Tata Trusts is said to have appointed Chairman Noel Tata’s son Neville Tata and Tata Group veteran Bhaskar Bhat to the board of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, in what is seen a “consolidation of control” by Noel Tata.
The appointments, first reported by The Economic Times on Tuesday, come days after Mehli Mistry exited the Tata Trusts board. Separately, the tenure of Venu Srinivasan has been revised from a life term to three years, following a mandate by the Maharashtra government that capped the number of lifetime trustees on the board of a philanthropic organisation.
HT.com has not independently verified this information.
Who is Neville Tata?
A graduate of Bayes Business School, Neville Tata (32) joined Trent Ltd. in 2016 in the packaged foods and beverages vertical but quickly went on to lead Zudio—India’s very own fast-fashion brand and one of the biggest success stories in India’s apparel-retail industry.
To be sure, Neville Tata is already on the boards of JRD Tata Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust and RD Tata Trust. Sources told ET that he could also be inducted into Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which along with Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts holds 51% stake in Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd.—the holding company of India’s most reputed conglomerate led by Natarajan Chandrasekaran.
Essentially, Neville Tata is now among the most important people in the Tata Group, with age and a influential surname on his side.
Who is Bhaskar Bhat?
A Tata Group veteran and historian, Bhaskar Bhat joined ‘The Tata Watch Project’—which later became The Titan Co. Ltd.—in 1983. During his tenure as managing director from 2002 until retirement in 2019, Titan diversified into jewellery (Tanishq), eyewear (Titan Eye Plus) and sarees (Taniera).
Under him, Titan transformed from ₹727-crore watchmaker into a ₹19,960-crore lifestyle powerhouse. That gave the company a market capitalisation of ₹1.03 crore as against ₹202 crore when he became MD in 2002.
Bhat currently serves as a director on the boards of Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. and Lucas TVS Ltd., among others.