Noel Tata faces a new challenge as two vice-chairmen of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust questioned his restructuring plan. In a 30 September letter, they said, "The institutional position of SDTT must be distinguished from the views of any individual trustee." They also flagged governance issues to a provincial regulator.
Noel Tata is finding himself in a new problem in the midst of the Tata Sons boardroom battle, with two vice-chairmen of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust claiming that he advanced a restructuring plan without any consultation, Bloomberg reported based on a letter the duo sent to the trustees of 30 September.
In their letter, they wrote, "No meeting of the Trustees of SDTT was held," and added that the communication that was issued regarding the restructuring was done in the Trust's name but cannot be considered as the collective decision of the institution.
Srinivasan and Singh also approached a provincial regulator in order to flag their issues with the SDTT governance, as per a petition filed in Maharashtra, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.
The SDTT is among the 13 charities that together make up the Tata Trusts, the group which is the majority shareholder of Tata Sons, with equity of 66%. It is thus the holding company of the sprawling conglomerate which owns valuable brands like the Taj hotels, Air India, Jaguar Land Rover, and others.
Noel Tata is the chairman of Tata Trusts.
The communication that Srinivasan and Singh have objections with refers to a 28th September letter from Noel in which the board of Tata Trusts has been urged to consider as well as approve a strategic reorganisation which wil help to potentially remove the tag of shadow-lender on Tata Sons and thus skirt a mandatory listing on the stock market.
"The institutional position of SDTT must be distinguished from the views of any individual trustee," the two vice chairs wrote as they stressed that decisions of this magnitude need "collective deliberation and proper governance process."
The also said that the issue regarding listing is not new for the group, and recalled that the Tata Trusts had to face a similar issue during the tenure of Ratan Tata. At that time, they wrote, it was agreed upon that "Trusts were not in the business of running a business," a principle they believe is being put at risk.
Noel Tata, on the other hand, fears that a listing would dilute the ability of Tata Sons to fend off any attempts at hostile takeover of units of Tata Group. There are around two dozen listed Tata entities which had a combined revenue of $185 billion in the year ended March 2026.