The ‘modest’ Indian tycoon who died at 86

Getty Images Ratan TataGetty Images

Tata led a “salt-to-software” conglomerate of more than 100 companies

Ratan Tata, who has died aged 86, was one of India’s most internationally recognised business leaders.

The tycoon led the Tata Group – known as a “salt-to-software” conglomerate of more than 100 companies, employing some 660,000 people – for more than two decades. Its annual revenues are in excess of $100bn (£76.5bn).

Founded by Jamsetji Tata, a pioneer of Indian business, the 155-year-old Tata Group straddles a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel to aviation and salt pans.

The ethos of the company “yokes capitalism to philanthropy, by doing business in ways that make the lives of others better”, according to Peter Casey, author of The Story of Tata, an authorised book on the group.

Tata Sons, the holding company of the group, has a “number of companies that includes privately held and publicly traded companies, yet they are in essence all owned by a philanthropic trust”, he explains.

Ratan Tata was born in 1937 in a traditional family of Parsis – a highly educated and prosperous community that traces its ancestry to Zoroastrian refugees in India. His parents separated in the 1940s.

Getty Images JRD Tata Along with Ratan Tata and Russi Modi at the meeting in New Delhi, IndiaGetty Images

JRD Tata (centre) asked Ratan Tata (left) to join the firm after the latter’s return to India from the US

Tata went to college in the US, where he got a degree in architecture at Cornell University. During his seven-year-long stay, he learned to drive cars and fly. He had some harrowing experiences: he once lost an engine while flying a helicopter in college and twice lost the single engine in his plane. “So I had to glide in,” he told an interviewer. Later, he would often fly his company’s business jet.

He returned to India in 1962 when his grandmother Lady Navajbai fell ill and called for him. It was then that JRD Tata – a relative from a different branch of the family – asked him to join the Tata Group. “He [JRD Tata] was my greatest mentor… he was like a father and a brother to me – and not enough has been said about that,” Tata told an interviewer.

India’s Ratan Tata: In his own words

Ratan Tata was sent to a company steel plant in Jamshedpur in eastern India where he spent a couple of years on the factory floor before becoming the technical assistant to the manager. In the early 70s, he took over two ailing group firms, one making radios and TVs and the other textiles. He managed to turn around the first, and had mixed results with the textile company.

In 1991, JRD Tata, who had led the group for over half a century, appointed Ratan Tata as his successor over senior company aspirants for that position. “If you were to find the publications of that time, the criticism was personal – JRD got clubbed with nepotism and I was branded as the wrong choice,” Ratan Tata later said.

Peter Casey writes that under Ratan Tata’s leadership, a “great but rather stodgy Indian manufacturer began emerging as a global brand with great emphasis on consumer goods”.

Getty Images Ratan Tata during the inauguration of the car in 2008Getty Images

Ratan Tata during the inauguration of the Nano car in 2008

But the journey was a mixed one.

During his tenure the group made many bold acquisitions, among them the takeover of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus and UK-based car brands Jaguar and Land Rover. Some of those decisions paid off, while others – including a failed telecom venture – have cost the company a lot of money.

A high point came in 2000, when Tata bought Tetley and became the world’s second-largest tea company. The deal was the largest takeover of an international brand by an Indian company.

A few years later, a visiting journalist from a UK-based newspaper asked Tata whether he liked the irony of an Indian company buying a leading British brand. “Tata is too shrewd and too shy to be caught gloating about his successes like some territory-grabbing East India Company nabob,” the journalist later wrote.

Tata’s foray into building a safe, affordable car turned out to be a disappointment. It was launched amid great fanfare in 2009 as a compact with the base model costing just 100,000 rupees ($1,222; £982). But after the initial success and euphoria, the brand began to lose out to other manufacturers due to issues with production and marketing.

Tata later said it was a “huge mistake to brand Nano as the world’s cheapest car. People don’t want to be seen driving the world’s cheapest car!”

