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Mehli Mistry exits Tata Trusts, says ‘nobody’s bigger than the institution’
Mehli Mistry, in his exit letter, says his commitment to the late Ratan Tata includes a responsibility to ensure Tata Trusts are not plunged into controversy.
Mehli Mistry has decided to move on Tata Trusts, according to his letter to other trustees, effectively bringing an end to a tussle that threatened to destabilise the decision-making body of the largest conglomerate in India.
In the letter, which was addressed to Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata as well, Mehli Mistry said that his commitment to the late Ratan Tata included a responsibility to ensure that the Tata Trusts are not plunged into controversy, according to an India Today report on Tuesday.
“Therefore, in the spirit of Mr Ratan N. Tata, who always put public interest before his own, I hope that the actions of the other trustees going forward will be guided by the principles of transparency, good governance, and public interest,” he wrote. “I part ways with a quote that Mr. Ratan N. Tata used to say to me, ‘Nobody is bigger than the institution it serves’.”
On 28 October 2025, Noel Tata, along with trustees Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh, blocked the reappointment of Mehli Mistry as a “trustee for life”. The three other trustees—former Citibank India CEO Pramit Jhaveri, Mumbai-based lawyer Darius Khambata and Pune-based philanthropist Jehangir H.C. Jehangir—voted in favour.
Mehli Mistry’s term as a Tata Trusts trustee had ended a day earlier.
