Tata Trusts meeting skirts contentious issues that divided trustees
During the six-hour meeting, which six trustees attended, the discussion shifted away from internal differences to focus on the charitable work the Trusts intends to do.
The Tata Trusts board meeting on Friday did not address the internal differences that led to the removal of one trustee as a representative from the Tata Sons board last month.
Instead, during the six-hour meeting, which six trustees attended, the discussion shifted away from internal differences to focus on the charitable work the Trusts intends to do.
Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, TVS Motor Corp. chair emeritus Venu Srinivasan, businessman Mehli Mistry, Citibank India former chief executive officer (CEO) Pramit Jhaveri and Pune-based philanthropist and businessman Jehangir H.C. Jehangir attended the meeting in person.
Mumbai-based lawyer Darius Khambata did not attend the board meeting, an executive privy to the development said. Vijay Singh, 77, who was removed on 11 September as their representative from the Tata Sons board by a majority of the Trustees, attended the meeting virtually.
"The meeting was cordial, where none of the members raised the past issues," the executive cited above said on the condition of anonymity.
At the meeting, the trustees agreed to set up two hospitals in Amravati and Solapur in Maharashtra. Also, they agreed to explore a third hospital, focused on treating diabetes, in partnership with Emory University, Georgia.
In the lead-up to the board meeting, a private ceremony in memory of late Rata Tata was held on Thursday at his South Mumbai house, Halekai. Varsi, a Parsi ritual that involves praying for the dead on the first death anniversary of a loved one, was attended by Ratan Tata's two sisters, two trustees of Tata Trusts, including Jhaveri and Mistry, Ratan Tata's close associate, Mohini Mohan Dutta, and a few Tata old-timers, including former Tata Sons vice-chairman Noshir Soonawala. Noel Tata was not present at the meeting, the executive cited earlier said.
Boardroom tensions
The outcome of Friday's Tata Trusts' board meeting contrasts with that of the last board meeting on 11 September. Last month, simmering year-long tensions spilled out in the boardroom when four of the seven trustees chose to remove Singh as their representative from the Tata Sons board. The four trustees were unhappy over the three representatives on the Tata Sons board withholding information about decisions made by the holding company.
Acrimony at Tata Trusts, which owns 65.9% in Tata Sons, comes at a critical time for the group. The holding company is trying to remain private. It is also negotiating an exit for the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, its largest individual shareholder.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran chairs Tata Sons' six-member board. Two trustees, Noel Tata and Srinivasan, are on this board. Tata Sons' chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal and independent directors Harish Manwani and Anita Marangoly George are the other members.
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