'Heart of India-Israel alliance': New York group releases report slamming Tata

The Indian behemoth Tata Group lies at the heart of the India-Israel alliance, a South Asian political group in New York City says, in a detailed report of the company's deep ties with the Israeli government and military.

The 59-page report, Architects of Occupation: The Tata Group, Indian Capital, and the India-Israel Alliance, comes as NYC-based activists continue to pressure the TCS New York City Marathon to drop its title partner, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), over its ties to the Israeli government and military.

Since 2024, activists in NYC have been pressing the New York Road Runners (NYRR) to sever ties with its lead sponsor, TCS, which they accuse of playing a critical role in enabling Israel’s apartheid regime.

As part of the #TataByeBye campaign, the South Asian political organisation, Salam, says the Indian company is "fundamentally embedded in the architecture of occupation, surveillance, and dispossession" of Palestine.

"The conglomerate's complicity is comprehensive, providing the hardware of genocide, the machinery of daily oppression, and the digital backbone of apartheid," the report published on Tuesday says.

The TCS New York Marathon, considered the largest of its kind in the world, is scheduled for 2 November.

Indian complicity in Gaza

Salam's report on Tata and India-Israel ties comes as more questions are being asked of the global role in enabling Israel's genocide in Gaza, which has left more than 200,000 Palestinians killed or injured over the past 24 months.

In a report released earlier this week, Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, noted the complicity of third states that have "enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel".

In her report, Gaza Genocide: a collective crime, India is mentioned twice in the section on military ties. 

"Between October 2023 and October 2025, 26 States sent at least 10 consignments of 'arms and ammunition' (HS Code 93) to Israel, the most frequent being China, including Taiwan, India, Italy, Austria, Spain, Czechia, Romania and France," Albanese wrote.

Observers have noted the Indian government has looked to provide diplomatic cover for Israel, while it has sent drones and ammunition for potential use in Gaza, as well as upwards of 20,000 workers to replace Palestinian labour.

Last month, the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), too, released a report examining how Indian corporations helped sustain Israel’s war economy in Gaza through partnerships across multiple sectors.

In it, several companies, including Tata, or more specifically, TCS, were named as being associated with Project Nimbus, a cloud-computing initiative involving Amazon and Microsoft.

Project Nimbus has been at the centre of an intense shake-up of big tech in the US, as details emerged of entanglements with the Israeli military.

“These partnerships go beyond ordinary commerce,” the report concluded. It added that the exchanges were also actively contributing "to systems of surveillance, repression and displacement."

TCS did not reply to Middle East Eye's request for comment.

A longer history 

Salam's report on Tata is among the most detailed documentations of any Indian company's economic partnerships with Israel.

It also locates Tata's larger role in what Salam refers to as "a global defense-industrial network".

"Tata has leveraged joint ventures with American defense giants to become a supplier of military components - effectively inserting India into US and Nato supply chains," the report says, noting Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL)'s role as a global supplier of wings for the latest F-16 fighter jets and fuselages for AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.

TASL has been closely involved with Israel Aerospace Industries for close to two decades.

TASL did not immediately reply to MEE's request for comment.

Meanwhile, through its other subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors "supplies the foundational chassis for the MDT David light armored vehicle" that is used for patrols and raids by the Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, the report says.

Since normalising ties with Israel in 1992, India has become a major purchaser of Israeli technology, including in the defence, agriculture, cybersecurity, and water preservation sectors.

Salam says that Tata uses major events like the New York Marathon to help curate a global image of corporate benevolence.

"By illustrating the material ties between Tata group and the Zionist occupation of Palestine and India's own militarisation, we aim to disrupt Tata's dishonest branding, built through a facade of philanthropy and investments in the public," a spokesperson for Salam told MEE.

"In the weeks leading up to the NYC marathon, on which Tata has built a multi-billion dollar brand, we are here to reaffirm that people of conscience in New York City will not remain silent in the face of war profiteers," the spokesperson added.