ratan tata full biography

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Ratan Tata Biography: Birth, Age, Education, Family, Successor, Net Worth, Awards, Lessons, and More

On the occasion of ratan tata's 85th birthday, let us take a look at the life of one of the most renowned business tycoons in india. .

Ratan Tata Biography

Ratan tata: birth, age, family, and education.

Born on 28 December 1937 in Bombay, British India (present-day Mumbai), Ratan Tata is the son of Naval Tata and Sooni Commissariat. They got separated when Ratan Tata was 10 years old. He was then formally adopted by his grandmother Navajbai Tata through the J. N. Petit Parsi Orphanage. Ratan Tata was raised with his half-brother Noel Tata (son of Naval Tata and Simone Tata). 

The 84-year-old attended Campion School, Mumbai, Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He is an alumnus of Cornell University and Harvard Business School.

Ratan Tata as Chairperson of Tata Sons

When JRD Tata stepped down as the chairperson of Tata Sons in 1991, he named Ratan Tata his successor. He faced stiff resistance from many companies heads who spent decades in their respective companies. Tata began replacing them by setting a retirement age. He further made it compulsory for each company to report to the group office. Under his leadership, the overlapping companies of Tata Sons were streamlined into a synergized whole. 

During his 21 years of stewardship, revenues grew over 40 times, and profit over 50 times. He got Tata Tea to acquire Tetley, Tata Motors to acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel to acquire Corus, turning the organization from a largely India-centric group into a global business. 

He also conceptualized the Tata Nano car. The car was capped at a price that was within the reach of the average Indian consumer. 

Upon turning 75, Ratan Tata stepped down as the Chairperson of Tata Sons on 28 December 2012. Cyrus Mistry was named his successor, however, the Board of Directors and Legal division voted for his removal on 24 October 2016 and Ratan Tata was then made the group's interim chairman.

A selection committee comprising Ratan Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen, and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya was formed to find the successor of Ratan Tata. The committee named  Natarajan Chandrasekaran as the Chairperson of Tata Sons on 12 January 2017.

Philanthropic Work of Ratan Tata

Being a supporter of education, medicine, and rural development, Ratan Tata supported the University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering to provide improved water for challenged areas.

Tata Education and Development Trust endowed a $28  million Tata Scholarship Fund that will allow Cornell University to provide financial aid to undergraduate students from India. The annual scholarship will support approximately 20 students at a given time. 

Tata Group companies and Tata charities donated $50 million in 2010 to Harvard Business School (HBS) for the construction of an executive center.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) donated $35 million to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for a facility to research cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles. It is the largest ever donation by a company and the 48,000 square-foot building is called TCS Hall.

Tata Group donated Rs. 950 million to the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2014 and formed Tata Center for Technology and Design (TCTD). It was the largest ever donation received in the history of the institute. 

Tata Trusts also provided a grant of ₹750 million to the Centre for Neuroscience, the Indian Institute of Science, to study mechanisms underlying the cause of Alzheimer's disease and to evolve methods for its early diagnosis and treatment.

Ratan Tata Wife

"I came close to getting married four times and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another," said Ratan Tata in 2011. 

Awards 

Ratan tata family tree.

1- Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata- Founder of Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. He was married to Hirabai Daboo. 

2- Dorabji Tata- The elder son of Jamshedji Tata and second chairperson of the Tata Group. His wife was Meherbai Tata, the paternal aunt of renowned nuclear scientist Homi J. Bhabha.

3- Ratanji Tata- Younger son of Jamshedji Tata. He was the pioneer of poverty studies. He was married to Navajbai Tata. His wife adopted an orphan, Naval, who was the grand-nephew of Hirabai Tata, and raised him as her own son.

4- Naval Tata- Adopted son of Navajbai Tata. His biological father was Hormusji Tata. His maternal grandmother was the sister of Hirabai Tata. Director in several Tata companies, ILO member, and recipient of Padma Bhushan, Naval Tata had three sons-- Ratan Tata (5th chairperson of Tata Group), Jimmy Tata, and Noel Tata (Chairperson of Trent Limited)-- from two marriages.

5-Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata- He was one of the early stalwarts who served the Tata Group. His father Dadabhoy and his mother Jamshedji Tata, Jeevanbai, were siblings. He married Suzanne Brière and the couple gave birth to five children, including J.R.D. Tata and Sylla Tata.

6- J.R.D. Tata- He served as the fourth Chairperson of the Tata Group. He is the founder of Tata Airlines (later Air India).

7- Sylla Tata- Elder sister of J.R.D. Tata was married to the founder of the first textile mill in India, Dinshaw Maneckji Petit. Her sister-in-law  Rattanbai Petit, was married to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah's only child, Dina Jinnah, was married to Neville Ness Wadia. 

Famous Quotes By Ratan Tata

1- “I don’t believe in taking the right decisions. I take decisions and then make them right.”

2- “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”

3- “I’ve often felt that the Indian Tiger has not been unleashed.”

4- “People still believe what they read is necessarily the truth.”

5-  “If it stands the test of public scrutiny, do it… If it doesn’t stand the test of public scrutiny then don’t do it.”

6- “Power and wealth are not two of my main stakes.”

7- “I have been constantly telling people to encourage people, to question the unquestioned, and not to be ashamed to bring up new ideas, new processes to get things done.”

8- “None can destroy iron, but its own rust can! Likewise, none can destroy a person, but its own mindset can!”

