Show of calm at Tata Trusts board meeting amid heightened tension

Trustees focus on philanthropic initiatives as government urges both factions to settle differences amid tensions over Tata Sons' board and governance

A board meeting of Tata Trusts, that stretched to over five hours on Friday, turned out to be ‘’business as usual’’ amid heightened tension within the organisation. Fireworks were expected at the meeting, which was being held within days of top representatives of Tata Sons and Tata Trusts meeting Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss the way forward. However, there was no mention of any controversial issue at the marathon meeting that focused on charitable initiatives, according to sources in the know. 

The meeting of Tata Trusts, which holds 66 per cent stake in Tata Sons—the holding company of the salt-to-semiconductors group—avoided any contentious discussion on Tata Sons, it is learnt. Control over the $150-billion group, through removal and nomination of trustees on Tata Sons board, has been the core issue that split Tata Trusts into two groups. The group of trustees opposing Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata and two others had also alleged non-transparency related to items discussed in Tata Sons board meetings. 

Besides Noel Tata, vice-chairmen of Tata Trusts—Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh—have been nominee directors on Tata Sons board. Last month, Singh, a former defence secretary, was removed as nominee director by the dissenting group led by Mehli Mistry in a stormy board meeting, intensifying the tension. Singh has reportedly called the process of voting to withdraw his nomination ‘’unprecedented’’. 

The issue of public listing of Tata Sons has also been a controversial matter at Tata Trusts. Recently, it had advised Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran to engage proactively with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure the holding company remains a private entity. The RBI had mandated Tata Sons listing by end of September 2025, three years after it was categorised as an upper layer non-banking financial company (NBFC). Subsequently, Tata Sons had cleared its debt and applied to the RBI to surrender its NBFC licence. The RBI is yet to indicate its stand.          

 

The rift, though simmering for a while, has shown up exactly one year after Ratan Tata’s passing in October 2024.

 

Friday’s Tata Trusts meeting was notably subdued after Shah and Sitharaman urged both factions to resolve their differences and avoid disruptions to the group’s operations.

 

Some trustees had feared that Srinivasan could be targeted at the Friday meeting, but after the government’s intervention, the issue was left off the agenda, sources said.

 

None of the trustees commented on the outcome of the meeting.