Tata Trusts Infighting Over Board Seats. NDTV Explains What Happened And Why

It is deja vu time at Tata. Four years after the Supreme Court settled a bitter power struggle over the sacking of Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry, controversy stalks the boardrooms again.

This time the battleground is a step higher up the corporate hierarchy and involves infighting in the Tata Trusts, the nonprofit and philanthropic organisation that collectively owns about 66 per cent of the equity in (and therefore controls) Tata Sons, the group's principal holding company.

And a second power squabble in less than a decade - within one of the world's largest and richest corporate houses - has prompted the federal government to get involved.

Sources told NDTV the key players - Noel Tata and N Chandrasekaran, the chairmen of Tata Trusts and Tata Sons - were among those called to Delhi by two top union ministers, one of whom was Amit Shah. They were told, in no uncertain terms, to ensure the stability of the group whose listed entities have a market capitalisation of Rs 25 lakh crore.

Sources also pointed out the importance of the Tata Group to the economy - by some accounts it accounts for four per cent of India's GDP and also pays tens of thousands of crores in taxes.

What is the fight about?

In one sentence, board appointments and governance issues.

In more, Tata Trusts has reportedly split vertically; one member of the board has aligned with Noel Tata, Ratan Tata's half-brother, and the rest with Mehli Mistry, Cyrus Mistry's cousin, and who has ties to the Shapoorji Pallonji family that owns about 18.37 per cent of Tata Sons.

The division emerged at a September 11 board meeting to consider the reappointment of 77-year-old former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh as a nominee-director to the Tata Sons board.

The sticking point? After Ratan Tata died in October 2024, Tata Trusts introduced a policy requiring annual reappointment of Tata Sons nominee-directors once they turn 75.

Accordingly, Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and trustee Venu Srinivasan (also Chairman Emeritus of the TVS Group), proposed the extension. But the four others - Mehli Mistry, Pramit Jhaveri, Jehangir HC Jehangir, and Darius Khambata - opposed it, leading to the resolution's rejection.

A dramatic twist followed.

The larger trustees group then tried to nominate Mistry, but Tata and Srinivasan said 'no'.

All of this plays out amid whispers that Mistry (and his camp of four trustees) are trying to undermine Noel Tata, who was made Chairman after Ratan Tata's death on October 11.

Mistry's camp, sources indicate, also claims exclusion from vital decision-making and advocates for increased transparency and reforms in corporate governance.

Amidst all the furore, Vijay Singh, seen as a Tata loyalist, resigned from the board.

The trustees are scheduled to meet again Thursday (certainly with the words of the senior ministers in their ears) to sort this issue out, although a formal agenda has not been released.

None of the key players involved have commented so far.

What is at stake?

Control over a 156-year-old corporate giant and its 400 (estimated) companies.

Tata Sons is the investment holding company of the Tata Group that operates in the automotive, steel, power and utilities, hospitality, FMCG, telecommunications, and chemical manufacturing industries, among many others.

The Tata brand is one of the largest and richest in the world (File).

It also fully owns or has a majority stake in several unlisted companies, including Air India and Tata Advanced Systems, an aerospace, military engineering, and defence technology company.

Is Tata Sons in trouble?

Not really.

The Tata-Mistry power struggle (a throwback to 2016-18, no?) does have potentially far-reaching consequences, including affecting various companies' directions and investor sentiment.

But infighting among trustees could affect strategic decision-making and it comes at a time when the Reserve Bank of India deadline - for public listing of Tata Sons, classified as an upper-layer shadow bank, expired on September 30. The company has applied to continue as an 'unregistered CIC' (Core Investment Company). The application is being examined by the RBI.

What happened in 2016?

Almost a decade ago the late Cyrus Mistry was sacked as Tata Sons Chairman, triggering a furious legal and personal battle that ran through to the Supreme Court verdict in March 2021.

The court then dismissed all charges of mismanagement and wrongful firing.