9- “Businesses need to go beyond the interest of their companies to the communities they serve.”

10- “Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive.”

11- “Apart from values and ethics which I have tried to live by, the legacy I would like to leave behind is a very simple one – that I have always stood up for what I consider to be the right thing, and I have tried to be as fair and equitable as I could be.”

12- “I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can’t respect him.”

13- “There are many things that, if I have to relive, maybe I will do it another way. But I would not like to look back and think what I have not been able to.”

14- “Don’t be serious, enjoy life as it comes.”

15- “I have always been very confident and very upbeat about the future potential of India. I think it is a great country with great potential.”

16- “One hundred years from now, I expect the Tatas to be much bigger than it is now. More importantly, I hope the Group comes to be regarded as being the best in India.. best in the manner in which we operate, best in the products we deliver, and our best in our value systems and ethics. Having said that, I hope that a hundred years from now we will spread our wings far beyond India.”

17- “Take the stones people to throw at you, and use them to build a monument”

18- “I followed someone who had very large shoes. He had very large shoes. Mr. J. R. D. Tata. He was a legend in the Indian business community. He had been at the helm of the Tata organization for 50 years. You were almost starting to think he was going to be there forever.”

19- “Young entrepreneurs will make a difference in the Indian ecosystem.”

20- “I would say that one of the things I wish I could do differently would be to be more outgoing.”

21- “The strong live and the weak die. There is some bloodshed, and out of it emerges a much leaner industry, which tends to survive.”

22- “At Tatas, we believe that if we are not among the top three in an industry, we should look seriously at what it would take to become one of the top three players.. or think about exiting the industry”

Get here current GK and GK quiz questions in English and Hindi for India , World, Sports and Competitive exam preparation. Download the Jagran Josh Current Affairs App .

• Who is the wife of Ratan Tata? + Ratan Tata is unmarried. He once loved a girl in Los Angeles while working there and had to return to India as his family member was ill. The girl's parents didn't allow her to go to India. Tata stood by his commitment and is unmarried to date.
• Is Ratan Tata adopted? + Ratan Tata is the son of Naval Tata and Sooni Commissariat. When his parents were separated, he was formally adopted by his grandmother and widow of Sir Ratanji Tata-- Navajbai Tata-- through the J. N. Petit Parsi Orphanage.
• Is Ratan Tata married? + No, Ratan Tata is not married. "I came close to getting married four times and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another," said Ratan Tata in 2011.
• Who is Ratan Tata? + Ratan Tata is Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons and Tata Group. He is also known for his philanthropic work.
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Ratan Tata Wiki, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Ratan Tata is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist, who was the chairman of Tata Group and its subsidiaries. Ratan Tata received Padma Bhushan in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008. Tata Motors, under his leadership, produced India’s first indigenous car, Tata Indica, in 1998 and India’s cheapest car, Tata Nano, in 2008.

Wiki/Biography

Ratan Naval Tata was born on Tuesday, 28 December 1937 ( age 86 years; as of 2023 ) in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India (now Mumbai, Maharashtra, India). His zodiac sign is Capricorn. Ratan Tata completed his schooling at Campion School in Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and The Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. Later, he went to the United States of America, where he enrolled at Cornell University in New York. There, he earned a bachelor’s degree in science in architecture in 1962.

Ratan Tata (right) during his college days

After completing his graduation, he worked at Jones & Emmons in Los Angeles for a short while. He completed his Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in Massachusetts, the US, in 1975. [1] Tata Group

A photo of Ratan Tata taken during his young days

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 9″

Hair Colour:  Salt and Pepper

Eye Colour:  Dark Brown

Ratan Tata with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Ratan Tata was born into a Gujarati business-class Parsi family in Mumbai. [2] The Guardian

Parents & Siblings

His father, Naval Hormusji Tata , was a businessman, who served as the director as well as the deputy chairman of Tata Sons. He passed away on 5 May 1989 in Mumbai due to cancer. Naval Tata was adopted from an orphanage by Ratanji Tata’s wife Navajbai after his father and mother passed away.

Naval Tata with son Ratan Naval Tata

His mother’s name is Sooni Commissariat (deceased). Ratan’s parents got divorced in 1948 when he was only ten years old. After their parents’ divorce, Ratan and Jimmy were raised by their grandmother Navajbai Tata .

Ratan Tata with his grandmother

While talking about his parents getting separated, Ratan said that he and his brother got bullied and faced a difficult time because of it. Talking about it, he said,

I had a happy childhood, but as my brother and I got older, we faced a fair bit of ragging and personal discomfort because of our parents’ divorce, which in those days wasn’t as common as it is today. But my grandmother brought us up in every way.” A photo of Sooni Commissariat

His brother, Jimmy Tata , owns a share in the Tata Group. His half-brother, Noel Tata , is the chairman of Trent and Tata Investment Corporation, the managing director of Tata International, and the vice chairman of Titan Company and Tata Steel.

A photo of Ratan Tata (left) with Jimmy Tata taken in 1945

A photo of Noel Tata

Wife & Children

Ratan Tata never got married. According to Ratan, he backed out of marriage on four occasions.

Other Relatives

His paternal great-grandfather, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata , was an Indian industrialist and the founder of the Tata Group.

A photo of Jamsetji Tata

His paternal grandfather, Ratanji Jamsetji Tata , was a philanthropist, businessman, and financier. He passed away in 1919 following which Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) was established.

