Neville Tata, the son of Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, has been inducted into the board of Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts (SDTT), the largest of the various Tata philanthropic entities.
The induction of 32-year-old Neville comes a little over a year after his father Noel was appointed the chairman of Tata Trusts, a couple of days after the death of Ratan Tata in October 2024.
The Tata Trusts hold a 66 per cent stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the auto to semiconductors conglomerate. While Noel Tata chairs the Tata Trusts, N. Chandrasekaran has been the chairman of Tata Sons.
The Trusts had been facing a tussle among the various trustees in the recent months over the appointments of nominee directors on the Tata Sons board. Neville's appointment perhaps signals Noel Tata strengthening his leadership at the Tata Trusts.
Neville has already been a part of the JRD Tata Trust and the Tata Social Welfare Trust.
He has also been part of Tata Group's fashion and retail arm, Trent, since 2016. He has been part of various verticals in Trent, starting with the packaged foods division and then going on to its fast fashion brand Zudio, which has emerged as one of the largest and fastest-growing fashion apparel brands in the country. In 2024, he took over as the head of Star, Trent's supermarket business.
Apart from Noelle Tata, the SDTT board has also inducted Bhaskar Bhat as a trustee. Both appointments will be for a period of three years, effective November 12.
Bhat earlier headed Titan till 2019, where he oversaw the Tata group company's growth in the watches business and expansion into various categories like jewellery, perfumes and sarees.
The SDTT board also decided to appoint Venu Srinivasan as trustee for a period of three years, with effect from November 12, in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, and to designate him as the vice-chairman of SDTT.
Venu Srinivasan is the chairman of TVS Motor. His tenure was revised to three years from a life term to comply with a new Maharashtra government rule that caps the number of lifetime trustees to one-fourth.
