Mehli Mistry Challenges Tata Trusts' Decision: Inside the Power Struggle at India's Largest Corporate Group

Tata Sons is the investment holding company of the Tata Group (File).

Mumbai:

Mehli Mistry has challenged the decision not to extend his trusteeship at Tata Trusts before the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner, according to sources who spoke to NDTV Profit on Monday.

The power struggle within the nonprofit organization, which collectively controls approximately 66 percent of Tata Sons, intensified last week when Chairman Noel Tata, Venu Srinivasan, and Vijay Singh all voted against extending Mistry's tenure.

Mistry has presented to the Commissioner, who regulates philanthropic organizations in Maharashtra, that a resolution passed by the same Tata Trusts board in October last year effectively grants all existing trustees a lifetime appointment.

The resolution text, accessed by NDTV Profit, states that "on the expiry of tenure of any trustee, that trustee will be re-appointed without any limit being attached to period of tenure in accordance with the law."

However, sources informed news agency PTI that renewals "are required to be unanimous, per past practice" and that "renewal for life requires unanimous approval," suggesting Mistry's appointment as a trustee-for-life needs endorsement from other trustees.

If the vote to remove Mistry stands, his ejection from the board could potentially resolve a rift that many business analysts believed might undermine the stability of the Tata Group, a corporate giant whose listed entities have an estimated total market capitalization of Rs 25 lakh crore.

The conflict, which could impact strategic decisions at Tata Sons (the principal holding company of the Tata Group), emerged during a September 11 board meeting discussing the reappointment of former Defense Secretary Vijay Singh as a nominee-director.

Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and trustee Srinivasan (also Chairman Emeritus of the TVS Group) proposed extending Singh's term. However, four others—Mistry, Pramit Jhaveri, Jehangir HC Jehangir, and Darius Khambata—opposed it, leading to the resolution's rejection.

This situation unfolded amid speculation that Mistry and his supporters are attempting to undermine Noel Tata, who was appointed Chairman following Ratan Tata's death in October last year.

Sources indicated that Mistry's faction claims exclusion from key decision-making processes and advocates for increased transparency and corporate governance reforms.

Mistry's five-year term expired today.

Before renewing Srinivasan's trusteeship, the board also extended N Chandrasekaran's term as Tata Sons Chairman. He will continue in this position until 2032, NDTV Profit was informed.

Concerns regarding the Tata Trusts rift and its potential impact on the group have reached the highest levels of government. Senior Tata executives, including Noel Tata and Chandrasekaran, met with Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this month.

The ministers strongly advised Tata officials to maintain institutional stability within the trust and group, and to resolve differences internally, according to people familiar with the development.

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