Former Citibank India CEO Pramit Jhaveri not to seek another term at Sir Dorab Tata Trust

His term expires on February 11.

Jhaveri wrote to Noel Tata on Saturday: “I have been serving as a Trustee of the Sir Dorab Tata Foundation (SDTT) since 12 February 2020, when Mr. Ratan N. Tata invited me to join as a Trustee. To let you know that, as discussed with you a few days ago, I do not wish to be considered for re-appointment as a Trustee of SDTT when my current term ends on 11 February 2026.” I’m writing.”

It would make Jhaveri the second trustee to leave the charity that owns Tata Group in the last three months, underlining differences between trustees since current chairman Noel Tata takes over in October 2024.

The departure of Jhaveri, who sat on SDTT’s board six years ago, comes at a time when chairman Noel Tata wants all trustees to agree to appoint his son Neville Tata as another director of Tata Trusts and consolidate his control over charitable organisations. Neville’s appointment requires unanimous approval from all trustees.

An email to Tata Trusts and Jhaveri seeking comment remained unanswered at the time of publishing this story.

Last year’s dispute

In October last year, Mehli Mistry, a businessman and one of the late Ratan Tata’s closest confidants, was forced to resign after Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motor Co., and retired defense minister Vijay Singh opposed the reappointment of Noel Tata through SDTT and another leading trust, Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT). The two trusts together own more than 51% of Tata Sons.

This was a rare occurrence as appointments of trustees in Tata Trusts were made by consensus.

Jhaveri, along with six others, only served as trustees at SDTT. Chairman Noel, Srinivasan, Singh and Supreme Court lawyer Darius Khambata, along with Noel’s son Neville and former Tata Sons board member and Titan Co. Ltd’s CEO, Bhaskar Bhat, was appointed to the foundation’s board of directors in November. Tata Sons is the holding company of the group.

Noel, Srinivasan, Singh and Khambata are also on the board of trustees of SRTT. Besides these, the two trustees are Ratan Tata’s brother Jimmy N Tata and Pune-based philanthropist Jehangir HC.

SDTT and SRTT hold 27.98% and 23.56% shares of Tata Sons respectively. Other small foundations hold 14.4 percent, while philanthropic organizations are given a majority stake of 65.9 percent in the holding company of the diversified Tata Group. The remaining shares are held by Shapoorji Pallonji Group (18.38%), nine Tata Group companies (12.86%) and seven individuals (2.87%).

The latest development reflects a lack of consensus among the Board of Trustees, which has led to Jhaveri not seeking renewal on the board, according to an executive with knowledge of the development.

Meanwhile, in September last year, Jhaveri, Mistry and Khambata collectively opposed Singh’s representation on the board of Tata Sons, chaired by Natarajan Chandrasekaran. This led to Singh’s ouster as the Tata Trusts nominee on the Tata Sons board. Tata Trusts may nominate a maximum of three trustees to the board of directors of the group holding company.

Incomplete consensus, big decisions

For now, Noel and Srinivasan serve as the two trust representatives on Tata Sons’ board; Besides chairman Chandrasekaran, the board also includes Tata Sons Group chief financial officer Saurabh Agrawal and independent directors Harish Manwani and Anita Marangoly George.

Issues of control and transparency are at the heart of simmering tensions within the Tata Trusts, which tapped Noel to lead philanthropic organizations following Rata Tata’s death on October 9, 2024. Noel is trying to assert his control over the assets. At the same time, some of the other members of the board of trustees believe that the representatives of the Tata Board of Trustees on the board of Tata Sons did not share with them the decisions taken by the board.

These differences spilled over into a closed-door board meeting on September 11, when Singh was removed as the Tata Trusts representative on Tata Sons’ board. The following month, Singh, along with Noel and Srinivasan, opposed Mistry’s continuation as a trustee on the SRTT and SDTT boards, prompting many, including Ratan Tata’s two sisters, to express their anguish and question whether the decisions were taken in a vindictive manner.

Things turned even darker when Srinivasan opposed the inclusion of Noel’s son Neville and Bhat on the SRTT board, followed by the cancellation of a key Tata Trusts board meeting earlier this month because Tata Board of Trustees members were unable to reach a unanimous decision on their inclusion in the Tata Trusts’ parent Trust.

Such unanimous consent is required for appointment and removal of trustees in Tata Trusts.

A dispute within Tata Trusts comes at a time when it is trying to keep Tata Sons private and is in talks with the Reserve Bank of India, which has mandated that all top non-banking finance companies (including Tata Sons) be listed on stock exchanges by September 2025. Tata Sons has six board members and expansion of the board will require Tata Trusts’ approval. Finally, Tata Sons also needs to provide an exit to its largest minority shareholder, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group.