Trusts to protect value of stake in Tata Sons: R Venkataramanan

MUMBAI: The Managing Trustee of the Tata Trusts, R Venkataramanan — who has found himself in ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry’s line of fire — has said Tata Trusts will do all it takes to protect the value of its stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software Tata Group.

In an exclusive interview with ET Magazine, Venkataramanan said: “Our main asset is our holding in Tata Sons and we will have to do whatever it takes to ensure that the value of that asset doesn’t go down. In our fiduciary capacity as trustees, we have to take responsibility for that asset.”

Venkataramanan, or Venkat as he is popularly known, has found himself in the spotlight ever since the Tata Sons board removed Cyrus Mistry from its chairmanship on October 24 and brought back Ratan Tata as interim chairman. He is a trustee on all the key Tata Trusts and has operational oversight over all of them. He is regarded as one of Ratan Tata’s key aides and a potential rising star in the house of Tatas.

The Tata Trusts own 66% of Tata Sons.

Venkataramanan is the former executive assistant of Ratan Tata who moved to the trusts in August 2013. Originally with VSNL, Venkat joined the Tata Group in 2003 when the company was acquired by the Tatas. His stint with the group has not been continuous as he spent three years in Doha. He has two decades of experience in corporate finance and strategy.

Since his retirement from Tata Sons in December 2012, Ratan Tata has reorganised the disparate set of charitable trusts, with Venkataramanan as the key executive overseeing the operations.

“Each trust is an independent legal entity created by the trust's respective deed; some of the Tata Trusts have common objective that are aligned to certain charitable goals, while some have flexibility,” Venkataramanan said.

He has been accused by Mistry on two counts — for his role in allegedly recommending loans given to controversial businessman C Sivasankaran while on the Tata Capital board which subsequently turned bad and for allegedly opposing a probe into fraudulent transactions in AirAsia, Tata’s aviation joint venture with AirAsia Berhad.