Ratan Tata: An edifying snapshot of a corporate hermit’s life and works

Be it the workings of his business conglomerate and industrial enterprise, or the realm of public esteem and integrity, Ratan Tata’s life and work were edifying snapshots of India’s relations with private capital.

In a country where big business is often viewed with scepticism, his visionary leadership of the Tata Group has left a deep imprint on how virtuosness can be a key component of industrial leadership. From his philanthropic activities breaking new grounds in establishing the compassionate face of Indian capital, to his personal investment in a slew of institutions, ideas, and youth enterprises beyond his business groups.

All that, blended with a frugal way of life, went into making him an unassuming and benign colossus of the Indian industry.

His rise and Tata expansion

Born in 1937 in an already leading business family of the country, Ratan Tata went to school in what was then Bombay, and in Shimla, before a graduate degree in architecture from Cornell University in the US. He even worked for a firm before returning to India in 1962 to join the Tata industries as an assistant, which gave him bottom-top exposure to the functioning of the group, earning his spurs.

In 1991, he got the reins of the conglomerate with his elevation as the chairperson, coinciding with the Indian economy’s adoption of liberalisation. In some ways, he led the Indian industry’s ambition to compete with multinational players, and at the same time, he infused energy in his group by replacing the old guard and becoming more receptive to ideas of strategic expansion of the group in new sectors like communication and software, consolidating the core strengths in steel, automobile and chemicals, foraying into new fields such as finance, e-commerce, and retail chains, and re-entering sectors like aviation.

The extent of it was so wide that the daily life of a large number of Indians was barely left untouched by Tata products or services. But the domestic diversification phase had also coincided with the growing footprint of the group on the foreign soil. 

Ratan Tata led the group in acquiring some prized companies abroad like Tetley as early as in 1994, European steel major Corus in 2007, Jaguar-Land Rover in 2008, General Chemicals in 2008 and Citigroup Global Services in 2008. This gave an international profile to the group, and a global recognition to Indian capital’s prowess. At the same time, the group’s revenues grew impressively, and by 2012, its earnings touched the $100 billion mark.  

However, this wasn’t without some disappointments. 

Nano and Radia Tapes

One of them was his pet project, the economical Tata Nano car, proving to be a damp squib in the market. Weathering the political storm over its location in West Bengal, the product never had a smooth ride. It became a personal setback to him when it met a tepid response in the Indian market. Years later, he said that its failure could be probably attributed to the fact that it was marketed as the cheapest car, thus chipping away its aspirational value for Indian customers and sowing seeds of doubt about its safety and quality. He had conceived the idea as an economical car that could be a safe option for families precariously clinging to two-wheelers on the road. Many critics of the project, including Cyrus Mistry, with whom the group had an infamous fallout, later pointed out that the delay in shutting down Nano’s production because of emotional reasons hurt the company.

Then came the infamous Radia Tapes controversy.

Ratan Tata’s phone conversation with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia was among the many calls that featured in the infamous Radia tapes that rocked political circles and the media industry in 2010. He had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an inquiry into the leak and asking the court to not allow essentially private chats to be made part of the public domain. The controversy, however, didn’t dent his integrity in public.

His most enduring legacy

A bachelor, and known to lead a spartan life, Ratan Tata didn’t trouble the billionaire listmakers. Despite the enormous financial assets at the command of his conglomerate, he chose an ascetic life and stayed away from the gloss of corporate flamboyance. A large part of his earnings were directed towards charitable causes. This presented him as an industry captain who wasn’t run-of-the-mill, endearing him to a lot of admirers throughout the country. His low key and media-shy persona stood out in times of round-the-clock attention-grabbing manoeuvres.

Like the conglomerate he led, he had legions of admirers across the country. But, some states like Jharkhand and Assam had special adulation for him because of how he shaped Tata Group’s working in these states, employing many and looking after the workers’ welfare. 

Jharkhand is home to the group’s century-old flagship Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, the industrial city named after its founder Jamshedji Tata which became a model city for many industrial cities which were developed later in post-Independence India. As a tribute to Ratan Tata’s contribution in sustaining the industrial momentum of the state, the Jharkhand government declared a day of state mourning after his death. Assam, particularly the tea plantation workers and the workforce employed in the hospitality industry, also benefited through his thoughtful interventions, and these remain a lesser known aspect of his long corporate journey. 

In the modern sense of an old-fashioned phrase, Ratan Tata was viewed as a corporate hermit among titans of the Indian industry. This is a rare distinction for the world of capital known more for its materialist milestones, and that will probably remain his most enduring legacy. 

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