Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, passed away in Mumbai. He was 86. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that his last rites would be performed on Thursday, October 10, with state honours.
Speculations about his health had started doing the rounds after Tata was admitted to Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital earlier this week. On Monday, October 7, he issued a statement on X saying that his admission was only for age-related medical checkups. His health worsened in the next 48 hours and the clock stopped ticking close to midnight on Wednesday, October 9.
Tata bids farewell after leaving an indelible mark not only on the Tata Group—for the remarkable growth it achieved and for putting it firmly on the global map—but also on the wider Indian industry.
He graduated from Cornell University in 1962 with a bachelor's in architecture and later joined Harvard Business School’s advanced management programme in 1975.
After his bachelor’s, Tata worked briefly with the architectural firm Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles, before returning to India the same year to join the Tata Steel. His immediate growth thereafter could be marked in decades:
1971: Appointed director-in-charge of the National Radio and Electronics Company.
1981: Appointed chairman of Tata Industries, where he was responsible for transforming it into a group strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in high-technology businesses.
1991: Appointed chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, succeeding the legendary J.R.D. Tata. He remained in the post till his retirement on December 28, 2012.
While he led Tata Sons, Tata also chaired major group companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages (now Tata Consumer Products), Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices. He also served on international advisory boards of diverse companies such as Mitsubishi Corporation, the Japan-based auto major, and finance company JP Morgan Chase in the US.
Under his chairmanship, the Tata Group's revenues surged by around 40 times to over $100 billion. He successfully navigated the group through many challenges like the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and the global financial crisis of 2008. He was instrumental in the group's global expansion and acquisition of marquee brands like Tetley Tea and luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover.
Under him, Tata Motors, the country's largest truck and bus maker, started car manufacturing with the Indica hatchback. In 2008, he launched his pet project—Tata Nano, the cheapest and perhaps the most practical city car of its time. He dreamt up the Nano after years of seeing Indian families travelling on scooters in bad weather, often with a child sandwiched between the parents.
The Nano project was, however, besieged with problems from the start. Local protests forced Tata Motors to shift the plant from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand, Gujarat—after having invested around Rs 1,000 crore in Singur. Then, safety concerns emerged after a few units caught fire. As negative perception around the car snowballed, sales dropped and the Nano was eventually discontinued in 2020.
In 2012, Tata stepped down as the chairman of Tata Sons and passed on the baton to Cyrus Mistry, son of Pallonji Mistry. The Mistry family, which ran the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, held an 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons. Mistry had proved his mettle at Shapoorji Pallonji; at 44, he was the youngest chairman of Tata Sons. However, no one foresaw what was to come. In October 2016, the handpicked Mistry was unceremoniously sacked.
Some attributed this falling out to the lacklustre performance of some group companies under Mistry, while others pointed to his handling of crucial issues like his plans to sell the loss-making steel business in Europe or the full-blown legal dispute with Japan's NTT Docomo. Signs of trouble were visible early on when Mistry sacked Raymond Bickson, the then managing director of Indian Hotels, in 2014, and hired a veteran from rival Hyatt Hotels.
While, Tata had expanded the group globally with the acquisition of dozens of companies like JLR, Tetley Tea and Corus Steel, the debts had also mounted. Mistry focused on asset sales to bring down the debt. This, reportedly, did not sit well with Tata. He reportedly wanted Mistry to turn around the steel business in Europe and not sell it. Another sore point was the sale of some of the overseas properties of Indian Hotels.
According to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List, Tata's net worth was estimated to be around Rs 3,800 crore in 2022. While his tastes were relatively muted, he was big on philanthropy. He was chairman of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Allied Trusts, and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Allied Trusts. He was chairman of the council of management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and trustee of Cornell University and the University of Southern California.
Tata was a huge animal lover, too. Earlier this year, his dream project, the Small Animal Hospital, opened its doors in Mumbai. Spread over 98,000sqft, the facility houses every possible diagnostic and treatment specialty in veterinary care.
Tata was feted at home and around the world. He was honoured with India’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008. The last of his international honours was his appointment as an officer of the Order of Australia in 2023.
He also holds honorary doctorates from various universities in India and overseas.