Getty images Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata boarding a Boeing fighter F/A-18 Super Hornet at the Aero India 2011 at the Yelahanka air base on the outskirts of Bangalore on Thursday.Getty images

Ratan Tata was a licensed pilot who often flew his company business jet

His resilience was also tested during the Mumbai terror attacks of 26 November, 2008. Tata’s marquee Taj Mahal Palace was one of the two luxury hotels that was attacked, along with a train station, a hospital, a Jewish cultural centre, and some other targets in Mumbai.

Thirty-three of the 166 people who died in the 60-hour siege were at the Taj. This included 11 hotel employees, a third of the hotel’s total casualties. Tata pledged to look after the families of employees who were killed or injured, and paid the relatives of those killed the salaries they would have earned for the rest of their lives. He also spent more than $1bn to restore the damaged hotel within 21 months.

Towards the end of his career, Tata found himself embroiled in an unsavoury controversy. In October 2016 he returned to Tata Sons as interim chairman for a few months after the previous incumbent, Cyrus Mistry, was ousted, sparking a bitter management feud (Mistry died in a car crash in September 2022). The role was eventually given to Natarajan Chandrasekaran, who was formerly the chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, India’s most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $67bn.

Peter Casey described Tata as a “modest, reserved and even shy man”. He found a “stately calm” about him and a “fierce discipline”, which included preparing a handwritten to-do list every day. He also described himself as a “bit of an optimist”.

Tata was also a modest and reflective businessman. After the police were called in to end a strike that crippled operations at one of his firm’s factories in Pune in 1989, Tata told journalists: “Perhaps we took our workers for granted. We assumed that we were doing all that we could do for them, when probably we were not.”

In 2009, Tata spoke at a school alumni function about his dream for his country, “where every Indian has an equal opportunity to shine on merit”.

“In a country like ours,” he said, “you have to try and lead by example, not flaunt your wealth and prominence.”

Source link

Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today

Related Article

'Why I spent my university fees on the Big Tribal Game'

‘Why I spent my university fees on the Big Tribal Game’

BBC Scrolling through Zara’s transactions shows she has spent thousands of dollars on TikTok. Zara, not her real name, is in her 20s, lives in the US and has Somali roots. She became obsessed with the platform’s live battle feature – which sees two influencers verbally spar and sometimes mock each other as they solicit

Israel strikes Lebanese city of Baalbek after ordering evacuation

Israel strikes Lebanese city of Baalbek after ordering evacuation

AFP A huge column of black smoke rose into the air following one of the strikes in the Baalbek area Israeli strikes have killed 19 people, including eight women, around Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek, the country’s health ministry has said. It came hours after tens of thousands of residents fled in response to evacuation

Bull

Strike on Iran Shows Israeli Air Force’s Embrace of Ballistic Missiles

Israel’s weapon of choice in its attack on Iran was the air-launched ballistic missile. These allowed Israel to strike Iran rapidly and with minimum risk to its own aircraft. Air-launched missiles have many advantages over ground-fired ones. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go. download

Standard product shot of the new iMac

Everything Apple announced during its unofficial Mac Week

Following the illustrious line of calendar-spanning corporate events like Lobsterfest and Shark Week, Apple tried something new this year with a celebration unofficially known as Mac Week. (Fortunately for Apple, it just so happens to coincide with its earnings call on Thursday!) The company’s three-day product rollout for desktop hardware centered around the M4 chip,

iPhone battery health iOS 18 new feature

Your iPhone Quietly Got a New Feature to Extend Its Battery Life

Do you leave your iPhone charging for long periods throughout the day? Adjust this setting. iPhone battery health iOS 18 new feature When Apple rolled out iOS 18 earlier this fall, your current iPhone gained quite a few standout features — a vastly more customizable Home Screen and Control Center, a redesigned Flashlight app, new

Argentina's Milei fires foreign minister for opposing US embargo on Cuba

Argentina’s Milei fires foreign minister for opposing US embargo on Cuba

Reuters Diana Mondino has had to bid farewell to the foreign ministry Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has sacked his foreign minister, Diana Mondino, after the country voted in favour of lifting the US economic embargo on Cuba at the United Nations. Argentina was one of 187 countries that supported the non-binding UN resolution on Wednesday.

