The Legend and the Legacy

Sometime in November 2017, during the recess of a leadership coun­cil meeting held on the first floor of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, I hurtled down the stairs to catch some sea breeze at the rear of the iconic building. On the landing, an amiable gentleman in a blue shirt asked me in a raspy voice how I was doing. As I looked up, my jaw dropped. “Very well, Sir. It’s an honour to meet you,” I said upon seeing Ratan Naval Tata in person for the first time. “Let me know if you need anything,” were his parting words. A man of his stature personally taking interest in such a gesture is what struck me as special. He was just there by the flower pots attending to guests walking in and out of the hotel. Such humility is rare, well acknowledged by those whose lives he touched.

R Gopalakrishnan, former executive director of Tata Sons, was one such man. “Much as Ratan Tata avoided the limelight, he got drawn into it. When I first met him in the 1990s, he was unbelievably shy, whereas the norm was that many business leaders dis­played striking social presence and gravitas. If one walked into a room of business leaders in a hotel, it was difficult to identify where Ratan Tata stood in the crowd. Ratan Tata’s great virtue was that he made an impact without personally being impactful. That was the subtle display of his inherent humility,” wrote Gopalakrishnan as a tribute to perhaps the most respected voice in Indian business.

On October 9, Tata, aged 86, died at Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital after his blood pressure plummeted to un­manageable levels. He had been admitted since October 7 and was shifted to the intensive care unit. In contrast to his four predecessors who helmed the Tata Group from 1868 to 1991, all of whom died abroad, Ratan Tata passed away in Mumbai. In his condolence message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X: “Ratan Tata Ji was a visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being. He provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses. At the same time, his contribu­tion went far beyond the boardroom.”

Philanthropy is one such area Tata explored beyond the boardroom. Tata Trusts, the largest public charitable foundation in India and the owner of the $165 billion Tata Group, under Tata’s guidance, has time and again supported healthcare, education and rural development projects. For Tata, the success of a company was always intrinsically linked to the welfare of society. According to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List of 2022, Ratan Tata ranked 421st with an esti­mated net worth of ₹3,800 crore. But his true wealth lay in the impact of his philanthropy.

Tata Trusts have supported sustainable living projects across India and funded scholarships for students. Tata even donated ₹500 crore to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, showing his unwavering commitment to helping the nation during a global crisis.

Tata even donated $50 million to his alma mater, Harvard Business School, in 2010 for the establishment of an executive centre (now, the Tata Hall), reinforcing his belief in the power of education to shape future leaders.

Tata’s commitment to healthcare, too, can be seen in initia­tives like the Tata Medical Center in Kolkata, which aims to provide world-class treatment to cancer patients, particularly those from underserved sections of society.

Again, he took up his passion for animals as a retirement project. It took shape in a hospital dedicated to small animals on a two-acre plot in Mahalaxmi, the very heart of Mumbai. He pumped in ₹165 crore to the Tata Trusts Small Animal Hospital at the beginning of this year.

Maybe, Tata got that streak of generosity from his grandmother Navajbai Tata, who brought him up after his parents divorced. Navajbai Tata was the first director of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, and was appointed director in 1925, a position she held until her death in 1965. She was the widow of group founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata’s younger son, Sir Ratan Tata, and was known for her philanthropic work, espe­cially with poor women. During her lifetime, she also gifted to charity various houses which she had inherited from Sir Ratan.

The Tisco fiasco soon ended by cutting Russi Mody and his men down to size. It taught Tata to keep a healthy distance from his colleagues, and yet be endearing to them

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Born in Mumbai on December 28, 1937, Ratan grew up with his younger brother Jimmy under the watch of his grandmother, following the separation of his parents, since he was 10. His father Naval had been adopted into the main Tata family at 13 by the daughter-in-law of Jamsetji Tata.

“We faced a fair bit of ragging and personal dis­comfort because of our parents’ divorce, which in those days wasn’t as common as it is today,” Ratan Tata wrote in a Facebook post in 2020. “But our grandmother taught us to retain dignity at all costs, a value that’s stayed with me until today.”

Tata went to college in the US at Cornell University with plans to study mechanical engineering but chose architecture instead. He eventually wanted to settle down in California, but his grandmother’s poor health prompted him to return to India in the 1960s.

After his return, IBM offered Tata a job but Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata convinced him to join the Tata Group in 1962. JRD and Ratan Tata were distantly related, parts of different branches of the Tata family tree. Ratan Tata started with Tata Motors (then Telco) for six months, followed by a stint at Tata Steel (then Tisco) in 1963, where he was working as a technical officer in the engineering division by 1965.

His leadership potential soon became evident as he took on various roles, including representing the Tata Group in Australia and working at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) during its formative years. In 1971, he became the director of National Radio and Electronics (NELCO), a company within the group that was in financial trouble at the time. His exper­tise in navigating challenges helped him take on bigger roles within the Tata Group.

