With Ratan Tata's passing, who will head the all-powerful Tata Trusts?

Who will now head Tata Trusts, the philanthropic entities that hold the key to the sprawling Tata empire? It is not known yet if there are any clues hidden inside a sealed envelope which contains the final personal wishes of Ratan Tata. Tata Trusts may possibly seek to appoint an interim chairman until the trustees along with the Tata family take a final decision on the same. The chairman of Tata Trusts is elected through majority consent among the trustees.Ratan Tata was the last individual to wear two hats — chairman of Tata Trusts and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. This changed in 2022, when the Tata Sons board unanimously amended its Articles of Association (AoA) to ensure that the same person cannot hold both the positions. Though the Trusts comprises several foundations, the two main trusts — Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust — own nearly 66% of the group, which has a diverse portfolio ranging from aviation to automobiles.The death of Ratan Tata has sparked a fresh round of speculation in Corporate India on who would call the shots in the Trusts. In a submission to the Supreme Court, in the course of the legal feud with Cyrus Mistry, Ratan Tata had famously said: “I happen to be the current chairman of these trusts, it could be somebody else, not necessarily with the surname ‘Tata’, in the future. An individual’s life is finite whereas these organisations will continue.” 114110701Today, the men who matter in Tata Trusts are Venu Srinivasan of TVS and former defence secretary Vijay Singh, both of whom are vice-chairmen of Tata Trusts — they were both appointed to the position in 2018.Then there’s Mehli Mistry, a confidante of Ratan Tata. Mistry is the cousin of the late Cyrus Mistry, who was the former chairman of Tata Sons and younger son of the late Pallonji Mistry, who headed the Shapoorji Pallonji group that owns 18.4 % stake in Tata Sons.There’s also Trent chairman Noel Tata, who is the half-brother of Ratan Tata and the only person on the Trusts' boards to carry the ‘Tata’ surname. Noel was considered a potential candidate to take over as the chairman of Tata Sons after Tata’s tenure. However, the position was ultimately given to Cyrus Mistry, Noel’s brother-in-law. After Mistry’s controversial exit, the role of Tata Sons chairman and managing director was then assumed by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, a seasoned executive from TCS. He became the chairman of Tata Sons in February 2017. Chandrasekaran is also Tata Group chairman.Noel and Ratan Tata were not often spotted in each other’s company and preferred to keep their distance. However, in recent times, the half-brothers have bridged the gap between them to a large extent.Senior lawyer and one of the trustees, Darius Khambata, is understood to have advised Ratan Tata in drafting the succession plan. Unlike a trust deed, a will may not have the same legal heft in deciding the succession plan. Nonetheless, group insiders believe that the last wishes of Ratan Tata on the tricky issue of Tata Trusts succession could prevail for the sake of continuity. Also, what was not lost on the business world was the induction of Noel as a trustee on the boards of the two key trusts. The move was perceived by many as part of the succession planning exercise at Tata Trusts. medium nocaption114115241It’s no secret in Mumbai’s business circles that the members of the Parsi community who still exert some influence in the Tata ecosystem are in favour of someone from the community, preferably a Tata, to be the head of Trusts — a powerful, albeit little understood, position.Whoever does step into that role would have to preserve the relation between the Trusts and Tata Sons for stability in India’s largest business conglomerate.