Spain battles deadliest flooding disaster in decades as death toll rises

Spain battles deadliest flooding disaster in decades as death toll rises

Rescue operations under way after deadly flash flooding in Spain Spain is enduring its worst flooding disaster in decades, with at least 95 people dead and dozens more missing, after huge rains swept the eastern province of Valencia and beyond. Torrential rain on Tuesday triggered flash floods which swept away bridges and buildings and forced

Extreme Rainfall Creates Piles Of Cars In Spain

Extreme Rainfall Creates Piles Of Cars In Spain

Now Playing Extreme Rainfall Creates Piles Of Cars In Spain 00:46 Next Up Drone Captures Rainbow Halo Illusion Over Maine 01:06 Mount Rushmore Blanketed In Snow 00:25 Time Change This Weekend: An Extra Hour Of Sleep 00:22 Fireball Lights Up Dark Skies Over Rural Spain 00:22 Amazing Rescue Amid Deadly Flooding In Spain 00:30 Dramatic

Biden's "Garbage" Gaffe Defended By White House As Harris Distances From POTUS

Biden’s “Garbage” Gaffe Defended By White House As Harris Distances From POTUS

Kamala Harris is distancing herself today from Joe Biden’s “garbage” gaffe amid a very close election race, but the White House is insisting it’s all about the apostrophe. “Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at the top of Wednesday briefing as the blast radius

“Amazing Joe” Burrus

California magician died on Halloween after being buried alive. What went wrong?

On Oct. 31, 1990, Fresno magician Joseph “The Amazing Joe” Burrus attempted a daring feat. Following in the footsteps of famed escape artist Harry Houdini, Burrus planned to be buried alive in a plastic-glass coffin under feet of cement, only to emerge unscathed. “I consider myself a master of illusion and escape artist. I believe

Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Faces Challenges Amid Semiconductor Short Positions

Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Faces Challenges Amid Semiconductor Short Positions

We recently published a list of Jefferies’ Top Crowded Semiconductor Short Positions: Top 10 Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) stands against other Jefferies’ top crowded semiconductor short positions’ stocks. With the third quarter earnings season with us, the semiconductor industry continues to be

Positive News for Economic Growth as UK Government Resumes Funding for Growth Deals

Positive News for Economic Growth as UK Government Resumes Funding for Growth Deals

In a joint statement, the Mid South West Region and the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council expressed their enthusiasm following the announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves that the pause in funding for Growth Deals has been lifted. The statement read, “We welcome the news that the UK Government will stand by its funding commitments

Delphi murder suspect's alleged jail confessions revealed in court

Delphi murder suspect’s alleged jail confessions revealed in court

Prison staffers are revealing the alleged confessions made by Delphi, Indiana, murder suspect Richard Allen while behind bars. Allen is accused of killing Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams 13, on a hiking trail in rural Delphi on Feb. 13, 2017. He’s pleaded not guilty to murder. John Galipeau, the former warden of the Westville

Kamala Harris’ campaign claims over 75,000 attended Ellipse rally

Kamala Harris’ campaign claims over 75,000 attended Ellipse rally

WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign claimed more than 75,000 people attended her Tuesday rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. “Over 75,000 Americans turned out for Kamala Harris,” read the post to X along with a 12-second video that showed the massive size of the crowd. VP Harris makes final pitch to

Riyadh Air orders 60 Airbus planes (Emmanuel DUNAND)

Riyadh Air orders 60 Airbus planes

Riyadh Air orders 60 Airbus planes (Emmanuel DUNAND) Saudi Arabia’s new national airline, Riyadh Air, announced on Wednesday it has ordered 60 narrow-body aircraft from Airbus, as it prepares for takeoff next year. The carrier, created last year, has reached “an agreement to purchase 60 Airbus A321neo single-aisle aircraft in the latest step towards its

Person holding a cheese wheel in a container, with the text "You got to smell this" overlaid on the image

It’s Forbidden! Here’s Why Some Countries Have Downright Banned These 7 Foods

Have you ever tasted something so good it feels like it should be illegal? Well, in some countries, your favorite ingredients and foods could actually land you in legal hot water. On this subject, the r/cooking Reddit community recently shared the foods they’ve heard are banned — or downright illegal — in some places, and

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x