



Mint Explainer | Tata turmoil: A snapshot of simmering tensions at the group
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Late on Sunday, Tata Trusts announced it would seek to amend an exclusionary clause in the 103-year-old Bai Hirabai Trust, a charitable entity under its control, that restricts eligibility for trustee positions to members of the Zoroastrian community. The move has put the spotlight back on long-standing disputes within the philanthropic organizations that hold a majority stake in Tata Sons.Here is a snapshot of the simmering tensions that have gripped the House of Tata since the death of Ratan Tata on 9 October 2024.Since Ratan Tata’s demise, India’s largest industrial conglomerate has seen several top-level skirmishes.
First, there were simmering differences between the trustees over representatives of Tata Trusts on the board of Tata Sons not sharing information with the other trustees. This boardroom split occurred when Tata Trusts removed one of its own nominees, Vijay Singh, from the board of Tata Sons in September 2025.Tata Trusts, which owns 65.9% of Tata Sons, can nominate up to three directors to the company’s board.
Following the removal of Singh, who remains a trustee of Tata Trusts, chairman Noel Tata and vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan now serve as the two Tata Trusts nominees on the six-member board of Tata Sons.In October, Noel Tata, Singh, and Srinivasan voted against the re-appointment of Mehli Mistry—a close confidant of the late Ratan Tata and a powerful figure within the group’s philanthropic arms—as a trustee of Tata Trusts. This move occurred despite a previous agreement in October 2024 that all trustees would be granted permanent status at the end of their tenures.Six months after his ouster, Mistry hit back at Tata Trusts.
Read on livemint.com