Tata Trusts, which owns around 66 per cent in Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, is likely to take up issues with far-reaching implications in its forthcoming board meeting on May 8, according to sources in the know. The top agenda of the meeting includes a review of Tata Trusts representation on the Tata Sons board, it is learnt. Currently, Tata Trusts has two nominee directors on the Tata Sons board — Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and Tata Trusts Vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan. The other vice-chairman of Tata Trusts — Vijay Singh – was the third nominee director on the Tata Sons board until September 2025, when he had to step down amid a clash between two camps within Tata Trusts.
If the review implies Srinivasan’s exit from the Tata Sons board, Noel Tata will remain the only trustee nominee there. Noel Tata’s son, Neville Tata, who’s a trustee in the Dorabji Tata Trust (one of the two key shareholders of Tata Trusts), is not on the board of Tata Sons yet. Meanwhile, Noel Tata is also facing legal scrutiny over his continuation as a perpetual trustee at Sir Ratan Tata Trust, where Jimmy Tata and Jehangir Jehangir are the other life trustees. According to the latest regulations in the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, only 25 per cent of the trustees can be lifetime members. As of now, there are six trustees at Sir Ratan Tata Trust, implying that only one of the perpetual trustees can retain that status. According to some legal opinions, the oldest member — in this case Jimmy Tata, who’s Ratan Tata’s brother — should ideally retain the perpetual trustee status.
The other important agenda before the Tata Trusts board this Friday would be a discussion on the public statements made by the two vice-chairmen — industrialist Srinivasan and former bureaucrat Singh — on the contentious subject of the stock exchange listing of Tata Sons, one of the sources said. While Tata Trusts had last year passed a resolution opposing any effort to list Tata Sons, the recent statements of Singh and Srinivasan had gone against that sentiment recently. They argued that a listed entity would be in a better position to raise funds in new capital-intensive businesses, especially in the tech space.
Tata Trusts did not respond to a query sent by Business Standard on the board meeting agenda for May 8 till the time of going to press.
A potential listing of Tata Sons has been a long-drawn issue. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had mandated listing of upper-layer non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) by September 2025. However, Tata Sons, which was categorised as an upper-layer NBFC, has remained unlisted. Tata Sons had earlier sought an exemption from the upper-layer NBFC category, but there are indications from the RBI that such an exemption may not be granted.
The upcoming Tata Trusts meeting assumes significance against that backdrop. A Tata Sons meeting is also slated to come up in June to discuss several important issues that may redraw the direction of the group.
