Noel Tata is facing a new challenge as two vice-chairmen of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Srinivasan and Singh, question the restructuring plan and governance process of Tata Trusts. According to a letter sent to the trustees on September 30, the duo claims that Noel Tata advanced a restructuring plan without any consultation.
The letter states that no meeting of the trustees was held, and the communication regarding the restructuring was done in the trust’s name but cannot be considered a collective decision. Srinivasan and Singh have also approached a provincial regulator in Maharashtra to flag their issues with the trust’s governance.
The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust is one of the 13 charities that make up the Tata Trusts, which is the majority shareholder of Tata Sons, holding 66% of the equity. Tata Sons is the holding company of the conglomerate that owns valuable brands such as Taj hotels, Air India, and Jaguar Land Rover.
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Noel Tata, the chairman of Tata Trusts, had sent a letter on September 28 urging the board to consider and approve a strategic reorganization that could potentially remove the tag of shadow-lender on Tata Sons and avoid a mandatory listing on the stock market.
Srinivasan has separately challenged Noel Tata’s status as a perpetual trustee, his reappointment as chairman in October 2024, and Tata Trusts’ heightened interference in the commercial affairs of Tata Sons. The issue regarding listing is not new for the group, and the two vice-chairs recalled that during Ratan Tata’s tenure, it was agreed that “trusts were not in the business of running a business.”
Noel Tata fears that a listing would dilute the ability of Tata Sons to fend off hostile takeovers of units of the Tata Group. There are around two dozen listed Tata entities, which had a combined revenue of $185 billion in the year ended March 2026.
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