Bahram Vakil Takes the Chair at Trent: 5 Things to Know
Bahram Vakil, AZB & Partners co-founder, succeeds Noel Tata as Trent chairman. Know his journey, achievements, vision.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
1. The appointment
Noel N. Tata will retire as chairman of Trent’s board on November 11, and the board has appointed Bahram Vakil as his successor, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Vakil takes over on November 12. The change follows the Tata Group’s retirement policy, under which directors exit executive positions at 70. He is not new to the group. Tata Investment Corporation made him Vice-Chairman, effective March 20, 2026, and Trent had already appointed him Additional Director (Non-Executive, Non-Independent). The board is being refreshed too, with Rajiv Dube joining as a non-executive, non-independent additional director and Kalpana Merchant as an independent director.
2. The journey
Vakil is the second generation in a family of lawyers. He spent 20 years at Little & Co. before joining hands with CZM, and in 2004 he co-founded AZB & Partners with Ajay Bahl and Zia Mody. He has over 38 years of experience in banking, bankruptcy, restructuring, infrastructure and project finance. He holds an LLM from Columbia University and is qualified to practise in both India and New York.
3. The achievements
His peers and rankings bodies have long rated him at the top of his field. In 2024, aggregated legal rankings placed him as a Band 1 practitioner in banking and finance, project development, and restructuring and insolvency. He won Banking & Finance Lawyer of the Year – India at the Corporate LiveWire Global Awards in 2019 and featured in India Business Law Journal’s Top 100 Indian Lawyers list from 2015 to 2019. Beyond the firm, he has served on high-level government committees on financial reform, foreign direct investment and securities market reform. He also sits on corporate boards, including BASF India, where he chairs the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and is a member of the Audit and Risk Management Committees.
4. Vision and mission
Vakil has not published a vision statement for the Trent chairmanship, so this draws on how he has described his approach. Speaking about AZB, he said the firm focuses on quality rather than size, and that the lesson he took away was to lead with both head and heart. Clients describe him as a lawyer who gives smart, reliable and practical advice. In practice, that suggests a chairman who puts governance, risk discipline and long-term value ahead of headline-grabbing moves.
5. Why him?
This is my reading of the facts, not an official explanation. Vakil already knows Trent’s boardroom from the inside, having chaired its Nomination & Remuneration Committee, which shapes board and leadership appointments. His roles at Tata Investment Corporation and Trent suggest the group has been preparing him for a bigger seat. His decades in restructuring, finance and M&A are also useful for a retailer that is scaling fast and weighing large investments. After 29 years under one chairman, an insider with a deal-maker’s temperament offers continuity alongside fresh judgment.
1. The appointment
Noel N. Tata will retire as chairman of Trent’s board on November 11, and the board has appointed Bahram Vakil as his successor, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Vakil takes over on November 12. The change follows the Tata Group’s retirement policy, under which directors exit executive positions at 70. He is not new to the group. Tata Investment Corporation made him Vice-Chairman, effective March 20, 2026, and Trent had already appointed him Additional Director (Non-Executive, Non-Independent). The board is being refreshed too, with Rajiv Dube joining as a non-executive, non-independent additional director and Kalpana Merchant as an independent director.
2. The journey
Vakil is the second generation in a family of lawyers. He spent 20 years at Little & Co. before joining hands with CZM, and in 2004 he co-founded AZB & Partners with Ajay Bahl and Zia Mody. He has over 38 years of experience in banking, bankruptcy, restructuring, infrastructure and project finance. He holds an LLM from Columbia University and is qualified to practise in both India and New York.
3. The achievements
His peers and rankings bodies have long rated him at the top of his field. In 2024, aggregated legal rankings placed him as a Band 1 practitioner in banking and finance, project development, and restructuring and insolvency. He won Banking & Finance Lawyer of the Year – India at the Corporate LiveWire Global Awards in 2019 and featured in India Business Law Journal’s Top 100 Indian Lawyers list from 2015 to 2019. Beyond the firm, he has served on high-level government committees on financial reform, foreign direct investment and securities market reform. He also sits on corporate boards, including BASF India, where he chairs the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and is a member of the Audit and Risk Management Committees.
