Industrialist Ratan Tata, who has died aged 86, was credited with turning India’s Tata Group into a world-renowned conglomerate with a portfolio ranging from software to sports cars.
A painfully shy student, he planned to become an architect and was working in the United States when his grandmother, who raised him, asked him to return home and join the huge family business.
He started in 1962, staying in an apprentice hostel and working on the shop floor near blast furnaces.
“It was terrible at the time, but looking back, it was a very rewarding experience because I’ve spent years hand-in-hand with the workers,” he said in a rare interview.
Tata took over the family empire in 1991, leading the wave of sweeping free-market reforms unleashed by the Indian government that year.
Indian business titan Ratan Tata has died at the age of 86
His 21-year tenure saw the salt-in-steel group expand its global footprint to include British luxury brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover.
His lofty ambitions for the group, founded under British colonial rule, were not initially welcomed by senior board members, he said, prompting him to introduce a company retirement age policy.
Appetite for risk
Born in Bombay, now Bombay, in 1937, the Cornell University-educated Tata was known for his willingness to take risks.
In 2004, he took the Tata Consultancy Services group’s software outsourcing arm public at a time when many were nervous about investing in technology stocks.
That same year, he said he wanted the Tata Group to “spread its wings far beyond India” and become “at home in the world” — sparking a global tour to buy major brands, including Britain’s Tetley Tea and the Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus.
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Tata’s decision in 2008 to buy the loss-making Jaguar and Land Rover brands for $2.3 billion put him on the map.
It had less success with its $13.7 billion acquisition of Corus as demand for European steel plummeted due to Chinese competition.
And its pet project Tata Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car, stalled after finding few takers in India, where consumers are reluctant to own a so-called “poor man’s car”.
But the losses paled in comparison to his triumphs, which saw the Tata Group’s revenue rise from about $6 billion to $100 billion as the company’s reach grew to more than 100 countries.
A highly respected figure in India’s often tumultuous corporate world, Tata could not escape controversy entirely.
He was questioned in 2011 by a parliamentary watchdog investigating a multibillion-dollar telecoms licensing scam. The group was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
When he stepped down the following year on his 75th birthday, accolades poured in with fellow industrialist Rahul Bajaj praising his reign as “extraordinary”.
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For his part, the shy media mogul said: “I have dedicated my life, as best I could, to the welfare of the team.”
Surprise return
His retirement in 2012 was to prove short-lived, however, with Tata briefly taking over the reins just four years later as India’s biggest conglomerate endured its worst crisis in decades due to the harsh sacking of his young successor Cyrus Mistry.
The first chief appointed from outside the immediate Tata family, Mistry has faced multiple challenges with dismal performance at several of the group’s companies.
His focus on divestments to shrink the group’s $30 billion in debt is said to have frustrated Tata, which believed the group should retain its assets and not reduce its global reach.
Few expected Mistry’s removal and the bitterness it unleashed, with the two men engaging in furious public spats, including allegations of corporate malfeasance.
Mistry also dragged holding company Tata Sons to court over claims he was unfairly dismissed, as the row damaged the group’s global reputation and dented its shares.
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The conglomerate remained strong after its second exit, with Tata in 2021 welcoming debt-laden Air India back into the family fold decades after it was nationalized.
The lifelong bachelor later dedicated his time to running the group’s philanthropic arm and funding some of India’s hottest startups.
A pillar of India’s proud but shrinking Zoroastrian Parsi community, Tata also joined Instagram at age 81, gaining followers with posts sharing his passion for cars, flying and dogs.
Source: AFP