Mistry’s October 19 proposal for Srinivasan’s reappointment marks the first use of the 2024 framework, which approved Noel Tata’s leadership structure and institutionalized lifetime terms.
With the passage of a historic governance resolution on October 17, 2024, which eliminated term restrictions for all trustees, Venu Srinivasan and Mehli Mistry will be lifelong trustees of Tata Trusts. This week, on October 19, 2025, Mistry officially recommended Srinivasan’s reappointment, which reflects the first use of the new structure.
The trustees unanimously decided that each member would be reappointed at the end of their term “without any limit being attached to the period of reappointment and in accordance with law,” according to the confidential minutes of the joint meeting of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust held a year ago and examined by Moneycontrol.
The resolution marked a significant change in the governance of the Tata Trusts, which together own the majority of Tata Sons. It said, “The Trustees accept that they are all equally accountable, entrusted with public duty and explicitly instructed by Mr. Ratan N Tata.”
The October 2024 resolution essentially institutionalized lifelong trusteeships by eliminating term limitations; review will only take place when a member is 75. In order to maintain stability and continuity in the Trusts’ leadership throughout the post-Ratan Tata period, the minutes characterize the decision as a “moment of transition between two eras.”
Saturday saw the circulation of the resolution about Srinivasan’s reappointment.
The tenure of trustees Venu Srinivasan and Mehli Mistry are up for renewal this week, which might be crucial for Tata Trusts and, therefore, for Tata Sons. These positions are essentially permanent if accepted. In an effort to extend Srinivasan’s tenure as trustee and vice-chairman of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) board, Tata Trusts issued a resolution on Saturday, October 18. His current term expires on Monday.
The paper dated October 17, 2024, also said that a centralized framework connecting the Trusts and Tata Sons was established as a result of the governance change. It gave Noel Tata, Mehli Mistry, Venu Srinivasan, and Vijay Singh the authority to form an executive committee that would make all important decisions about Tata Sons’ ownership stake and the Trusts’ day-to-day operations.
It also ruled out any overlap between the chairmanships of Tata Sons and Tata Trusts, and it supported Noel Tata’s dual roles as a director on the Tata Sons board and chairman of Tata Trusts.
These clauses are “interlinked and interwoven,” the resolution from a year earlier stressed, and any deviation would “change the basis of the future governance system” after Ratan Tata’s term. Any trustee who votes against these widely accepted values “would be in violation of their pledge and is not fit and competent to serve on Tata Trusts,” the statement said.
Mehli Mistry’s official request and Srinivasan’s reappointment earlier this week, according to those familiar with the situation, give practical force to the 2024 resolution, indicating that the lifespan extension process has now started.
By putting Noel Tata at the center of a long-term governance model that unites the Trusts and Tata Sons in a single framework, the action solidifies the continuity plan that Ratan Tata had in mind.
The framework, if fully implemented, would provide its trustees extraordinary tenure security and solidify Tata Trusts’ dominance over Tata Sons. This change might define the group’s power dynamics for decades.