Tata Trusts accuse Srinivasan and Singh of undermining board resolutions

Senior trustees of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust have accused their colleagues Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh of undermining board resolutions and violating fiduciary responsibilities by publicly endorsing the listing of Tata Sons, the Tata Group's holding company.

A letter signed by trustees Noel N Tata, Darius J. Khambata, Neville N. Tata, and Bhaskar Bhat signals heightened internal conflict within Tata Trusts regarding the future of Tata Sons' ownership and listing status.

The trustees reiterated that Tata Sons' unlisted status has been a consistent position held by the Trusts and the company for several years.

In March 2024, the Tata Sons board unanimously resolved to maintain the company's unlisted status, a decision that both Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust reaffirmed unanimously in July 2025, agreeing to engage with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the matter.

The letter criticized Srinivasan and Singh for failing to seek reconsideration of these resolutions or to bring their support for listing to the trustees for collective discussion, highlighting that the July 2025 resolutions remain in effect.

public backing of a potential listing by Srinivasan and Singh was described as undermining the Trusts' resolutions and potentially impacting Tata Sons' pending application with the RBI.

The trustees referenced a proposal dated September 28 to merge Tata Electronics Systems Solutions Private Limited and Tata Consulting Engineers with Tata Sons as one possible solution to meet RBI's principal business criteria for non-banking financial companies while retaining an unlisted status.

The letter noted that the Tata Sons board had instructed the Trusts to consider all alternatives, not just public listing, to comply withRBI's directives.

"The Tata Trusts did what the Board of Tata Sons asked of them," the letter stated, defending their exploration of other options to avoid a public listing.

These events underscore growing disagreements among the trustees over whether Tata Sons should remain unlisted or proceed with a public listing to address RBI regulatory requirements.