Venu Srinivasan Takes Tata Trusts Dispute to Charity Commissioner, Questions Noel Tata's Chairmanship

The boardroom struggle over the future of Tata Sons has moved to a new venue. Venu Srinivasan, a trustee of Tata Trusts and one of its nominee directors on the Tata Sons board, has reportedly written to the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner seeking an inquiry into how the group's two most powerful trusts are being run, according to reports on Wednesday.

The complaint, first reported by The Economic Times and later by CNBC-TV18, targets the governance of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Together, the Tata Trusts own roughly 66 per cent of Tata Sons, the unlisted holding company that controls the Tata Group. These are allegations attributed to Srinivasan; the Charity Commissioner has made no findings.

What the complaint questions

According to the reports, Srinivasan's letter raises three appointment-related issues:

• the basis on which Noel Tata holds the status of a perpetual trustee;
• the grounds for his chairmanship of Tata Trusts, which he took over after Ratan Tata's death in October 2024;
• the appointment of Noel Tata's son, Neville Tata, as a trustee.

Srinivasan is also said to have argued that the Trusts have become too closely involved in Tata Sons' commercial decisions, including identifying and negotiating major transactions. In his view, that sits uneasily with SDTT's charitable objectives and could put its tax-exempt status and corpus at risk. He has reportedly asked for the suspension or removal of trustees if the regulator finds grounds for it, and has complained of being excluded from key decisions.

Why this escalation matters

Srinivasan and Noel Tata have been on opposite sides of the central question facing the group: whether Tata Sons should list on the stock exchanges. Srinivasan has backed a listing, while Noel Tata has opposed it. The two have also differed over the reappointment of N Chandrasekaran as Tata Sons chairman, and the Trusts had earlier tried, unsuccessfully, to stop Srinivasan from voting on certain matters at the Tata Sons board.

The Charity Commissioner oversees public trusts in Maharashtra and has powers over trustee conduct. By approaching that office, Srinivasan has moved the dispute out of the boardroom and into a regulatory forum whose decisions could affect who controls the Trusts.

This comes two days after the Trusts proposed folding two operating businesses into Tata Sons so it would no longer be classified as a non-banking financial company, a plan we covered in detail when it was announced.

Trusts separate the SP Group question

Also on Wednesday, Tata Trusts sought to draw a line between that restructuring and the Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group's need for cash. Farokh Subedar, a consultant to the Trusts, said they were working with Tata Sons and the SP Group on roughly Rs 25,000 crore of liquidity, which he put at about half of the SP Group's debt, and stressed that this was a separate subject from the restructuring proposal.

Subedar indicated the SP Group's 18.37 per cent stake in Tata Sons would fall only slightly under that arrangement, suggesting the goal is liquidity rather than an exit. The SP Group has long been seen as a supporter of a listing, since it would give the family a market route to monetise its holding.

What comes next

Attention now turns to whether the Charity Commissioner takes up the complaint, how Tata Trusts responds, and whether the Reserve Bank engages with the restructuring plan. Each of these could shape whether Tata Sons stays private, and who ultimately gets to decide.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.