The next meeting of the Tata Trusts board should be a quiet affair with members focused on the matters at hand. Indeed, just when it seemed like a protracted legal battle was in the offing, former trustee Mehli Mistry has decided to put an end to the dissension within the Trusts. As is known, there has been much internal strife over the past few months, with two sets of trustees pitted against each other. This resulted first in Vijay Singh, former defence secretary, being voted out of the Tata Sons board and later Mistry being ousted from the Tata Trusts board.
Last week, Mistry had approached the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner’s office, ostensibly in a bid to try and become a trustee for life in accordance with the resolution passed by the Trusts in the October 2024 resolution. But he seems to have had second thoughts. It’s just as well he has decided to step aside before any more damage is done to the reputation of the Trusts and Tata Group, as he said in his letter to the trustees.
Precipitating matters would indeed have caused irreparable harm to the Trusts’ credibility. The Tatas are known for being principled and upholding the best standards of corporate governance. The brand has always been synonymous with integrity, commanding the kind of goodwill that any corporate group would be envious of. As such, a messy wrangling between the seniors, who are there to protect the group’s interests, is undesirable to say the least. Mistry’s exit will help Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata to assert himself and consolidate his position within the group.
This is important since Tata Trusts holds a 66% stake in Tata Sons. Noel Tata simply cannot allow a repeat of what has happened. Since there have been some differences of opinion on how much influence Tata Trusts should wield over Tata Sons, in terms of information being shared, some discussion on this should be useful. As the majority owner, the Trusts can ask for more information on the operations of Tata Sons. But it must desist from slowing down the latter’s functioning and be reasonable in its demands.
Noel Tata must also quickly resolve the issue of the listing of Tata Sons, the deadline for which—as imposed by the Reserve Bank of India—lapsed in September. Media reports say the trustees were not in favour of Tata Sons going public, but some changed their mind. This paper has been of the view that Tata Sons should list and that the Shapoorji Pallonji Group is justified in renewing its demand for a listing. Transparency will not erode the Tata ethos; on the contrary, it will protect it.
Noel Tata might want to rethink the resistance in making Tata Sons a listed entity and reinforce what the Tatas stand for—fairness and accountability.
Tata has reportedly been looking to onboard some new members to the Tata Sons board. These include veteran banker Uday Kotak, senior lawyer Bahram Vakil, and Tata Steel MD TV Narendran. However, the Mehli Mistry camp had reportedly been stalling the move. In fact, Mistry is believed to have been looking for a seat on the Tata Sons board, something that Tata was reportedly not in favour of. With Mistry no longer in the way, Tata now should be able to fill the vacancies on the Tata Sons board with members of his choice.
