Ratan Tata, the former chairman of the Tata Group who propelled a sprawling Indian conglomerate onto the global stage through a series of high-profile acquisitions, has died, the Tata Group said in a statement. He was 86 years old.
Tata, who led the conglomerate for more than 20 years as chairman, was undergoing intensive care at a Mumbai hospital, two sources with direct knowledge of his condition told the Reuters news agency.
“It is with a deep sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, a truly extraordinary leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation,” said the society.
Ratan Tata “was a visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the social network X.
“Extremely saddened by his passing. My thoughts are with his family, friends and admirers at this sad time.”
Who was Ratan Tata?
After earning a degree in architecture at Cornell University in the United States, he returned to India and, in 1962, began working for the group his great-grandfather had founded almost a century earlier.
He worked in several Tata companies, including Telco, now Tata Motors Ltd, as well as Tata Steel Ltd, before making his mark by erasing losses and increasing the market share of the National Radio & Electronics group unit Company.
In 1991, he took over as CEO of the conglomerate when his uncle JRD Tata resigned – the handover coming just as India was embarking on sweeping reforms that opened its economy to the world and ushered in an era of high growth .
In one of his first measures, Ratan Tata sought to control the power of certain leaders of Tata group companies, by enforcing the retirement age, promoting younger people to management positions and strengthening the control over businesses.
He founded telecommunications company Tata Teleservices in 1996 and took IT company Tata Consultancy Services, the group’s main source of revenue, public in 2004.
But to grow properly, the group decided it needed to look beyond Indian shores.
“It was a quest for growth and a change in the ground rules to say we could grow through acquisitions, which we had never done before,” he said in a statement. interview at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2013.
The group bought British tea company Tetley in 2000 for $US432 million ($643 million) and Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2007 for $US13 billion ($19.3 billion), at the time the largest acquisition of a foreign company by an Indian company. Tata Motors then acquired British luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co in 2008 for US$2.3 billion ($3.43 billion).
His pet projects at Tata Motors included the Indica – the first car model designed and built in India – as well as the Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car. He contributed to the first sketches of both models.
A licensed pilot who occasionally flew the company’s aircraft, Ratan Tata never married and was known for his calm demeanor, relatively modest lifestyle, and philanthropic work.
About two-thirds of the share capital of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company, is held by philanthropic trusts.
After exiting the Tata Group, Ratan Tata became known as a leading investor in Indian startups, backing a plethora of companies including digital payments company Paytm, Ola Electric, a unit of ride-hailing company Ola is a home and beauty service provider. Urban company.
Among his many awards, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honor, in 2008 for exceptional and distinguished services in commerce and industry.
