Simone Tata

Simone Naval Tata (née Dunoyer; 2 March 1930 – 5 December 2025) was an Indian businesswoman,^[1] and a member of the Tata family.^[2] She was the step-mother of Ratan Tata, and was a key figure in building Lakmé and founded Trent Ltd. Simone Tata played a significant role in India's beauty and retail sectors for over four decades. She was instrumental in establishing Trent (Westside).

Simone Tata
Born	Simone Dunoyer (1930-03-02)2 March 1930 Geneva, Switzerland
Died	5 December 2025(2025-12-05) (aged 95) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Citizenship	Switzerland (former)[citation needed] India
Spouse	Naval Tata ​ ​ (m. 1955; died 1989)​
Children	Noel Tata
Relatives	Tata family

Background

Simone Tata was born on 2 March 1930, and brought up in Geneva, Switzerland. She graduated from Geneva University. Tata visited India as a tourist in 1953, where she met Naval H. Tata. They married in 1955, and Simone settled in Mumbai permanently.^[3] Simone and Naval are the parents of Noel Tata. Simone is the stepmother of former Tata Group chairman, Ratan Tata, who is from Naval's previous marriage. She died on 5 December 2025, at the age of 95.^[4]

Tata Group

Simone Tata joined the Lakmé board in 1962, when it was a minor subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills, as managing director in 1961, rising to become its chairperson in 1982, and was non-executive chairman of Trent Limited until 30 October 2006.^[5]

She was appointed to the board of Tata Industries in 1989.^[6]

Seeing growth in the retail sector, in 1996, Tata sold Lakmé Cosmetics to Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), and created Trent Limited with money from the sale.^[7] All shareholders of Lakmé were given equivalent shares in Trent. The Westside brand and stores belong to Trent.^[8]