Tata Trusts Tussle: Venu Srinivasan Reappointed as Trustee for Life, Spotlight Now on Mehli Mistry

After months of boardroom tussle at Tata Trusts, the trust has unanimously reappointed Venu Srinivasan as a trustee for life. Following that, the focus has now shifted to Mehli Mistry, whose current term is about to end soon.

This comes at a time when there were reports of rift among trustees over their tenures, with one faction taking side of Noel Tata, who took position as the chairman after Ratan Tata’s death and another faction aligning with Mistry, who has been loyalist to the late industrialist. Mistry is also related to the Shapoorji Pallonji family, who holds around 18 per cent stake in Tata Sons.

According to source cited in a PTI report, Srinivasan's tenure at Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, which is one of the two main trusts with the largest shareholding in Tata Sons, was supposed to end this week. However, he was reappointed unanimously, making him a lifetime trustee.

He is also a trustee at another core trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust and also holds the position of a nominee director on the board of Tata Sons.

Currently, the spotlight is on Mistry, who is allegedly at the centre of the Tata Trusts' split. A Business Standard report stated that Mistry’s current term at the two main trusts is set to end on October 28 and a circular seeking his reappointment is expected to be issued later this week.

However, the report further noted that the reappointment or renewal process requires the consensus of all trustees and even a single objection can block the reappointment.

However PTI reported that reappointments are generally automatic and apply to all trustees. Last year, a resolution was passed stating that upon the expiry of a trustee’s tenure, the concerned trust would reappoint them without any limit on the period of tenure.

As of now, there has been no instance of a trustee’s term being rejected at the time of renewal. The last reappointment at Tata Trusts was that of Noel Tata in January 2025, when he became a life trustee at the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. He also holds a life trusteeship at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

Currently, the board of trustees at Sir Dorabji Tata Trust includes industrialist Venu Srinivasan, former bureaucrat Vijay Singh, banker Pramit Jhaveri, businessman Mehli Mistry, senior lawyer Darius Khambata, and Noel Tata. On the board of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the trustees are Noel Tata, Srinivasan, Singh, Mistry, Khambata, along with Jehangir HC Jehangir, chairman of Jehangir Hospital in Pune, and Jimmy N Tata, Ratan Tata’s younger brother.