A photo of Sir Ratan Ji Tata

His paternal grandfather’s elder brother, Dorabji Tata , was a businessman, who played a key role in the development of the Tata Group.

A photo of Dorabji Tata

His stepmother, Simone Tata , is a businesswoman who co-founded Lakmé.

Simone Tata’s photo

Family Tree

The family tree of Tatas

Click here to know more about the Tata family.

Ratan Tata follows Zoroastrianism. [3] The Guardian

Relationships/Affairs

In an interview, Ratan talked about his past affair and said that while pursuing a bachelor of architecture in the US, he met a woman in Los Angeles with whom he fell in love. However, after completing graduation, Ratan had to move back to India to care for his ailing grandmother, who was on her deathbed. He proposed to the girl to get married to him and move to India; however, the girl’s family did not agree to her moving to India as the situation in India was volatile back then due to India’s defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Eventually, their relationship broke and they got separated. Talking about it, Ratan said,

Well, you know one was probably the most serious was when I was working in the US and the only reason we didn’t get married was that I came back to India and she was to follow me and that was the year of the, if you like, the Indo-Chinese conflict and in true American fashion this conflict in the Himalayas, in the snowy, uninhabited part of the Himalayas was seen in the United States as a major war between India and China and so, she didn’t come and finally got married in the US thereafter.”

Ratan Tata follows Zoroastrianism. [4] The Guardian

Ratan Tata resides at WR7F+C8G, Colaba Causeway, Azad Nagar, Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra-400005.

Signature/Autograph

Signature of Ratan Tata

In 1962, Ratan returned to India from the United States of America, where he began working at the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur as a blast furnace manager and limestone shoveller.

Ratan Tata (rightmost) at the steel plant at Jamshedpur

Later, he worked at Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tisco), now known as Tata Steel. He went to Australia as a resident representative of the Tata Group in 1969. In 1970, he came back to India and joined Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Thereafter, he worked in the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, now known as Tata Motors, as an assistant. In 1971, Ratan became the director-in-charge of National Radio & Electronics Company Ltd, which was renamed NELCO in 1999. After joining NELCO, Ratan made numerous amends in the working policies that led to a rise in the profits earned by NELCO between 1972-1975. However, the company began incurring losses in 1975 after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a nationwide emergency. In 1980, NELCO was locked down for seven months by Ratan after the workers union, which was affiliated with Shiv Sena, created a ruckus in the factory by attacking the senior officials. While giving an interview, Ratan talked about it and said,

For three years from 1972 to 1975 Nelco made a profit and wiped out some of its past losses, then in 1975, the Emergency came and consumer goods demand just disappeared, not just for Nelco, but for everybody. This was followed by an industrial relations problem since 1977. So, while demand improved, there was no production. Finally we confronted the unions and, following a strike, we imposed a lockout for seven months. Now that the lockout has been lifted we hope to improve production by 50 per cent over the past year …”

Ratan was sent as a director to Empress Mill in 1977 to help the mill cut its losses; however, the mill was later shut down after the senior executives rejected Ratan’s policies that would have helped the mill generate profit. From 1986 to 1989, Ratan served as the chairman of Air India. In 1991, at a time when India was undergoing economic liberalisation, Ratan Tata succeeded Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata as the chairman of the Tata Group. His appointment was questioned by many senior officials working in different subsidiaries owned by Tata Group as they earlier worked with independence, whereas, after Ratan’s appointment, their freedom got curtailed as the officials were now required to report to him.

A photo of Ratan Tata taken with J. R. D. Tata

Under his leadership, Tata Motors produced India’s first indigenous car Tata Indica in 1998. While talking about it, he said,

Everyone told us it couldn’t be done without having a joint venture or a partnership with an international company. That if I did this, I will be linked to failure. But went ahead anyway. There were technical issues and many lessons we learned. It was a wonderful experience to be breaking new ground. The chances to give up were many. We stayed the course, worked out each issue, and that was the birth of India’s first indigenous car- Tata Indica.”

To maintain its significance in the “newly opened markets” in India, Tata acquired numerous companies including Tetley in February 2000, Daewoo Commercial Vehicle in March 2004, The Ritz-Carlton: Luxury Hotels and Resorts in November 2006, and Jaguar Cars and Land Rover in March 2008. Ratan Tata ventured into the aerospace and defence sector and established Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) in 2007. The industry has worked in close coordination with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in producing Kestrel, also known as the IPMV (Infantry Protected Mobility Vehicle), Tata LSV, Tata Mine Protected Vehicle, and a drone named ALS-50.

An image of Tata Kestrel taken during DefExpo

In 2008, Tata Motors, a subsidiary of Tata Group, launched India’s most affordable car Tata Nano; however, due to many reasons, the production of the vehicle was discontinued in 2018.

A photo of Ratan Tata taken during the launch of Tata Nano

In 2011, he implemented a policy according to which the retirement age of a non-executive director was reduced from 75 years to 70 years. By 2012, the company’s revenues grew over 40 times and profits over 50 times. Ratan stepped down as the chairman of Tata Group on 28 December 2012 following which Cyrus Mistry was appointed as the company’s chairman.

Ratan Tata with Cyrus Mistry

Ratan was made the interim chairman of Tata Group after Cyrus was removed from the company; he served as the interim chairman till Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s appointment as the chairman on 12 January 2017. Ratan has invested in several companies including Ola, Lenskart, FirstCry, CarDekho, Paytm, Snapdeal, and Urban Company. Ratan Tata has served on the jury panel of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the board of trustees of Cornell University, a board of governors of the East-West Center, and a member of the board of the International Advisory Council at Bocconi University.

