Tycoon who revamped an Indian conglomerate to a global might

From working on the shop floor of Tata Steel in 1961 after graduating in architecture to becoming its chairman and later on the group chairman, the doyen of Indian industry -- Ratan Tata during his tenure grew the India-centric conglomerate – Tata Group into a global force to reckon with.

Before he joined the helm of affairs at the Tata group, its revenue was by and large coming from commodities, but he had the foresight to grow the group inorganically by acquiring global brands with Tata Tea, Tata Motors and Tata Steel acquiring Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus, respectively.

All of his inorganic initiatives bore fruit as close to 50 percent of Tata group’s revenue of USD 165 billion now come from global operations.

During his tenure as the group chairman from 1991-2012, the group exited ACC – the cement commodity business despite being profitable to pursue global acquisition while listing TCS in 2004 that fueled growth and derived dividends for the group’s philanthropic initiatives.

In 2008, he fulfilled his promise to offer the world’s cheapest car – Tata Nano at a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, affordable to the Indian middle class and a mark of innovation.

His vision about acquiring companies not only brought about his financial acumen with respect to large global brands and conglomerates, but also about investing in start-ups including Snapdeal, Paytm, Ola, Cardekho, FirstCry, Lenskart, Nestaway, Urban Ladder, Urban Company, Generic Aadhaar among several others.

Born in Mumbai in December 1937 and completing his primary schooling within the city, Ratan Tata was adopted into the Tata family.  He later enrolled in Cornell University from which he graduated with a degree in architecture in 1959.

“….he was a businessman for whom financial wealth and success was most useful when it was put to the service of the global community,” said industrialist Anand Mahindra in his tweet.

As a staunch supporter of education, healthcare and rural development, Ratan Tata – the philanthropist supported University of New South Wales faculty of engineering to develop capacitive deionization in order to provide quality water for challenging areas.

He funded several initiatives for genetics, biological and physical sciences to foster collaboration and innovation among researchers to address infectious diseases including gene editing stem cell therapy and the need for sustainable food sources.

Post retirement, he led a very modest life living in Colaba in South Mumbai with his two dogs – Tito (German Shepherd) and Tango (Golden Retriever) but continued to leave a lasting legacy as a corporate and philanthropic citizen.

In the year 2000, Ratan Tata was recognized with third highest civilian honour – Padma Bhushan and with second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan in 2008 as also with state civilian honour like Maharashtra Bhushan.

As renowned industrialist Harsh Goenka aptly puts it, “……a beacon of integrity, ethical leadership and philanthropy, who has imprinted an indelible mark on the world of business and beyond.”