Ratan Tata’s will leaves most of his Rs 3,800-crore assets to trusts

  A majority portion of the Rs 3,800-crore wealth of the former chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, has been allocated.

SNS | Mumbai | April 1, 2025 : A majority portion of the Rs 3,800-crore wealth of the former chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, has been allocated to charities, namely the Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation, a Section 8 company, as well as the Ratan Tata Endowment Trust, for philanthropic and charitable purposes, according to Tata Group sources.

Additionally, Tata’s secretary Ms Dilnaz Gilder will get Rs 10 lakh, while his domestic helps and drivers—Rajan Shaw & family and Subbaiah Konar—will receive Rs 50 lakh and Rs 30 lakh.

Ratan Tata, the legendary businessman and former chairman of Tata Group, passed away on October 9, 2024, after battling old-age related illnesses at Breach Candy Hospital Trust in Mumbai.

Ratan Tata left one-third of his other financial properties, including bank fixed deposits, financial instruments, and physical assets like watches and paintings, estimated at Rs 800 crore, to his half-sisters Shireen Jejeebhoy and Deanna Jejeebhoy, while another one-third was left to Mohini M Dutta, a former Tata Group employee who was close to Ratan Tata.

A share of Ratan Tata’s Juhu bungalow is designated for his half-brother Jimmy Naval Tata, 82, the sole living heir, while his close friend Mehli Mistry will receive the Alibaug property and Tata’s prized possession of three guns, including a .25 bore pistol.

The executors of the will have filed a petition in the Bombay High Court for the probate of the final will, incorporating the fourth codicil, as per reviewed court papers. The will, dated February 23, 2022, has four codicils, which are legal documents to modify a will after it has been signed and witnessed. Lawyers Darius Kambatta, Mehli Mistry, Shireen, and Deanna Jejeebhoy are the executors of Ratan Tata’s will.

Last week, the executors of Ratan Tata’s will had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court to probate the will. Probate is a legal process where a court validates a deceased person’s will, confirming its authenticity and granting the executor the authority to manage and distribute the estate according to the will’s instructions.

It is only after the court confirms the authenticity of a will that the executor gets the authority to distribute the wealth as per the wishes of the deceased person. This process could take up to six months.

The last codicil clarifies that other listed stocks and shares of unlisted companies in which Tata had invested, along with assets not specifically mentioned elsewhere, would be distributed equally to the Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and Ratan Tata Endowment Trust.

According to Ratan Tata’s will, a corpus of Rs 12 lakh would be created for his pets, each receiving Rs 30,000 every quarter. A student loan to Shantanu Naidu, Tata’s executive assistant, along with an interest-free education loan to neighbour Jake Malite, will be waived off.

The court papers indicate that, besides cash in hand of just over Rs 4 lakh, funds in local bank accounts and fixed deposits amount to around Rs 367 crore.

Ratan Tata’s foreign assets, worth around Rs 40 crore, include land parcels in Seychelles and accounts with Wells Fargo Bank and Morgan Stanley, as well as shares in Alcoa Corp and Howmet Aerospace.

The late Ratan Tata’s asset list also includes 65 watches from premium brands like Bvlgari, Patek Philippe, Tissot, and Audemars Piguet.