Social Activism

In 2010, under Ratan Tata’s leadership, the Tata Group donated $50 million to the Harvard Business School (HBS) for the construction of Tata Hall for undertaking several mid-career Executive Education programs. To promote the provisioning of fresh water to the backward areas in Australia, Tata donated huge sums of money to develop capacitive deionization at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering in 2019. Ratan has worked with governments of various countries and Indian states in the field of providing education, employment, clean energy, and more. Ratan Tata donates more than 65% of the profits earned by the Tata Group to charitable causes.

Controversies

Involvement in tata tapes.

In 1997, the then Chief Minister of Assam Prafulla Mahanta accused the Tata Group of aiding the banned militant outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). In the same year, the Indian Express’ journalist Ritu Sarin published an article which contained excerpts from a telephonic conversation between industrialists Keshub Mahindra and Ratan Tata, Rajya Sabha member Jayant Malhoutra, and Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw ; the conversation was regarding the issues faced by Tata Tea with the Assam government. According to the article, Tata Tea wanted the Indian government to help resolve the conflict between Tata Tea and the Assam government. The article further stated that Ratan Tata was aware of the location of Brojen Gogoi, a senior manager in the Community Development and Social Welfare wing of Tata Tea, who was under the Assam police’s scanner for working with the banned militant outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Tata Tea was also accused of providing medical attention to the ULFA’s culture secretary Pranati Deka, who was arrested at the Mumbai airport along with two other accomplices. However, Paresh Barua, the commander of ULFA, dismissed the claim of Tata Tea giving special medical aid to Pranati and said that Pranati was getting medical treatment under Tata Tea’s medical program, which aimed at giving medical treatment to locals of Assam. The article further claimed that after Tata Tea officials came to know of the arrest warrant issued by Interpol, Ratan Tata went to New Delhi on 13 September 1997 to inform Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta that Gogoi was in Chicago, attending a course at Harvard. Later, Mahanta, in a press conference, said that he had asked Ratan to ensure that Gogoi returned to India in two weeks. After arriving in India, Gogoi got admitted to Woodland’s Nursing Home in Calcutta, where he surrendered to the Assam Police on 24 September 1997.

Tata Nano controversy

In early 2006, Ratan Tata announced that Tata Motors would be producing India’s smallest and cheapest car in Singur, West Bengal. Following the announcement, the then-West Bengal government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee acquired approximately 997 acres of multi-crop farmland under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. In May 2006, farmers began protesting against the state government for forcibly acquiring their land. The anger amongst the locals brewed further after Tata failed to keep its promise of giving employment to 15,000 people who had lost their lands during the construction of the car factory in Singur. As per the reports, Tata could employ only a thousand people. The protests intensified further after TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee joined the locals in their protests and staged a hunger strike in July 2006. On 3 September 2008, Tata announced that it had suspended work in Singur to look for land, where the manufacturing of Nano could continue peacefully. On 3 October 2008, Tata Motors announced its exit from West Bengal after acquiring land in Sanand, Gujarat. [5] The New Indian Express [6] Business Standard

Radia Tapes

In November 2010, Ratan Tata’s conversation with Niira Radia , a corporate lobbyist, was leaked to the media, which released the transcripts of the conversation to the public. In 2011, Ratan filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking the court to not allow the media to release more of the tapes to the public as it infringed upon his right to privacy. The Supreme Court, in 2017, gave its judgement unanimously in the favour of Ratan Tata, stating that privacy is a constitutional right. [7] NDTV [8] Business Today

Awards, Honours, Achievements

A photo of Ratan Tata taken when he was receiving the Padma Bhushan

• Honorary Doctor of Business Administration from Ohio State University
• Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay from the Government of Uruguay
• Honorary Doctor of Technology from the Asian Institute of Technology
• International Distinguished Achievement Award from the B’nai B’rith International
• Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Warwick
• Honorary Doctor of Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Ratan Tata receiving his Responsible Capitalism Award

• Maharashtra Bhushan from the Government of Maharashtra
• Honorary Fellowship from The London School of Economics and Political Science
• Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Ratan Tata receiving the Leadership Business Award

A picture of Ratan Tata receiving the Padma Vibhushan

• Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Cambridge
• Honorary Doctor of Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
• Honorary Doctor of Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
• Honorary Citizen Award from the Government of Singapore
• Honorary Fellowship from The Institution of Engineering and Technology
• Inspired Leadership Award from The Performance Theatre
• Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II
• Life Time Contribution Award in Engineering for 2008 from the Indian National Academy of Engineering
• Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic from the Government of Italy
• Hadrian Award from the World Monuments Fund
• Oslo Business for Peace Award from Business for Peace Foundation
• Legend in Leadership Award from Yale University
• Honorary Doctor of Laws from Pepperdine University
• Business for Peace Award from the Business for Peace Foundation
• Business Leader of the Year from The Asian Awards
• Honorary Fellow from The Royal Academy of Engineering
• Doctor of Business honoris causa from the University of New South Wales
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from the Government of Japan
• Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rockefeller Foundation
• Foreign Associate from the National Academy of Engineering
• Transformational Leader of the Decade at the Indian Affairs India Leadership Conclave
• Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Lifetime Achievement Ernst & Young

A photo of Ratan Tata taken during the ceremony at Carnegie Mellon University

• Honorary Doctor of Business from the Singapore Management University
• Sayaji Ratna Award from the Baroda Management Association