Groomed by JRD, the younger Tata was handpicked for the top job at Tata Sons in 1991, the year officially regarded as the harbinger of India’s liberalisation. At that juncture, the group was mostly focused on India. TCS, the software maker that would become a cash cow years later, was still in its infancy. The automotive business had not yet started making passen­ger cars. As chairman for more than two decades beginning in 1991, Tata rapidly expanded the 156-year-old business house. It now has operations in more than 100 countries and has clocked $165 billion in revenue for the year ended March 2024.

There was turmoil in the group after Ratan Tata became its chairman in May 1991, with mutiny breaking out among the various satraps of the Tata empire. Russi Mody of TISCO rebelled and even tried to install two of his senior manag­ers in positions of power at the steel behemoth. So much so that even then-Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao had got involved, meeting JRD and Ratan Tata to clear the air on TISCO. The TISCO fiasco soon ended by cutting Russi Mody and his men down to size. It taught Tata to keep a healthy distance from his colleagues, and yet be endearing to them. Other satraps were also reined in, but in less public ways, and the restructuring of the group began with the sale of Tata Oil Mills (TOMCO) to Hindustan Lever in 1993. At that time, he was criticised for undervaluing TOMCO but, in the long run, it looks like an exit from a business that was no longer its core.

Throughout the 1990s, his bachelor status, too, was questioned and even became fodder for sleazy Bollywood content. But Ratan Tata maintained a dignified silence until the breakthrough in 1998 when TELCO (now Tata Motors) rolled out Tata Indica, an affordable car in the mass segment. In one stroke, he had silenced his critics and embarked on a journey of mobility and global expansion, making a clear break from the JRD years.

In 2000, Tata Tea (now Tata Consumer Products) acquired the British tea company Tetley for $450 million, making Tata one of the largest tea companies globally. This was one of the first major international acquisitions by an Indian company and marked the start of Ratan Tata’s global expan­sion strategy.

Again, in 2004, Tata Motors acquired carmaker Daewoo’s commercial vehicle unit in South Korea for $102 million, which strengthened Tata’s presence in the global commer­cial vehicle market. This acquisition gave Tata access to ad­vanced truck-making technology and helped it expand into new markets.

In the same year, Tata Steel acquired NatSteel, a steelmaker based in Singapore, for $486 million, to strengthen its pres­ence in Southeast Asia.

A couple of years later, Tata Group’s Indian Hotels Com­pany (Taj Hotels) acquired the Ritz-Carlton Boston, a luxury hotel in the US for an estimated $170 million, which helped expand the Taj luxury brand globally. This acquisition was part of the group’s push to establish a significant presence in the global hospitality industry.

In the same year, Tata Chemicals acquired the UK-based soda ash maker Brunner Mond, making Tata Chemicals one of the largest soda ash manufacturers in the world.

But Ratan Tata’s biggest bets were in the following years. In 2007, with the acquisition of the UK-based steel producer Corus for a whopping $12.9 billion, it made the deal the largest ever by an Indian company at that time. It also propelled Tata Steel among the top 10 steel producers globally.

The very next year proved to be a double bonanza for the group as Ratan Tata spearheaded the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) from Ford at a deal valued at $2.3 billion. With the acquisition, Tata Motors became a global player in the automotive sector and rejuvenated the top-end British brands. The company now straddled both the mass Indica and the luxury JLR brands in its stable. It was now time for Tata’s most ambitious project yet—the ₹1 lakh Nano—which was launched in 2008 and soon gained currency as the common man’s car. It became a global case study in affordability and in­novation. Though the launch of the Nano was announced in West Bengal in 2006 under the aegis of the Left Front govern­ment there, manufacturing was shifted to Gujarat’s Sanand after largescale agitation by then state opposition leader Mamata Banerjee. She wanted the land at Singur to be re­turned to the landowners and Tata would have none of it. In 2008, helped by then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Tata shifted to Sanand in Gujarat. Back in 2009, the poster child of electric vehicles, Elon Musk, said this about Tata: “I think it’s a good idea to have affordable cars, but I think the problem is with something like the Nano… I wouldn’t say it’s a problem because I think, by the way, it is probably a great idea and Ratan is a gentleman and scholar.” The production of the Nano ceased in 2018 amid lack of demand and tapering sales.

But what irked Ratan Tata most perhaps was the appoint­ment of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of the Tata Group in 2011. Now, Cyrus’ father, Pallonji Mistry, was the largest shareholder at Tata Sons with an 18.5 per cent stake. Pallonji had supported Tata when he came to the helm of the conglomerate in 1991. Cyrus succeeded his father in 2006 and joined the board of Tata Sons, and at 38, he became the youngest director of the com­pany. Soon, he was selected as Tata’s successor. “The appoint­ment of Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry as Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons is a good and farsighted choice. I am impressed with the quality and calibre of his participation, his astute observations, and his humility,” wrote Tata, who nonetheless ensured Cyrus was not given full powers. Handing over charge, Tata mentioned that for a year, he would lend Cyrus the exposure, environment and operating experience. He also made sure that following his retirement, he stayed in charge of the Tata Trusts. This allowed him to continue influencing major decisions in the group. On October 24, 2016, Cyrus was axed from his position. And Tata became the interim chairman of the company.

