The RBI NBFC-UL list released on August 6 had 17 NBFCs including Tata Sons.  | Photo Credit: DHIRAJ SINGH

After the Reserve Bank of India turned down its request for de-registration as a core investment company, Tata Sons is expected to discuss the next steps on Thursday.

While the company’s plan of action in the matter remains unknown, lawyers say it can explore a legal review or seek a transitional dispensation from the RBI for listing its shares.

“Tata Sons will likely need to engage with the RBI and establish a compliance roadmap for its continuing status as an NBFC–Upper Layer. This includes addressing the mandatory listing requirement, which originally applied within three years of its upper-layer classification in September 2022,” said Alay Razvi, Managing Partner of law firm Accord Juris.

Tata Sons can also seek reconsideration or request additional time, although the outcome would depend on the RBI’s response, he added.

While a writ petition against the RBI’s action is possible, lawyers point that a court is unlikely to substitute its view for RBI’s on matters of financial sector regulation.

According to Rizvi, courts generally do not substitute commercial or regulatory assessment of regulators unless the decision is legally irrational, procedurally unfair or contrary to the governing law.

“The immediate regulatory posture necessitates that the entity (Tata Sons) either seeks formal reconsideration, requests an appropriate transitional dispensation from the Reserve Bank of India, or initiates a judicial challenge against the administrative determination,” said advocate Yash Joglekar.

The RBI NBFC-UL list released on August 6 had 17 NBFCs including Tata Sons. The central bank had then said that inclusion of Tata Sons in the list is without prejudice to the outcome of its application for re-registration.

“The mere pendency of the deregistration application may have temporarily stayed coercive regulatory enforcement, but it did not extinguish the underlying listing covenant absent an express regulatory directive, meaning the entity (Tata Sons) is now compelled to furnish a strictly time-bound, irrevocable listing roadmap subject to the regulator’s discretion and any interim judicial relief,” Joglekar added.

Published on September 13, 2026