New Delhi. Once again a new movement is visible within Tata Trusts. Within a few weeks of Mehli Mistry’s recent resignation, another internal tension seems to be emerging. The matter is the inclusion of Noel Tata’s son Neville Tata in the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which has given rise to new equations within the organization.
According to a report in Moneycontrol, the initial plan was to include Neville Tata in both Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, as these are the largest shareholder trusts of Tata Sons. On November 11, the Sir Dorabji Trust approved the appointment of Neville Tata for three years and also inducted experienced officer Bhaskar Bhat. When this decision was taken, Venu Srinivasan was not a part of the board, as his previous term had ended.
But when the same proposal came before Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Venu Srinivasan stopped this appointment. Here Venu Srinivasan himself is a trustee. Srinivasan is said to have objected saying that Neville’s appointment was not already listed in the agenda. For this reason the matter was not raised in that meeting. However, according to experts, such sensitive issues are often covered secretly under ‘other topics’, so that confidentiality is maintained.
Did Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan part ways?
It is worth noting that earlier Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan were considered to be in the same camp, especially at the time when internal differences with Mehli Mistry were at their peak. Mehli Mistry, Dorias Khambatta, Jahangir HC Jahangir and Pramit Jhaveri had earlier raised concerns that information was not being shared in a completely transparent manner among the trusts. This issue was raised in the trust meeting held in September. After this, Vijay Singh was not re-elected to the Tata Sons board, because these four trustees had opposed his name.
After these incidents, re-appointment of Mehli Mistry was also banned. Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh opposed it. Mistry later withdrew the caveat lodged with the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner and said that he did not want to take the controversy further.
During this time, Venu Srinivasan was again included in the trust. Earlier he was given lifetime tenure, but later due to government rules it was limited to three years. This was the same meeting in which the appointment of Neville Tata was also discussed.
Now Srinivasan raising objection to the appointment of Neville Tata indicates that the old equations within the Trust are probably changing. It will be interesting to see in which direction this change goes next.
Equations were different at the time of Mehli Mistry controversy
Experts say that earlier when there was a dispute between Noel Tata and Mehli Mistry, Venu Srinivasan had played a very active role. He helped Noel Tata to meet many government officials. Not only this, he also organized a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, another big decision is before the Tata Sons board. That is N. Chandrasekaran’s selection for the third term. Tata Trusts have already indicated that they are in favor of extending his tenure, but the final decision has to be taken by the Tata Sons board.
N. Questions raised on Chandrasekaran’s salary
In the last one year, the total market cap of 23 listed Tata companies has declined from approximately Rs 33.57 lakh crore to Rs 26.39 lakh crore. The decline of about 21% has raised questions on the health of the group. However, the revenue of many companies of the group has increased. But Tata Sons’ own revenue and profits have declined from $165 billion in FY24 to $180 billion in FY25. The total income of the company in FY25 was Rs 38,835 crore, which was Rs 43,893 crore last year. Profit also declined from Rs 34,654 crore to Rs 26,232 crore.
In such a situation, some trustees N. Questions have also been raised on Chandrasekaran’s salary. Their total income in FY25 was Rs 155.81 crore, which included commission on profits of Rs 140.69 crore. This is an increase of 15% compared to last year. Some trustees believe that transparency and communication in such matters should be better.
How will Neville Tata’s role be decided?
Now all eyes are on how Neville Tata’s role is decided going forward. There is no formal proposal at present, but the succession plan in the Tata Group is gradually taking shape in the long run.
The coming months will be extremely important given the changing equations within the Tata Group, the upcoming board vote and leadership prospects. As one person told Moneycontrol, “This is a time when every step is being taken very carefully, and nothing can be said for sure until the board takes a final decision.”
