Tata Trust chairman Noel Tata's daughters Maya and Leah Tata have been inducted into the board of trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Industrial Institute (SRTII), a major subset of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Economic Times. The trust is one of the two major shareholders of conglomerate Tata Sons.
The sisters have replaced outgoing trustees Arnaz Kotwal and Freddie Talathi, making way for new appointments. With the move, all three of Noel Tata's children are now represented on the boards of smaller Tata trusts, but they are yet to be included in the two main trusts — Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Elied Trust, and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Elied Trust.
Transition creates an internal rift
The transition has not been without controversy. Outgoing trustee Arnaz Kotwal wrote to his fellow trustees expressing his displeasure with the process, saying he was blindsided by the demand to resign. Kotwal, who currently lives in Dubai and works with VFS Global, wrote, “I regret that none of you came to speak to me directly about this matter,” the report quoted him as saying.
The other departing trustee, Freddy Talati, is now the Chief Operating Officer of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA).
Strategic appointments
According to an official familiar with the matter, the appointments of Leah and Maya Tata have been made to coincide with SRTII's ongoing restructuring and improvement plans. The Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), which has the power to nominate three of the six SRTII board members, emphasized the need for trustees who have prior experience in managing the affairs of SRTII and are locally based in Mumbai.
The SRTT board, which unanimously approved the appointments, included Noel Tata, Vijay Singh, Venu Srinivasan, Darius Khambatta, Jehangir H. Includes Jehangir and Mehli Mistry.
The involvement of Maya and Leah Tata, both millennials, is seen as a strategic move to prepare the next generation for bigger roles within the Tata Group.
Maya Tata, who started her career at Tata Capital, is currently a member of the team managing the Tata Neu app under Tata Digital. Leah Tata, Vice President of Indian Hotels, holds a Masters in Marketing from IE Business School.