New Delhi — Senior trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust have accused fellow trustees Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh of undermining board resolutions and breaching their fiduciary duties by publicly supporting a potential listing of Tata Sons.
According to a media report, the letter was signed by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust trustees Noel N. Tata, Darius J. Khambata, Neville N. Tata and Bhaskar Bhat and reflects growing internal differences within Tata Trusts over the future ownership and listing status of Tata Sons.
The trustees said maintaining Tata Sons as an unlisted company had long been the settled position of both the Trusts and the company.
The Tata Sons board unanimously decided in March 2024 to retain the company’s unlisted status. Trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust reaffirmed that position in July 2025 and agreed to engage with the Reserve Bank of India on the matter.
The trustees said those July 2025 resolutions had not been withdrawn.
They criticized Srinivasan and Singh for not seeking reconsideration of the earlier decisions or formally presenting their changed views on a possible listing for discussion by the full body of trustees.
According to the letter, public statements supporting a Tata Sons listing undermined the Trusts’ existing resolutions and could also affect the company’s pending application with the RBI.
The trustees also cited a September 28 proposal to merge Tata Electronics Systems Solutions Private Limited and Tata Consulting Engineers with Tata Sons as one possible way to help the company address the RBI’s principal business criteria for non-banking financial companies while remaining unlisted.
The Tata Sons board had asked the Trusts to explore all available options for complying with RBI requirements rather than focusing solely on a public listing, according to the report.
“The Tata Trusts did what the Board of Tata Sons asked of them,” the trustees said in the letter, defending efforts to identify alternatives to a listing.
The dispute highlights widening differences within Tata Trusts over whether Tata Sons should remain privately held or pursue a public listing as the company works to meet regulatory requirements set by the RBI. (Source: IANS)
