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The ongoing dispute between the trustees of Tata Trusts seems to be ending. This controversy arose over transparency and sharing of information.
Now after the re-appointment of Venu Srinivasan to the board, it is clear from his conversation with the trustees over email that a consensus has been reached on these issues.
Srinivasan wrote, ‘I hope that we will work in coordination with each other.’ In response, Mehli Misri, nominated for lifetime trustee, wrote,
Our intention has always been coordination. It has been agreed to share important information. Eliminate old things, unite as per Ratan’s expectation.
Proposal to make Mehli Mistry a lifetime trustee
After making Venu Srinivasan a lifetime trustee in the trusts on October 21, Mehli Mistry’s name has now been proposed. Misri is among the four trustees who have alleged violation of rules on the board of Tata Sons.
Controversy increased due to conflict of interest in Noel’s case
Conflict of interest provoked controversy. Questions were raised on Noel Tata, who along with being the chairman of the trust, is also the chairman of several companies of the Tata group. One trustee said, ‘How can you sit on the board as an owner and vote on funding for your company?’
Mehli calls Misri’s logistics business with Tata Power a conflict of interest. After the death of Ratan Tata, it was Misri who proposed to make Noel the chairman. But the problem of lack of transparency remained.
This is the root of dispute in a corporate group worth Rs 38 lakh crore.
4 trustees- Mehli Misri, Darius Khambata, HC Jahangir and Prameet Jhaveri on September 11 opposed the reappointment of Vijay Singh to the board of Tata Sons.
The allegation was that Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh were violating Article 121A of TSPL, in which it is mandatory to give immediate information about the decisions taken in the board to the trust.
But, information was delayed in cases like Tata Motors’ Iveco acquisition (Rs 38,700 crore) and Tata International’s funding of Rs 1,000 crore.
Controversy in Tata Group, government had to intervene
After the death of Ratan Tata in October 2024, his half brother Noel Tata was made the chairman of Tata Trust. In November 2024, Noel was also included in the board of Tata Sons. But this decision, as claimed in many media reports, was not unanimous within the Trust.
This led to a direct division of board seats among the Tata Trusts controlling Tata Sons. One faction is with board member Noel Tata, while the other faction is with Mehli Mistry. Mistry has connections to the Shapoorji Pallonji family, which holds 18.37% stake in Tata Sons.
Amid the controversy over the board seat of Tata Sons, on October 7, 2025, the senior leadership held a 45-minute meeting at the house of Home Minister Amit Shah. According to a report, the government said that the domestic dispute should be resolved quickly, so that the company is not affected.
The meeting was attended by Home Minister Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, Vice-Chairman Venu Srinivasan, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Trustee Darius Khambatta.
Understand the entire controversy of Tata Group in 5 points
- This whole fight started from the meeting of Tata Trusts held on 11th September. In this, there was to be a discussion on re-appointing former Defense Secretary Vijay Singh as nominee director on the board of Tata Sons. But Singh did not come to the meeting. Tata Trusts has a total of seven trustees including Singh.
- After the death of former Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata on October 9, 2024, the trusts had decided that nominee directors on the Tata Sons board will have to be re-appointed every year after the age of 75 years. 77 year old Singh was playing this role since 2012.
- This resolution of re-appointment was put forward by Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan. But the remaining four people – Mehli Mistry, Pramit Jhaveri, Jahangir HC Jahangir and Darius Khambata flatly refused. Since these four were in majority, the resolution was cancelled.
- After this, these trustees tried to propose Mehli Mistry as a nominee on the Tata Sons board. But Noel Tata and Srinivasan stopped it. As soon as the meeting ended, Singh himself resigned from the Tata Sons board.
- The four trustees led by Mehli Mistry are associated with the Shapoorji Pallonji family. This family has 18.37% stake in Tata Sons. According to PTI, Mehli has expressed displeasure at being kept out of important decisions. The center of the dispute is the directorship positions in Tata Sons.
Angry trustee said – Board is taking decisions without debate
According to a report by Money Control, a major reason for the increasing conflict between the trustees of Tata Trusts is the Rs 1,000 crore funding plan of Tata International Limited. Noel Tata has been running this company since 2010. Tata International Limited operates in 27 countries.
Trustees Pramit Jhaveri, Mehli Mistry, Jahangir H.C. Jahangir and Darius Khambatta raised questions about the way the funding was pushed at the September 11 Tata Trust board meeting. The issue was not whether TIL needed funds or not, but how the decision was taken.
The trustees feel that such a huge capital commitment should have been thoroughly debated. The trustees also mentioned Tata Motors’ purchase of Iveco Group’s non-defense commercial vehicle business in July. Said that in that transaction also he was informed at the late stage.
Tata Sons holds 66% stake in Tata Group.
Tata Group was founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868. It is India’s largest multinational company, its 30 companies in 10 different businesses do business in more than 100 countries of the world.
Tata Sons is the principal investment holding and promoter of Tata companies. 66% of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by Tata’s Charitable Trust, which works for education, health, art and culture and livelihood generation.
The total revenue of all Tata Group companies in 2023-24 was Rs 13.86 lakh crore. It provides employment to more than 10 lakh people. Its products are included in our lives from morning to evening. The company provides everything from tea leaves to watches, cars and entertainment services.
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