He was one of the world’s most influential industrialists yet he never appeared on any list of billionaires. He controlled 30 companies that operated in over 100 countries across six continents yet lived an unpretentious life.
Ratan Naval Tata, who died at a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday night at the age of 86 years, enjoyed a perhaps unique status — a corporate titan who was considered a ‘secular living saint’ with a reputation for decency and integrity.
As chairman for more than two decades, he took the staid group global, clinching eye-catching deals, including iconic British assets like steelmaker Corus, luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover and the world’s second-largest tea company Tetley.
Owning less than 1 per cent of the group that bears his family name, Tata Group under him grew over 70 times, ending the fiscal year in March 2024 with USD 165 billion in revenue. Today, the group makes everything from coffee to cars, salt to software, and steel to power, runs airlines and introduced India’s first super app. It recently forayed into chip making and is planning an iPhone assembly plant.
The affable Tata never brought the spotlight on himself. He never married although he came close to marrying on four occasions, including one when he was in the US.
His death has left a vacuum at the top post of Tata Trusts, which owns 66 per cent of the group’s holding company, Tata Sons. Noel Tata, half-brother of Ratan Tata, is seen as a strong contender to succeed.
Noel is vice chairman of Tata Steel and watch company Titan. His mother Simone Tata, a French-Swiss Catholic who is Ratan Tata’s stepmother, is currently chairman of Trent, Voltas, Tata Investment Corporation and Tata International.
Ratan Tata’s younger brother Jimmy is not involved in the family business and lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Colaba.
Born in a traditional Parsi family in 1937, Ratan Tata was brought up by his grandmother after his parents, Naval and Sooni Tata, divorced when he was 10.
A shy student, who was afraid of public speaking, learned piano and played cricket before going to Cornell University in the US to study architecture and structural engineering.
He wanted to settle down in California but the poor health of his grandmother prompted him to return to India in 1962. Though he had a job offer from IBM, the then-chairman of Tata Sons, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata or JRD, persuaded him to instead work for the group.
He initially worked on the shop floor, gaining experience in a number of Tata Group businesses before joining management in 1971 when he was director in charge of one of the group firms, the National Radio and Electronics Co in 1971.
He became chairman of Tata Industries a decade later and in 1991, took over as the chairman of the Tata Group from his uncle, JRD, who had been in charge for more than half a century.
This was the year when India opened its economy and Tata soon turned the group — which mostly was focused on India after starting as a small textile and trading firm in 1868 — into a global powerhouse with operations stretching from salt to steel, cars to software, power plants and airlines.
He was the chairman of Tata Sons, the group’s main holding company, for more than two decades during which the conglomerate aggressively sought to expand, acquiring London-based Tetley Tea in 2000 for USD 431.3 million, buying truck-manufacturing operations of South Korea’s Daewoo Motors for USD 102 million in 2004, paying USD 11.3 billion to take over Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus Group and spending USD 2.3 billion to purchase elite British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company.
In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian honour.
In 2021, Tata Group regained control of Air India Ltd, an airline originally founded by his mentor, JRD.
His love for fast cars and planes was well-known and he was also a scuba diving enthusiast.
Along with being one of India’s most successful business tycoons, he is also known for his philanthropic activities. His personal involvement in philanthropy began early. In the 1970s, he initiated The Aga Khan Hospital and Medical College project, laying the foundation of one of India’s premier healthcare institutions.
After his appointment as the chairman of Tata Sons in 1991, Tata’s philanthropic efforts gained new momentum. He actively steered the Tata Trusts, established by his great-grandfather Jamsetji, towards addressing vital social needs and set up institutes of excellence like the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and funded educational initiatives across India.
Despite being the embodiment of class and elegance, Tata was not untouched by controversies. Though the group was not implicated directly in the 2008 scam in the allocation of second-generation telecom licences, he was drawn through the leaked recordings of purported phone calls he made to lobbyist Nira Radia. He was not implicated in any wrongdoing.
He also found himself at the centre of a power struggle within the group twice in his career – first when he was pitted against well-entrenched long-time executives upon taking over chairman in 1991, and second in 2016 – four years after his retirement – during an acrimonious power struggle with his successor, Cyrus Mistry.
He won both.
In December 2012, he ceded control of Tata Sons to Cyrus Mistry, who was his deputy then. But when the first non-Tata family member questioned some of the decisions of his predecessor, including continuing with loss-making small car Nano production and reducing debt, things came to a head. Mistry was unceremoniously ousted and Tata briefly served as the interim chairman beginning in October 2016 and returned to retirement in January 2017 when Natarajan Chandrasekaran was appointed the chairman of the Tata Group.
He has since been the emeritus chairman of Tata Sons. During this time, he donned a new hat, helping young entrepreneurs of the 21st century, and investing in new-age tech-driven startups, which will play a significant role in shaping the future of the country.
In his personal capacity and some through his investment company RNT Capital Advisors, Tata invested in over 30 startups, including Ola Electric, Paytm, Snapdeal, Lenskart and Zivame.
One wet monsoon evening not many moons ago, dog-lover Tata had decreed that any strays outside the conglomerate’s HQ in downtown Mumbai be allowed shelter. Some never left but their benefactor is no more. (PTI)
