Top Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) trustees have penned a strongly worded letter, calling out fellow trustees Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh for “undermining board resolutions” through their independent views that support the public listing of Tata Sons, the holding entity of the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group.
The letter, assessed by NDTV Profit, shows a significant escalation of internal friction within Tata Trusts, as the SDTT trustees have accused Srinavasan and Singh of “breaching fiduciary duties”.
The communication, signed by prominent SDTT trustees Noel N Tata, Darius J. Khambata, Neville N. Tata, and Bhaskar Bhat, noted that maintaining Tata Sons’ unlisted status has been the “settled position” of both the Trusts and the holding company for years.
The letter stated that Tata Sons Board had “decided and resolved unanimously” in March 2024 to keep the company unlisted. This stance was further cemented in July 2025, when both SDTT and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) trustees unanimously resolved that Tata Sons should remain unlisted and actively engage with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the matter, it added.
The trustees noted that a recent September 28 proposal — to merge Tata Electronics Systems Solutions Private Limited (TESS) and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) with Tata Sons in order to bypass the NBFC principal business criteria — is “one such route” to preserve this long-standing unlisted status.
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The SDTT trustees pointed out that the July 2025 resolutions, which reiterated that Tata Sons would remain unlisted, “have not been rescinded.” They sharply marked their dissent that Srinivasan and Singh did not ask the trustees to reconsider these resolutions, nor did they bring their changed views on the listing forward for “collective deliberation.”
The public airing of individual views, the letter added, “undermined the Trusts’ resolutions” and also impacts Tata Sons’ pending application with the RBI.
The SDTT trustees further added that the Tata Sons Board had agreed to explore “all available options, and not listing alone” to comply with the RBI’s communications. It noted that the Board had specifically tasked Tata Trusts with working on options for regulatory compliance.
The letter categorically defended the Trusts’ ongoing efforts to find alternative routes to a public listing, stating: “The Tata Trusts did what the Board of Tata Sons asked of them.”
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