Rift at Tata Trusts widens ahead of Oct 10 Board meet

AHEAD of scheduled October 10 board meetings, rift between the seven active trustees of Tata Trusts who control the country’s largest corporate house with over $170 billion in annual sales, has come out louder and open with some of them openly questioning the authority of Noel Tata, the chairman of over a dozen trusts.

- BENN KOCHUVEEDAN @ Mumbai

These trusts own 66.4% of the conglomerate that straddles salt to semiconductors and financial services. More importantly, the missed listing deadline (set by October 2022 circular for all upper layer non-banking finance companies by September 2025), the nomination tussle, and the Shapoorji Pallonji Group's push for monetisation of its 18.6% holding in the group have put Noel into the centre of the debate.

Whether Noel can get the trustees around him and establish his authority over the trusts and the Tata group as the late Ratan Tata used to have, and also balancing the family ties, may define not just his leadership but also the next chapter of governance at the country’s most systemically important conglomerate.

The key trustees of Tata Trusts are Venu Sreenivasan