Maya and Leah Tata join SRTII board, marking next-gen entry into Tata Trusts

Noel Tata's daughters appointed to Ratan Tata Institute's board (Image credit: News18)

Maya and Leah Tata, daughters of Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, have been inducted into the board of trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Industrial Institute (SRTII), a key subset of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. According to a report by The Economic Times, this trust is one of the two principal shareholders of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company.

The two sisters will replace outgoing trustees Arnaz Kotwal and Freddy Talati, who stepped down to make way for their appointments. This move brings all three of Noel Tata’s children onto the boards of the smaller Tata Trusts, though they have yet to be inducted into the two main trusts—the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Allied Trusts, and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Allied Trusts.

Outgoing trustee Arnaz Kotwal expressed disappointment with the process in a letter to fellow trustees, as cited by The Economic Times. Kotwal, who works with VFS Global in Dubai, wrote, “I was saddened that none of you reached out to speak with me directly about this matter.”

The second outgoing trustee, Freddy Talati, currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA).

Sources familiar with the matter stated that the appointments of Maya and Leah Tata were made in line with SRTII’s ongoing renovation and upgradation initiatives. The Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), which has the authority to nominate three of the six members of SRTII’s board, stressed that there's the need for trustees with prior experience in managing the institute’s affairs and who are locally based in Mumbai.

The SRTT board, which unanimously approved the appointments, comprises Noel Tata, Vijay Singh, Venu Srinivasan, Darius Khambata, Jehangir H. Jehangir, and Mehli Mistry.

Maya Tata, who started her career with Tata Capital, is currently part of the team managing the Tata Neu app under Tata Digital. Leah Tata, a Vice President at Indian Hotels, holds a master’s degree in marketing from IE Business School.