India Inc loses its crown jewel — Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who transformed a legacy Indian business house into a global salt-to-software conglomerate and became the face of the resurgent Indian economy in the new millennium, died in a Mumbai hospital late on Wednesday. He was 86.
Tata, who undertook a string of high-profile acquisitions during his 20-odd years at the helm of the respected group and ensured the Tata brand being stamped on global icons such as Tetley or Jaguar, was also known for his philanthropic work.
“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,” Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran said in a statement.
Tata was a decorated and respected businessman who won the country’s second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and the third highest honour, the Padma Bhushan in 2000. Known for his soft-spoken demeanour and humility in public events, his public persona was larger-than-life, and far beyond what a captain of the industry could imagine to command.
“Mr. Tata’s dedication to philanthropy and the development of society has touched the lives of millions. From education to healthcare, his initiatives have left a deep-rooted mark that will benefit generations to come. Reinforcing all of this work was Mr. Tata’s genuine humility in every individual interaction,” Chandrasekaran’s statement added.
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After graduating with a degree in architecture at Cornell University, he returned to India and in 1962 began working for the group his great-grandfather Jamsetji Tata founded nearly a century earlier.
He worked in several Tata companies, including Telco, now Tata Motors Ltd, as well as Tata Steel Ltd, later making his mark by erasing losses and increasing market share at group unit National Radio & Electronics Company.
In 1991, he took over the reins of the conglomerate when his uncle JRD Tata stepped down, at a time when the country was on the cusp of watershed reforms that were to unleash an era of unprecedented growth.
“Shri 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,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Early into his reign, Tata chose to push through significant changes in work culture such as enforcing retirement ages and promoting young people to senior leadership positions. He was among the first to see the information technology boom coming – setting up Tata Teleservices in 1996 and taking Tata Consultancy Services , the group’s cash cow, public in 2004.
But his exceptional decision-making shone at the turn of the millennium, when in 2000, the group purchased British tea firm Tetley for $432 million; he followed it up in 2007 by acquiring Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus for $13 billion, at the time the biggest takeover of a foreign firm by an Indian company. Tata Motors – one of his pet projects – then acquired British luxury auto brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company in 2008 for $2.3 billion.
As a captain of the industry, he was widely respected. But his time at the helm of the Tata Group was also dogged by some setbacks. His dream of manufacturing an affordable car for the Indian masses, the Nano, sparked a political storm in West Bengal in 2007 over bungled land acquisition and sweeping protests that would eventually herald the end of the Left government. The car, too, would be discontinued after a decade.
Another bitter public feud ensued after the company ousted Cyrus Mistry, a scion of the billionaire Shapoorji Pallonji clan, as chairman of Tata Sons in 2016. The Tata Group said Mistry had failed to turnaround poorly performing businesses while Mistry accused Tata, who was chairman emeritus of the conglomerate, of interfering and creating an alternate power centre at the group. In the legal battle that ensued, Tata proved victorious.
After he stepped back from the Tata Group, Tata became known as a prominent investor in Indian startups, backing an array of companies including digital payments firm Paytm, Ola Electric, and Urban Company.
A licensed pilot who would occasionally fly the company plane, Tata never married and was known for his quiet demeanour, relatively modest lifestyle and philanthropic work.
(with agency inputs)