Dr Homi Bhabha explaining the TIFR building model to Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. To the left of Dr Bhabha is JRD Tata and his wife Thelma Tata is standing beside Pandit Nehru. Courtesy: TATA
22 October 2026

TIFR and the Tata Trust

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The tussle between the directors on the Tata Sons’ board has drawn attention to the company’s largest shareholder: the Tata Trusts. The Trusts hold a 66% stake in Tata Sons and have pushed back against diluting it through a public listing. A look at the vision for and establishment of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay, supported by the Trusts, underscores the pioneering philanthropy the Tatas always practised.

TATAs Courtesy: Gateway House
14 October 2026

Ratan Tata remembered: Trust over commerce

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The Tata group faces one of the biggest challenges in its history: the preservation or dismantling of the mandate of the Tata Trusts in favour of investors whose primary objective is financial returns. On the second anniversary of Ratan Tata’s death, it is worth remembering that those who carried the name of Tata in their Trusts, believed foremost in “giving India what it needs.”