Ratan Tata receiving the Knight Grand Cross Order of the British Empire (GBE)

Ratan Tata’s photo taken during the ceremony at York University

• Honorary Doctor of Automotive Engineering from the Clemson University

A photo of Ratan Tata receiving the Sayaji Ratna Award

• Commander of the Legion of Honour from the Government of France
• Honorary Doctorate from the Swansea University
• Assam Baibhav, the highest civilian award in the state of Assam, for contributing to cancer care in the state

A photo of Ratan Tata receiving the D.Litt degree at HSNC University

•  ‘Sewa Ratna’ from the RSS-affiliated Sewa Bharti in October

Australian gazette announcing the bestowing of Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) on Ratan Tata

Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell conferred Order of Australia (AO) honour to Ratan Tata in April 2023

Ratan Tata while receiving the Udyog Ratna award at his residence in Mumbai

Ratan Tata receving the PV Narasimha Rao Memorial Award for philanthropy work in 2024

Car Collection

• Ferrari California
• Honda Civic
• Mercedes-Benz SL 500
• Land Rover Freelander

A photo of Ratan Tata standing next to his Tata Indigo Marina

• Mercedes-Benz W124
• Mercedes-Benz S Class
• Cadillac XLR
• Chrysler Sebring

Salary/Income

For the fiscal year 2011-2012, Ratan Tata received approximately Rs. 68.4 lakhs + a sitting fee of Rs. 2.4 lakhs and a commission of Rs. 66 lakhs by Tata Power. [9] The Economic Times

In 2021, Ratan Tata’s net worth was estimated to be Rs. 3,500 crores. According to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List, Ratan Tata was ranked as the 421st richest person in India. [10] The Times of India

• Food: Masoor Dal cooked with lots of garlic, Mutton Pulao Dal, and Nut-rich baked custard
• Holiday Destination:  California
• Colour: White

Facts/Trivia

• Ratan Tata’s forefathers were Parsi priests. His family came into the limelight in 1868 after Jamsetji Tata established a textile mill in Gujarat. In the mill, the workers received perks such as pensions and accidental covers, comparable to modern standards.
• While studying in the US, Ratan used to work at restaurants, where he washed dishes to make ends meet.

I wanted to learn to play the violin, my father insisted on the piano. I wanted to go to college in the US, he insisted on the UK. I wanted to be an architect, he insisted on me becoming an engineer. If it weren’t for my grandmother, I wouldn’t have ended up at Cornell University in the US.”

Ratan Tata in the cockpit of the F-16

• Ratan Tata neither consumes alcohol nor smokes. [11] The Guardian
• Since Ratan is a qualified architect, he designed his as well as his mother’s beach-facing houses in Mumbai.
• Despite serving as the chairman of Tata Group, Ratan has purchased less than 1% of the company’s shares.
• In an interview, Ratan revealed that he has a fear of speaking in public.
• Ratan was offered a job at IBM; however, he rejected the offer to work in his family business.

A photo of Ratan Tata with his pet German Shepherd Tito

• Ratan Tata owns many houses including a house worth Rs. 150 crores in Colaba, Mumbai and the Ratan Tata Officers Holiday Home (RTOHH) in Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
• Ratan Tata follows a non-vegetarian diet. [12] The Telegraph

References [+] [−]

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Ratan Tata Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some lesser known facts about ratan tata.

• Ratan Tata is a name to reckon with in the annals of Tata Group’s business. Although he is one of the most influential businessmen in India, he is best known for his simplicity and loneliness, and the words used most often to describe Ratan Tata are ‘shy’ and ‘loner.’
• During his 21 years of tenure as the Chairman of Tata Group (1991-2012), revenues grew over 40 times, and profit, over 50 times.

A Textile Mill opened by Jamsetji Tata in the late 19th century

• Although the Tatas had built up a formidable business by 1971, the family was running out of heirs.

Ratan Tata (R) with his father Naval (L) and Half Brother Noel (Centre)

• Ratan is, in fact, a Tata by birth; as his biological maternal grandmother was the sister of Hirabai Tata, wife of group founder Jamsetji Tata. Moreover, his biological grandfather, Hormusji Tata, also belonged to the broader Tata Family.
• Unlike the Ratan Tata’s present-day lifestyle of an ordinary person, he spent his childhood in luxury; as he grew up at Tata Palace, a white Baroque revival-style building in the centre of Mumbai; attended by a crew of 50 servants. Reportedly, Ratan was driven to school in a Rolls-Royce.

I owe a great deal to my grandmother who brought up my brother and me. She instilled in us what she considered to be proper, And I think that has had a very profound influence on me and my value systems.” Lady Navajbai Tata

A rare photo of Ratan Tata when he travelled to America in his youth

Well, you know one was probably the most serious was when I was working in the US and the only reason we didn’t get married was that I came back to India and she was to follow me and that was the year of the, if you like, the Indo-Chinese conflict and in true American fashion this conflict in the Himalayas, in the snowy, uninhabited part of the Himalayas was seen in the United States as a major war between India and China and so, she didn’t come and finally got married in the US thereafter.” [10] The Economic Times jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_32413_1_10').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_32413_1_10', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });

Ratan Tata with JRD Tata on the shop floor of TELCO (now, TATA Motors)

• His pragmatic business skills led him to become the Chairman of Tata Group in March 1991; when JRD Tata stepped down as chairman of Tata Sons, naming Ratan his successor.
• Under his stewardship, Tata Group became an international conglomerate, and he got Tata Tea to acquire Tetley, Tata Motors to acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel to acquire Corus.

