MC EXCLUSIVE Neville Tata set to join Sir Ratan Tata Trust as board meets on Saturday; no word yet on Bhaskar Bhat

Tata Grouo

• Neville Tata likely to be appointed trustee at Sir Ratan Tata Trust on Saturday
• Bhaskar Bhat's nomination for SRTT dropped, only Neville Tata's name considered
• Trustee appointments signal shifting alignments within Tata Trusts

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A board meeting of one of Tata Trusts’ most influential entities — the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) — scheduled for Saturday is likely to see the appointment of Neville Tata as a trustee while the name of   Bhaskar Bhat, the former managing director of Titan Company, may not come up for consideration at this meeting, according to people familiar with the matter.

The proposed change reflects a broader convergence of views among key stakeholders on how trustee representation should be structured across the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Tata Trusts insiders said.

Earlier, proposals had envisaged both Neville Tata and Bhaskar Bhat being inducted into the boards of SRTT and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT). However, under the revised arrangement that is expected to be placed before the SRTT board on Saturday, only Neville Tata’s name is being put forward for SRTT, while Bhat’s nomination has been dropped from that trust, at least for the time being,  these people said.

Bhat is one of the most respected professional executives within the Tata ecosystem, having led Titan through a period of strong growth and brand consolidation.

November meeting fallout

The renewed focus on trustee appointments comes against the backdrop of unresolved issues stemming from the last round of inductions in November, when Neville Tata and Bhaskar Bhat were both cleared by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for appointment, but the parallel move at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust did not go through. At the time, the two trusts were meant to consider a common slate of nominees, including Neville Tata for a three-year term and Bhat as a professional trustee.

While the Sir Dorabji Trust proceeded with those appointments on November 11, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust did not take up the proposals at its meeting that day after objections were reportedly raised by trustee Venu Srinivasan over how the items had been placed before the board.

As a result, neither Neville Tata nor Bhaskar Bhat was inducted into the Sir Ratan Tata Trust in that round. Srinivasan’s objections were first reported by Mint on November 13.

The development is notable because Noel Tata and Srinivasan had previously been viewed as broadly aligned during the internal disagreements that preceded the exit of long-time trustee Mehli Mistry.

The ouster of Mistry in October followed a period of disagreements between the trustees. Mistry, supported by trustees Darius Khambata, Jehangir H. C. Jehangir and Pramit Jhaveri, had raised concerns over how information was being shared within the Trusts, according to people aware of those exchanges. Those concerns were discussed in Trust meetings held in September and earlier.

Vijay Singh, one of the trustees, was not renominated to the Tata Sons board after these four trustees opposed his continuation at a meeting of the trustees on September 11.

Srinivasan was reappointed to the Trusts at the November 11 meeting, initially for a life term, which was later reduced to three years in line with Maharashtra government rules. That was the same meeting at which Neville Tata was inducted into the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.

Against this backdrop, Srinivasan’s position on Neville Tata’s induction into the Sir Ratan Tata Trust has led some insiders to observe that earlier alignments within the Trusts may now be shifting, though it remains unclear how significant that change will prove.

The Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust together hold about two-thirds of Tata Sons, making trustee appointments at these entities critical to the governance of the $350-billion Tata Group. The outcome of Saturday’s board meeting will therefore be closely watched for what it signals about the evolving balance of influence within India’s most powerful philanthropic and corporate trust structure.

The Tata Trusts did not respond to Moneycontrol’s queries seeking comment.