The unity of Tata Trusts trustees faces a decisive moment this week as they prepare to vote on the reappointment of Tata Trusts vice-chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh at the Tata Education and Development Trust, its wealthiest affiliate.
An important fallout of the vote will be whether both Srinivasan and Singh can continue as vice-chairmen of Tata Trusts; an adverse outcome would prevent them from holding the titles, as the chairman and vice-chairmen must be trustees of all Tata Trusts, according to an executive privy to the development. If they lose the vote, they will also lose their titles as vice-chairmen at Tata Trusts, though they can continue as trustees.
Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT), with a corpus of about ₹6,000 crore, is the key funding arm of Tata Trusts, which owns the majority of Tata Sons.
The TEDT trustees include Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata, Singh and Srinivasan, Jehangir Nariman Mistry (a lawyer with Mulla & Mulla and Craigie Blunt & Caroe) and Mehli Mistry. A circular on the vote is expected to be issued to the five Trustees on Monday. Voting ends on 10 May.
An email seeking comment from Tata Trusts went unanswered.
All TEDT reappointments require unanimous approval. In this context, Mehli Mistry's vote will be crucial: Last month, he had challenged the continuation of both Singh and Srinivasan at another smaller Tata Trust, suggesting he may oppose their reappointment.
Tata Trusts, which own 65.9% of Tata Sons, include Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (27.98%), Sir Ratan Tata Trust (23.56%), and six other trusts (14.36%). SDTT has nine affiliates; SRTT manages five, including TEDT.
The vote on Singh and Srinivasan comes around the same time that the principal Tata Trusts meet on 8 May. The eight Trustees across SDTT and SRTT are expected to address dissenting voices at that meeting, according to two executives privy to the development.
TVS chairman emeritus Venu Srinivasan and retired defence secretary Vijay Singh, both trustees of SDTT and SRTT, spoke to the media last month, endorsing Tata Sons going public and supporting a third term for Natarajan Chandrasekaran as Tata Sons chairman.
Last July, Tata Trusts unanimously resolved that Tata Sons should remain private. Singh and Srinivasan’s recent comments mark a reversal.
In July last year, Tata Trusts unanimously decided to grant a third term for Chandrasekaran as Tata Sons chairman for five more years. However, on 24 February this year, the Tata Sons board deferred a decision on the matter, following objections from Noel Tata. Singh and Srinivasan’s public endorsement of Chandrasekaran, again, contradicts Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata’s view.
Noel Tata became chair of Tata Trusts on 11 October 2024, two days after the death of Ratan Tata. After Noel's elevation, differences among Trustees began to surface. On 24 September 2025, Mint reported that many not on the Tata Sons board felt left out by board decisions. Internal discord led to the removal of Vijay Singh from the Tata Sons board as a trust nominee.
This left Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan as the Trust's two representatives on Tata Sons’ six-member board.
Subsequently, in October last year, Mehli Mistry was ousted from the boards of two principal Tata Trusts after objections from Noel Tata, Singh, and Srinivasan. Following this, Noel's son, Neville Tata, and former Titan Co. CEO Bhaskar Bhat were inducted on the board of SDTT. However, their induction into SRTT has been stalled due to opposition from Venu Srinivasan, Mint reported in its 13 November edition.
Earlier this year, former Citibank India CEO Pramit Jhaveri chose not to seek another SDTT term after his tenure ended on 11 February.
As a result, SDTT's trustees are now Noel Tata, Singh, Srinivasan, Darius Khambata, Neville Tata, and Bhaskar Bhat. SRTT’s trustees include Noel Tata, Singh, Srinivasan, Khambata, Jehangir HC Jehangir, a Pune-based philanthropist and Jimmy N Tata, Ratan Tata’s brother.