Everyone told us it couldn’t be done without having a joint venture or a partnership with an international company. That if I did this, I will be linked to failure. But went ahead anyway. There were technical issues and many lessons we learned. It was a wonderful experience to be breaking new ground. The chances to give up were many. We stayed the course, worked out each issue, and that was the birth of India’s first indigenous car- Tata Indica.” Ratan Tata at the Launch of Tata Indica

One may feel that 65 is too young or 70 is too young or that 75 is too young. Whatever it may be, you don’t need a person to say, look, I think you should leave. So that has been very much behind the thinking of setting a retirement age. There was no retirement age in Tata. I could’ve just as well have stayed up and stayed on.”

Ratan Tata spending quality time with his pet dogs

• He is a trained pilot and on 8 February 2007, he became the first Indian to fly F-16.

• Although he is a professional architect, he has designed only two houses- his mother’s, and his own beach-house off the Arabian sea.
• When it comes to his closest friends, he gives two names- Amar Bose who made billions from audio equipment, and conductor Zubin Mehta (a fellow Mumbai Parsee) who lives in the United States.
• What makes Ratan Tata outstanding is his social conscience. He prefers fairness over money, and he owns less than 1% of the Tata group.

References/Sources: [ + ]

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Ratan Naval Tata

From torchbearer to transformer, Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has played shepherd and sentinel while guiding the Tata group into a new age, and he has done it in his own distinctive style

2572 words     |     9-minute read

There are a host of reasons why Ratan Naval Tata is worthy of admiration, none more so than for the way he has sailed through the high tide of his life as head of the Tata group: with grace and a quiet dignity all too rare in the tumult and cacophony that characterise the mostly grubby, sometimes noble intersection of business and life in today’s India.

The quietude is what sets him apart. You would expect a person such as Mr Tata, tall of stature and blessed with the typically striking looks of his Persian forbears, to stand out in a crowd. Not so the helmsman of the Tata group, whose solitary nature, humility and intense effort to shun the arch lights can make him seem almost invisible in any gathering. The rectitude and resolve behind this persona is of more consequence, though, defining as they have the shape and substance of a remarkable business conglomerate during what has been the most transformative period in its long and storied history.

Every chairman of Tata Sons — the holding company that is the fastener keeping the many disparate elements of the whole together — has left an indelible imprint on the group.

Jamsetji Tata, the founder, with his ideals and his vision laid the seeds for the flowering of the conglomerate. Dorab Tata secured his father’s legacy by realising that vision. Nowroji Saklatvala consolidated what had been created and JRD Tata, the last of the great patriarchs of Indian industry, moulded the group in his own image: benevolent, urbane and all-encompassing.

It is likely an understatement to say that Ratan Tata, who took over as chairman in March 1991, was stepping into big shoes. And he was stepping into a minefield. Less than a decade from the new millennium, the Tata group was a bloated, unevenly managed and excessively bureaucratic behemoth operating in an India that had only begun jettisoning the jargon of socialism and the shibboleths of policy-making that had promised plenty but delivered little. Worse, Mr Tata was seen by many as an interloper, with none of the charisma or the capability of the legend who had preceded him, an accidental chieftain who had ascended to the top mainly by virtue of his surname and lineage.

More than 20 years later, it can be argued without favour or prejudice that Mr Tata has changed the group for the better in more substantial a manner than any of the luminaries under whose care the organisation evolved since its inception in 1868. That he has done this while staying true to the traditions and tenets of the group — in an environment where so many have succumbed to the allure of the soft buck — make his accomplishments exemplary. By coincidence or destiny, Mr Tata’s becoming chairman got synchronised with the opening up of India’s economy. Here was the chance to fashion a new kind of organisation, to rejuvenate and recast its many enterprises to suit a radically altered business dynamic.

Mr Tata seized the day. He welcomed the opportunities that came with the death of the ‘Licence Raj’. He fortified the Tata embankments to guard against the threats that arrived in equal profusion. He embraced the prospect of taking the group to foreign shores. He made it more cohesive, introduced fresh thinking, fostered innovation, and sparked in his charges an appetite for calculated risk-taking that appears, in hindsight, truly extraordinary.

In doing this and more, Mr Tata has buried forever talk of not being the right person for the chairmanship — a post he had never been groomed for, had never solicited, or even thought himself fit to occupy. The Tata group was not, after all, part of the future Ratan Tata had set out to touch as a teenager.

Born to Naval and Soonoo Tata on December 28, 1937, Mr Tata and his younger brother, Jimmy, were brought up by their grandmother, Navajbai R Tata, in a baroque manor called Tata Palace in downtown Bombay [now Mumbai]. Life was luxurious (the young Ratan was driven to school in a Rolls-Royce) but Lady Navajbai, a formidable matriarch, instilled a strong set of values in her grandchildren. “She was very indulgent, but also quite strict in terms of discipline.” Mr Tata would recall in one of those rare interviews where he opened up about his growing-up years: “We were very protected and we didn’t have many friends. I had to learn the piano and I played a lot of cricket.”