Analysts had reportedly indicated that Cyrus was strug­gling to improve the financial performance of Tata Group. One of the challenges was the company’s inability to sell its troubled steel business.

After Mistry’s removal, a spokesperson of the company reportedly said, “Tata Sons, in its collective wisdom and on the recommendations of the principal shareholders, decided that it may be appropriate to consider a change for the long-term interest of Tata Sons and Tata Group.”

A prolonged legal battle in 2016 by Cyrus followed. While the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruled that Cyrus’ removal was illegal in 2019, in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Tata.

After the Cyrus Mistry fiasco, Tata made a bold move by ap­pointing Natarajan Chandrasekaran as chairman of Tata Sons in 2017. If Cyrus Mistry was the first non-Tata family member to hold the post, Chandrasekaran became the first non-Parsi in the top chair—both moves spearheaded by Ratan Tata.

Chandrasekaran, who had begun as an intern at TCS in 1987, was known as Tata’s right-hand man and was cred­ited with turning the company as its MD and CEO into Tata Group’s most valuable. When Chandrasekaran took over, the markets were jittery, and the group’s direction seemed unsure. But once appointed and settled, he changed it all. “He [Chandrasekaran] brought in the much-needed calm, and markets immediately recognised that under his lead­ership, the group was in safe hands,” said HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh in an earlier interaction with the media.

Tata made a bold move by appointing Natarajan Chandrasekaran as chairman of Tata Sons in 2017. Chandrasekaran became the first non-Parsi in the top chair

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As a matter of fact, it was Chandrasekaran who broke the news of Ratan Tata’s death: “It is with a profound sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, a truly uncommon lead­er whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation. For the Tata Group, Mr. Tata was more than a chairperson. To me, he was a mentor, guide and friend.” With Chan­drasekaran at the helm, Tata anointed himself as chairman emeritus and was always at hand to lend advice in the age of disruption.

It led to some stellar deals, beginning with the joint venture with Starbucks in 2012. That year, Tata Global Beverages (now Tata Con­sumer Products) signed a JV with the US-based Starbucks to launch Starbucks outlets in India. This partnership helped Tata enter the booming Indian coffee retail market.

Again, in May 2021, Tata Group became the owner of BigBasket. Tata Digital acquired a majority stake in BigBasket, an Indian online grocery platform, marking Tata’s entry into the growing e-commerce space. In the same year, Tata Digital also acquired a majority stake in 1MG, an online pharmacy, as part of its broader push into digital healthcare.

The group has even partnered with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp for an $11 billion chip fabrication plant in India and is said to be planning an iPhone assembly plant.

But the icing on the cake was to come in 2021 with the reacquisition of Air India from the government at ₹18,000 crore. Though the airline was founded by JRD Tata, it was nation­alised in 1953. At that moment, Air India’s 470-plane deal with Airbus and Boeing mirrored the economic and diplomatic heft of new India. Aviation was one of Ratan Tata’s personal passions. In 2013, months after Ratan Tata had hung up his boots as Tata Group’s chair­man, the group announced two airline ventures—AirAsia India in partnership with Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad and Delhi-based Telestra Tradeplace; and Vistara with Singapore Airlines. AirAsia India and Vistara took to the skies in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The Tatas won the bid for Air India in October 2021 and took over the airline on January 27, 2022. “On an emotional note, Air India, under the leadership of Mr JRD Tata had, at one time, gained the reputation of being one of the most prestigious airlines in the world. Tatas will have the opportunity of regaining the image and reputa­tion it enjoyed in earlier years. Mr JRD Tata would have been overjoyed if he was in our midst today,” Ratan Tata had said in a state­ment on October 8, 2021.

Despite soaring ambitions in aviation and other areas, Ratan Tata remained grounded. His compas­sion for stray dogs is legendary— Bombay House, the headquarters of the Tata Group—bears testimony to that. Tata’s specific instructions allow dogs to roam free here. Today, there’s a kennel in Bombay House with a bathing area tended by an as­sistant, a bunk bed for napping, and climate-controlled blinds to ensure the comfort of its inmates. Couple it with his vision for the Small Animal Hospital in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, and the compassionate side of Ratan Tata is visible.

In his last years, Ratan Tata even became a passionate backer of startups, including Ola Electric Mobility Ltd, which had a bumper listing in 2024, and Goodfellows, a platform aimed at intergenerational friendships. Over­all, he backed about 40 startups across various sectors. In all his ventures, however soft, his trademark humility shines through. He led his life from a distance and with dignity—that allowed him a bird’s eye view of the con­glomerate’s inner workings. It also helped him break the shackles of a feudal empire and transform it into a new-age, global behemoth.

About The Author

Moinak Mitra

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