MUMBAI: The board of the dozen-odd Tata Trusts, recently hit by an unprecedented revolt from four trustees led by Mehli Mistry — a close friend of the late Ratan Tata and first cousin of the late Cyrus Mistry — against chairman Noel Tata, held a ‘cordial’ meeting on Friday. The board discussed only routine charity matters, even as the government has urged the warring sides to resolve their differences quickly.
The meeting took place a day after the first death anniversary of Ratan Tata amid growing questions over Noel Tata’s leadership.
The Tata Trusts, including the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, together with their associate entities, own 66.6% of Tata Sons, the $180-billion salt-to-semiconductors conglomerate that controls around 400 companies, 30 of them publicly listed with a combined market capitalisation of about ₹30 trillion.
While the meeting was underway, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group — which owns 18.4% of Tata Sons, making it the second-largest shareholder after the Trusts — issued a statement urging that Tata Sons be taken public to improve transparency and governance. The company has already missed the Reserve Bank’s September 30 deadline for its listing.
“The Tata Trusts board met for a few hours and discussed only routine issues, mainly funding for hospital and rural development projects. No contentious issues were raised, and the meeting ended cordially,” a source told TNIE.
“Though the atmosphere was tense, none of the attendees expressed it openly,” the source added.
Jimmy Tata, the younger brother of the late Ratan Tata and a trustee, did not attend Friday’s meeting. He was also absent from the September 11 meeting where the internal rift became public.
The spokesperson for Tata Trusts did not respond to calls or text messages from The New Indian Express.
The latest board meeting followed a gathering earlier this week in New Delhi, where Noel Tata, Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran, Trusts vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan, and trustee Darius Khambata — who is opposed to Noel — met Union ministers Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman at Shah’s residence.
The four trustees opposing Noel are Mehli Mistry, former Citi banker Pramit Jhaveri, Pune-based hospital owner Jehangir H.C. Jehangir, and senior lawyer Darius Khambata.
Sources told TNIE that Mistry’s opposition surfaced after he sought a seat on the Tata Sons board — a move resisted by Noel and Srinivasan. “Mistry wanted Vijay Singh removed from the Tata Sons board and joined hands with the others to oppose Singh’s re-nomination at the September 11 meeting,” said one source.
The crisis erupted during the September 11 board meeting, which was convened to finalise Tata Sons board nominations. Noel and Srinivasan supported granting 77-year-old former defence secretary Vijay Singh a third term. Mistry, Jhaveri, Jehangir, and Khambata opposed the move, sought a vote — breaking with Tata’s tradition of consensus — and proposed Mistry’s name instead.
Following the vote, Singh resigned from the Tata Sons board with immediate effect but stayed on as vice-chairman of the Trusts alongside Srinivasan. (His name still appears on the Tata Sons directors list a month later.) Singh had skipped the September 11 meeting as his re-nomination was on the agenda.
After Ratan Tata’s death in October 2024, the Trusts adopted a policy requiring annual reappointment of nominee directors on the Tata Sons board once they turn 75. Singh, a director since 2012 and trustee since 2018, came up for reappointment under this rule.
Mehli Mistry reportedly feels excluded from key decisions and has sought more transparency in the Trusts’ functioning. The other three dissenting trustees share similar concerns.
The Tata Trusts, the umbrella body for several charitable entities, can appoint one-third of the nine directors on the Tata Sons board. Currently, Tata Sons has six directors, with Noel Tata and Srinivasan serving as the Trusts’ two nominees.
After Singh’s rejection, the four opposing trustees proposed nominating Mehli Mistry to the Tata Sons board. Noel and Srinivasan opposed the idea, insisting that any appointment follow a transparent process consistent with Tata values.
