Strengthening ethical foundations
Tata Steel is committed to integrity, transparency, and legal compliance, fostering a culture of trust and sustainability across all operations. Ethical conduct lies at the heart of its philosophy, guided by the Tata Code of Conduct (TCoC) and supported by the Management of Business Ethics (MBE) framework, which shapes ethical behaviour throughout the organisation.
Ethics
Role of leadership
Leadership plays a central role in deploying the MBE framework. Board-level and Management-level committees oversee governance and vigil mechanisms, while senior leaders actively role-model Tata values across divisions. The Chief Ethics Counsellor (CEC), reporting directly to the CEO & MD, drives MBE initiatives, supported by Divisional Ethics Coordinators, Ethics Champions, Internal Committee (IC) members, and POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) representatives who together form the Organisational Ethics Council (OEC). This structure ensures ethical guidance, accessibility, and support across the organisation, including shop-floor engagement.
Communication and training
Effective communication and continuous learning are essential to the MBE framework. Tata Steel engages employees and external partners through townhalls, vendor meets, Nukkad Nataks, roundtable discussions, classroom sessions, mass meetings, and e-learning modules. Tailored training on TCoC, POSH, respectful workplace behaviour, conflict of interest, anti bribery and corruption, and third-party due diligence ensures wide understanding and consistent application of ethical standards.
Compliance structure
Tata Steel maintains a strong compliance system through digital tools and structured processes. Platforms such as Darpan facilitate TCoC declarations, conflict-of-interest disclosures, gift reporting, and external assignment approvals. Other tools include the MBE Information System, the Kashmakash dilemma resolution portal, and the Integrated Concern Management System. The Company further strengthens trust through Speak Up, a third-party whistleblowing helpline offering 24/7 multilingual access via phone, web, email, and postal services.
Measurement
The effectiveness of MBE deployment is evaluated through an annual organisation-wide MBE Survey and departmental assessments, providing valuable insights into ethical culture and practices. Feedback gathered is shared with senior leadership and used to refine and strengthen future ethics initiatives. Additionally, OEC activities are monitored through digital systems to ensure transparency and continuous improvement.
Human rights
Tata Steel embeds respect for human rights at the core of its responsible business practices. Oversight is provided by the Apex Business & Human Rights Committee, with the Business & Human Rights Policy aligned to global standards and the Tata Code of Conduct applied across all subsidiaries. Value chain partners are required to comply with the SA8000:2014 standard, and no incidents of modern slavery or human trafficking were reported in FY2025–26. During the year, Tata Steel India was recommended for SA8000:2014 certification, making Tata Steel Limited the largest organisation globally to achieve this coverage, encompassing over 1 lakh workers across 23 sites. Robust grievance mechanisms, periodic human rights due diligence audits, and a structured remediation framework ensure accountability, risk mitigation, and continuous improvement. In FY2025–26, Tata Steel also introduced an online human rights training programme for employees.
Compliance
The Compliance function at Tata Steel navigates the complexities of regulatory changes while balancing the expectations of various stakeholders. By emphasising fairness and ethical behaviour, the Compliance function ensures that Tata Steel maintains the highest operational standards. Operating as a proactive second line of defence, the function focuses on pre-emptively identifying risks and strengthening internal controls. This is supported by multifaceted initiatives designed to turn compliance into a shared responsibility across the workforce.
In FY2025-26, the Compliance function underwent the second annual surveillance audit under the ISO 9001:2015 framework, reflecting the ongoing effectiveness, maturity, and sustained implementation of its Quality Management System, along with its commitment to continuous improvement.
Also, a concerted effort was made to foster a culture rooted in integrity, transparency, and accountability across the organisation. Tata Steel is, thus, moving beyond traditional regulatory adherence to position ethical governance as a cornerstone of its sustainability and decarbonisation journey.
In FY2026-27, the team is working towards integrating AI into the Compliance Framework to strengthen internal processes, reduce manual interventions, and homogenise compliance reporting to the Senior Management and Board of Directors.
Data privacy
Tata Steel considers data privacy as a core element of responsible business conduct and recognises that the ethical and secure handling of personal information is fundamental to maintaining the trust of employees, customers, partners, and communities.
We follow a unified approach to data privacy to ensure consistency across geographies and businesses. This approach is guided by common core principles, defined KPIs, and periodic governance mechanisms, while allowing appropriate localisation to address jurisdiction-specific regulatory requirements.
Our privacy framework is anchored in Privacy-by-Design and Privacy-by-Default principles, which are embedded across processes to ensure that activities involving personal data throughout its lifecycle are systematically assessed, proportionately minimised, and effectively safeguarded.
Personal data is processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently for specified, legitimate purposes. Tata Steel applies data minimisation, ensures data accuracy, limits retention to business or legal needs, and protects confidentiality through appropriate technical and organisational controls.