MC EXCLUSIVE Tata Trusts’ board meetings on October 10 to review funding proposals for healthcare projects

The Tata Trusts collectively hold over 60 percent of Tata Sons

The Tata Trusts, which own more than 60 percent of Tata Sons, are expected to review funding proposals for at least three healthcare projects at their October 10 board meeting, part of their regular philanthropic agenda, according to people familiar with the matter.

There is no proposal before the Tata Trusts to reconsider or review the board position of Venu Srinivasan, the Trusts’ nominee director on the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, at its board meeting scheduled for October 10, according to the meeting agenda reviewed by Moneycontrol.

This assumes significance amid friction among two sections of the trustees. The current chairman, Noel Tata, is understood to favour Srinivasan’s continuation on the Tata Sons board, while a section of trustees is reportedly less supportive of him.

As Moneycontrol had reported earlier, some trustees — Mehli Mistry,  Pramit Jhaveri, Darius Khambatta and Jehangir HC Jehangir — have raised questions about the implementation of Article 121A of Tata Sons’ Articles of Association, which outlines the fiduciary responsibilities of the Tata Trusts in approving major financial decisions of the holding company.

The same group of trustees had earlier clashed with Noel Tata and Venu Srinivasan over the reappointment of Vijay Singh on the Tata Sons board as a nominee director of the Trusts at a meeting on September 11. Vijay Singh, a former defence Secretary, resigned as a Tata Sons’ director last month.

The reappointment to the Tata Sons board was necessitated by a key resolution passed last year after Noel Tata’s appointment as chairman, which required nominee directors to be reappointed every year once they turn 75.

Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of the TVS Group, is a veteran industrialist with over four decades of experience in India’s automotive sector. He was inducted into the Tata Sons board as a nominee of the Tata Trusts in 2021, a move widely interpreted as an attempt to bring seasoned industrial insight and an independent perspective to the boardroom of the country’s most influential conglomerate.

“Dissenting board members are keen to be seen as a stabilizing factor and do not want this episode to be viewed as an attempt to undermine or challenge Noel Tata’s authority as chairman of the Tata Trusts,” said a person directly aware of the internal deliberations. “Their position is that while maintaining fiduciary oversight on all decisions taken by him on behalf of the Trusts, they want to ensure that governance standards are not compromised ”the person said.

At the September 11 board meeting the four trustees had also nominated Mehli Mistry as a replacement for Singh. This was opposed by Noel Tata and Srinivasan, according to media reports, following which the four trustees did not press the matter.

It is not clear if the board of Tata Trusts will either revisit Singh’s position or discuss the appointment of a replacement for him at Friday’s meeting. No item relating to appointment of nominee directors on the Tata Sons Board is currently on the agenda.