MUMBAI: The Tata Trusts, led by chairman Noel Tata, have decided to correct certain restrictive clauses in the trust deed of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution that limit trusteeship only to Parsis, and especially to those residing in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency.
“To correct anomalies in the trust deed and to align it with the values that the Tata Trusts have always epitomised, the trustees, at the April 17 meeting, have decided to initiate proceedings before the appropriate authority for alteration of restrictive clauses with respect to the eligibility of trustees,” Tata Trusts said in a rare public statement issued on Sunday.
The dozen-odd trusts, which own 66.4 per cent of the nation’s largest business group, have been embroiled in one controversy after another ever since Noel Tata became chairman in October 2024 following the death of his step-brother, Ratan Tata, on October 9.
Several trustees have questioned the opacity in the functioning of the trusts and have also called for the listing of Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-semiconductor conglomerate—a regulatory requirement that the trusts are uncomfortable with.
The trustees emphasised that the Tata ethos has always been inclusive, secular, and all-encompassing, with a focus on philanthropy and service to the nation.
"Non-Zoroastrians have been appointed to the trusts since 2000, following a legal opinion obtained from former Chief Justice of India M.H. Kania", the statement said.
Following this, Tata Sons director R. Krishna Kumar became the first non-Parsi trustee on the board of the Hirabai Trust, which was created under a 1916 codicil to the will of Sir Ratan Tata, who died in 1918.
“The codicil did not provide for any restrictions in respect of trustees on grounds of ethnicity, race, or religion. It further provided that the trustees of the will of Sir Ratan Tata, who were also trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, a trust created by his will, would also serve as trustees of the Hirabai Trust.
In 2015, the objects of the Hirabai Trust were expanded to include the general public as beneficiaries of the trust’s activities. There are no such restrictions on qualifications for trusteeship in the Sir Ratan Tata Trust or the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, or in any other Tata trusts. Nonetheless, the trust deed executed in 1923 by the then trustees contained restrictive clauses that, among other things, prohibited non-Zoroastrians from being trustees of the Hirabai Trust. These provisions imposed restrictions not envisaged in Sir Ratan Tata’s codicil,” the statement also said.
While Noel Tata kept Tata Sons a private entity, a precondition for N. Chandrasekaran’s reappointment as chairman of Tata Sons at the February board meeting earlier this month, two trustees, Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan, have called for listing the holding company.
At present, Noel Tata appears to be the only trustee opposed to listing, as others—Darius K. Khambata, Pramit Jhaveri (whose six-year term ended in February 2026), and Jehangir H.C. Jehangir—have already supported taking the company public. Tata Sons’ official position, however, remains unclear.