Neville Tata, Bhaskar Bhat join Sir Dorabji Tata Trust board; tenure of Venu Srinivasan revised

Tata Trusts has appointed Neville Tata, son of chairman Noel Tata, and group veteran Bhaskar Bhat as trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), the single-largest shareholder with 27.98% ownership in Tata Sons.

Both Neville Tata, 32, and Bhat, the former managing director of Titan, will serve a three-year term, Tata Trusts said after a meeting of the SDTT board held on Tuesday at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

The Board of Trustees' decision to appoint the 32-year-old Neville, who is reported to have joined his father's business Trent in 2016 and has been leading the successful clothing retail chain Zudio, was unanimous, as per a statement.

The board also revised the tenure of trustee Venu Srinivasan from a lifetime appointment to three years, in compliance with a new Maharashtra government rule that limits the number of perpetual trustees in any trust to one-fourth of its total board strength.

Srinivasan has also been designated as the vice chairman of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, the statement said.

The meeting saw the disbanding of the Trusts’ executive committee, previously comprising Ratan Tata, Srinivasan, Vijay Singh and former trustee Mehli Mistry, which means the CEO of Tata Trusts will now report directly to chairman Noel Tata.

Neville Tata’s induction is widely seen as Noel consolidating his grip on the trusts holding his family name.

After earning a degree from Bayes Business School, London, he joined Trent Ltd in 2016, beginning with the packaged foods and beverages division before going on to head Zudio, the value fashion chain that has become one of India’s fastest-growing apparel brands.

He recently completed an MBA from INSEAD Business School, Singapore.

He currently serves on the boards of the JRD Tata Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust and RD Tata Trust, and officials indicated that he could eventually join the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT).

Bhat’s appointment is seen as the first of several possible moves to bring in senior Tata veterans as trustees.

An alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad, Bhat joined the Tata group in 1983 through the Tata Watch Project, which later evolved into Titan.

As Titan’s managing director from 2002 to 2019, he oversaw the company’s diversification into jewellery, eyewear, fragrances, accessories and sarees (under Taneira), steering it to become the group’s second-largest listed firm by market capitalisation.

The appointments come amid the implementation of the Maharashtra Public Trusts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, which restricts perpetual trusteeships and introduces five-year caps on tenure-based trustees where trust deeds are silent.