Tata Trusts inducts Mehli Mistry as trustee; details here

Tata Trusts has named Mehli Mistry, cousin of late Cyrus Mistry, as a trustee of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the two main trusts of the Tata group. Mistry, who is a director of the Meherji Pallonji Group, has also been appointed as a trustee of the Tata Education and Development Trust. The move comes soon after the resignation of Tata Trusts’ chief executive N. Srinath. As per reports, both decisions were approved by the Tata Trusts board on Saturday. While a search is on for Srinath’s replacement, no frontrunner has emerged till date. Who is Mehli Mistry? Mehli Mistry runs about a dozen companies, ranging from paint distribution to automotive dealerships. He was named a trustee of Tata Medical Center in 2014. The centre runs a cancer care research centre and hospital in Kolkata. Mistry is the estranged first cousin of Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Sons chairman. The two had a falling out after Cyrus Mistry’s relationship with Ratan Tata and the Tata Group worsened, which ultimately led to him being ousted as the chairman of the group. Mehli threw his weight behind Ratan Tata, whom he is close to. He bought 25 million shares of Tata Power for Rs 200 crore during the height of the controversy, with many experts interpreting it as a sign of his support to the Tata Group. What the induction of Mehli Mistry implies: Mistry’s induction comes just months after Noel Tata, Ratan Tata’s half-brother, joined the board of Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts in February this year. The move is seen as a part of the succession plans by Ratan Tata. “The appointments are part of Ratan Tata’s larger objective to ensure that larger critical causes are pursued by the Trusts in areas such as malnutrition, cancer treatment, sanitisation and education. He has been making it very clear that goals must be bigger and impactful and that energies cannot be wasted on smaller projects. The addition of people on the trusts are those who are competent and have the right experience and knowledge to help the Trust do that,” a highly placed official told The Economic Times. Presently, Tata Trusts owns about 66 per cent of the holding company of the organisation- Tata Sons. Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust have the largest stakes- 27.97 per cent and 23.54 per cent, respectively. Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motors and former civil servant Vijay Singh are the vice chairmen of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.