Mr Tata was schooled at Campion and then at Cathedral and John Connon (both in Bombay), where he spent the last three of his schooling years. Already, he was well on his way to becoming the person he is today. Speaking to an excited bunch of pupils at Cathedral and John Connon in March 2009, he said: “I was shy [back then]. One thing I have never recovered from is a fear of public speaking. The only people speaking publicly in school were those reading out the sermon at assembly and those participating in debates. I wasn’t among either. Nor was I into too many extracurricular activities... I particularly remember a mathematics teacher who, I felt, was determined that I never complete school. He almost succeeded.”

Finish with school he did and then it was on to Cornell University in the United States, a nation and a state of mind that Mr Tata would fall in love with. Cornell, where he studied architecture and structural engineering, and those years in America from 1955 to 1962 would influence Mr Tata tremendously. It was, in multiple ways, the making of him. He travelled the country and got so charmed by California and that West Coast lifestyle he was ready to settle down in Los Angeles.

The spell was broken when Lady Navajbai’s health deteriorated. Mr Tata was forced to return to a life he thought he had left behind. “I was in Los Angeles and very happily so. And that was where I was when I left before I should have left,” Mr Tata would say in a 2011 interview with  CNN .

Now back in India, Mr Tata had a job offer from IBM. JRD Tata wasn’t amused. “He called me one day and he said you can’t be here in India and working for IBM. I was in [the IBM office] and I remember he asked me for a resume, which I didn’t have. The office had electric typewriters so I sat one evening and typed out a resume on their typewriter and gave it to him.”

And that was how Mr Tata came to be offered a job, in 1962, with Tata Industries, the promoter company of the group (he would go on to spend six months at Telco, now called Tata Motors, before joining Tisco, now Tata Steel, in 1963).

Back at Cornell, Mr Tata had spent his initial two years studying engineering, in deference to his father’s wishes rather than any real inclination on his part. Then he made the switch to architecture — “much to my father’s consternation” — though he would go on, incredibly enough, to complete both courses in under seven years.

Unlike his eldest son, Naval Tata was a gregarious and outgoing personality, equally at home in the company of kings and commoners. He became a director of Tata Sons, an eminent figure in the International Labour Organisation and a well-regarded sports administrator. Between father and son, though, the difference in temperament showed. “We were close and we were not,” Mr Tata would write in a special publication that celebrated the lives of Jamsetji Tata, JRD Tata and Naval Tata. “I left India when I was 15 for a decade. I would have to say that, as often happens between a father and a son, there was, perhaps, a divergence of views.

“[My father] hated confrontations. He was very good at negotiating settlements... Frequently, that settlement would involve a compromise, and he was all for ‘give and take’. As a person, he gave in a great deal and sometimes, as younger and less mature people, we would fight with him for conceding ground in the quest for a solution, for peace or whatever.”

Some of that need for conciliation and cooperation, that concern for people and their feelings, is certainly in Mr Tata’s genes too. The memories of those who shared the shop floor with him at Tata Steel in Jamshedpur attest to that truth. And those qualities of caring were also evident when he became the director of National Radio and Electronics (or Nelco, as it was better known), his maiden independent leadership mission. 

The battles that Mr Tata had to fight to establish his control over the group following the passing away of JRD in 1993 has been told often. What has attracted little comment has been the decency that Mr Tata displayed in the face of the flak that was fired at him.

That has been, and continues to be, the Ratan Tata style: to do it his way and peace be with the world. It can seem at times that Mr Tata preserves the integrity of his disdain for unfounded criticism by pickling it in silence.

That may be an appropriate response in an age where, as one business commentator put it, “poverty, paranoia and financial illiteracy have combined into a dangerous brew — one that has made economic virtuosity look suspiciously like social vice”.

His training as an architect may have something to do with Mr Tata’s preference for deeds over words. Architecture, that “inescapable art”, is nothing if not an expression of worth through work, a medium that inevitably suffers when explained in writing or speech.

As he says often, architecture has provided him with the equipment to be a perceptive business leader. Pity is, Mr Tata has had only a handful of opportunities to use that equipment in the discipline proper, a house he designed for his mother, an abode in Alibaug and his own seafront home in Mumbai being the most prominent of these.

Mr Tata has had a bit more time for his other desires. Flying and fast cars, both of them, like so much else, born in the Cornell cauldron, have been enduring passions. As was scuba diving till his ears could take the pressure no more.

A teetotaller and a nonsmoker, Mr Tata has consciously chosen to stay single. That seems so much like the man: a lonesome warrior wedded to the Tata cause. The company he keeps in his book-lined abode in Mumbai is his German Shepherds, Tito and Tango, and his fondness for them has always been boundless.

Too many of these pets of Mr Tata have been snatched away by death and the loss has taken its toll, but he is not quite ready to give up on the chance to bond with yet another loyal bounder. “My love for dogs as pets is ever strong and will continue for as long as I live,” he said in a recent interview with Tata Review.

“There is an indescribable sadness every time one of my pets passes away and I resolve I cannot go through another parting of that nature. And yet, two-three years down the road, my home becomes too empty and too quiet for me to live without them, so there is another dog that gets my affection and attention, just like the last one.”

That’s distinctively Mr Tata, a leader and an individual not afflicted by the curse of certainty.

That may be why his explanations on any issue or subject are punctuated frequently with words such as perhaps, probably and possibly (it puts him in the same league as the writer and rhetorician Christopher Hitchens, who when asked which word he had most overused, said it was “perhaps”).

What Mr Tata has been definite about is the need for him to step aside and let a new generation navigate the Tata ship. Now there will be other frontiers to find and interests to be pursued.

