Jai Pratap did not know the exact number or the details of the transaction. The account is attributed to his son; the report does not establish the allocation through a share record or other transaction document.
Why was one share left?
Jai Pratap told Scroll that his father sold most of the shares in 1998 to raise money for a garment manufacturing business in Bengaluru and kept one. This family account explains how a single share could remain after a larger holding was sold, but the report does not include documentary confirmation of the sale.
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Why did the share remain under his name after his death?
Scroll reported that a dispute over succession to the Chota Udaipur title also affected claims to the share and other assets. Its account identified eldest son Jai Pratap Sinhji and youngest son Aishwarya Pratap Sinhji among those involved in competing claims. This is a reported description of a family dispute, not a court finding establishing who ultimately inherited or owns the share. Virendrasinhji’s reported personal holding should therefore not be confused with ownership by his heirs or family collectively.
What do the later shareholding figures show?
Scroll’s 2017 article placed the single share in the context of a concentrated ownership structure, reporting these figures from the shareholder list it described. They are historical figures from that report, not a current Tata Sons cap table.
| Holder category | Shares reported by Scroll in 2017 |
|---|---|
| Tata Trusts | 266,610 |
| Shapoorji Pallonji family | 74,352 |
| Various Tata companies | 49,365 |
| Tata family members | 8,235 |
| Maharawal Virendrasinhji Natwarsinhji Chauhan | 1 |
In June 2024, Indiatimes Worth reported that Tata Sons’ official shareholding data as of March 2023 still listed Maharawal Virendrasinhji Chauhan as the owner of one share. Its article relies on Scroll for the backstory, rather than independently verifying the family account. The Indiatimes Worth article provides a later, explicitly dated listing claim; it does not confirm the present register entry.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is—and is not—known about the holding today?
The available reporting establishes a historical puzzle, not a current ownership answer. Scroll reported the one-share listing in 2017; Indiatimes Worth later said a March 2023 snapshot still showed the share under Virendrasinhji’s name. Neither report verifies the Tata Sons register in 2026, resolves the succession dispute, or provides primary documentation of the original allocation and 1998 sale. The one-share figure also does not, by itself, establish a current ownership percentage or economic value.
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