Tata Trusts inducts chair Noel Tata’s son Neville on the principal trust

Tata Trusts on Tuesday appointed Noel Tata’s son Neville Noel Tata and Bhaskar Bhat to the board of Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts. It is the largest Tata philanthropic entity, owning 27.98% of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $300 billion Tata Group.

Neville, 32, is now arguably the charity’s youngest trustee. His appointment comes 11 months after his father Noel became chairman of Tata Trusts. This comes less than 48 hours after Ratan Tata’s death on October 9 last year.

“The Board of Trustees of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) held a meeting today and unanimously approved the appointment of Mr. Bhaskar Bhat and Mr. Neville Tata as Trustees for a period of 3 years from 12 November 2025,” Tata Trusts said in a statement. he said.

“The Board has also decided to appoint Mr. Venu Srinivasan as Trustee for a period of 3 years from 12 November 2025 and appoint him as Deputy Chairman of SDTT, in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements,” Tata Trusts said. he said.

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Last year Neville Tata was appointed business head of Trent Ltd’s grocery business Star.

Meanwhile, apart from being the chairman of Tata Trusts and a board member of Tata Sons, Noel Tata is also the chairman of Trent Ltd, Tata International and Tata Investment Corp.

Recent developments at Tata Trusts underscore Noel’s strengthening of control over philanthropic organisations. These entities own 65.9% of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $300 billion Tata empire. Noel first received approval to become permanent trustee in January. In October, Noel and vice-chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh opposed the continuation of Ratan Tata confidant Mehli Mistry on the board of Tata Trusts.

With the participation of Bhat and Neville, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) has seven members, while Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) has six members.

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Noel Tata, TVS Motor Corp. its chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan and retired defense minister Vijay Singh are members of both the trusts. Former Citibank India chief executive officer (CEO) Pramit Jhaveri and Mumbai-based lawyer Darius Khambata serve as SDTT members.

Khambata and Jehangir HC Jehangir, a Pune-based philanthropist, are members of SRTT. Ratan Tata’s brother, Jimmy N. Tata, is the sixth trustee of SRTT. Due to his advanced age, he no longer participates in the activities of charitable organizations.

Bhat left the Tata Sons board last year, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Formerly Titan Co. He was the CEO of Ltd. During Bhat’s 19-year tenure from April 1, 2002 to September 30, 2019, Titan’s revenue grew as follows: ₹700 crore ₹15,000 crore.

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Bhat is also one of the few Tata Group executives who managed to join the board of Tata Trusts. He was one of the few senior Tata leaders to openly support Ratan Tata after Cyrus Mistry was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016.

In the final years of Ratan Tata’s tenure, Neville was spending time with the business doyen, whom several family members referred to as a mentor.