“He owns less than 1 percent of the group that bears his family name. But he is a titan nonetheless: the most powerful businessman in India and one of the most influential in the world,” stated The Economist in a 2011 profile of Mr Tata. Ageism cannot keep still a person such as that.

“There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring,” said Ernest Hemingway. “They are the very simplest things, and because it takes a man’s life to know them, the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave.”

What Ratan Tata has learned and passed on, and what his triumphs and his conduct reveal — that surely will be his legacy.

His Life, His Times:

• 1937:  Ratan Tata is born to Soonoo and Naval Tata.
• 1955:  Leaves for Cornell University (Ithaca, New York, USA) at age 17; goes on to study architecture and engineering over a seven-year period.
• 1962:  Awarded bachelor of architecture degree.
• 1962:  Joins the Tata group as an assistant in Tata Industries; later in the year, spends six months training at the Jamshedpur plant of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (now called Tata Motors).
• 1963:  Moves to Tata Iron and Steel Company, or Tisco (now called Tata Steel), at its Jamshedpur facility for a training programme.
• 1965:  Is appointed technical officer in Tisco’s engineering division.
• 1969:  Works as the Tata group’s resident representative in Australia.
• 1970:  Returns to India, joins Tata Consultancy Services, then a software fledgling, for a short stint.
• 1971:  Is named director-in-charge of National Radio and Electronics (better known as Nelco), an ailing electronics enterprise.
• 1974:  Joins the board of Tata Sons as a director.
• 1975:  Completes the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
• 1981:  Is appointed Chairman of Tata Industries; begins the process of transforming it into a promoter of high-technology businesses.
• 1983:  Drafts the Tata strategic plan.
• 1986-1989:  Serves as Chairman of Air India, the national carrier.
• March 25, 1991:  Takes over from JRD Tata as Chairman of Tata Sons and Chairman of the Tata trusts.
• 1991:  Begins restructuring of the Tata group at a time when the liberalisation of the Indian economy is underway.
• 2000 onwards:  The growth and globalisation drive of the Tata group gathers pace under his stewardship and the new millennium sees a string of high-profile Tata acquisitions, among them Tetley, Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, Brunner Mond, General Chemical Industrial Products and Daewoo.
• 2008:  Launches the Tata Nano, born of the trailblazing small car project he guided and commanded with zeal and determination.
• 2008:  Is awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian honour, by the Government of India.
• December 2012:  Steps down as Chairman of Tata Sons after 50 years with the Tata group; is appointed Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons.

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Ratan Tata Biography

Ratan Tata, the ex-Chairman of the Tata Group of Companies, is a prominent Indian industrialist known for his leadership and philanthropy. With his extensive experience in the family business and his visionary approach, he transformed Tata into a global brand. Under his guidance, the organization achieved remarkable success and expanded its overseas revenues. Additionally, Ratan Tata has played significant roles in various organizations and is recognized as a leading philanthropist. Even after retirement, he continues to be a guiding force for his conglomerate, inspiring with his pioneering ideas and positive outlook.

Quick Facts

• Indian Celebrities Born In December
• Also Known As: Ratan Naval Tata
• Age: 85 Years, 85 Year Old Males
• Father: Naval Tata
• Mother: Sooni Tata
• Siblings: Noel Tata
• Telecommunication
• Height: 5’10” (178 cm), 5’10” Males
• Founder/Co-Founder: Tata DoCoMo, Tata Teleservices
• Education: Cornell University, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Bishop Cotton School, The Cathedral & John Connon School, Campion School, Mumbai
• Awards: Padma Bhushan (2000), Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (2004), Padma Vibhusan (2008), Oslo Business for Peace Award (2010), Honorary Knight Grand Cross of The Order of the British Empire (2014)

Childhood & Early Life

Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937 in Surat, India, to Naval Tata and Sonoo. Naval Tata was the adopted son of the Jamsetji Tata’s younger son Ratanji Tata. Jamsetji Tata was the founder of the Tata Group of Companies. Ratan Tata has a brother, Jimmy, and a step-brother, Noel Tata.

When he was ten, his parents got separated and thereafter, he and his brother were brought up by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata. He received his early education from the Campion School, Mumbai and finished his schooling from the Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai. In 1962, he obtained his B.S. in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University, U.S.A. Later, he got enrolled at the Harvard Business School and completed an Advanced Management Program in 1975.

In 1962, Ratan Tata started his career with the Tata Steel division where he shoveled stones and worked with the furnaces along with the blue-collar employees. It was a difficult job but helped him gain a better understanding and respect for his family business.

In 1971, he was appointed as the Director-in-Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (NELCO) in order to help its struggling finances. He worked towards building a better consumer electronics division but the economic recession and union strikes prevented him from achieving success.

In 1977, he was moved to Empress Mills, a struggling textile mill within the Tata Group. He proposed a plan for the mill but the other Tata executives rejected it and the mill was shut down. Later, he was moved to the Tata Industries.

In 1991, J.R.D. Tata appointed him as the new Chairman of the Tata Group of Companies. This decision came under scrutiny following objections from other executives of the company and questions were raised regarding his ability to run the corporation. But he succeeded in improving the financial success of the industries and expanded the growth of the organization under his leadership. He transformed the management and vision of the division, and managed to bring in significantly larger dividends.

He also became a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry. He served on the advisory board of the RAND’s center for Asia Pacific Policy and is also an active participant in India’s AIDS initiative program. He also holds the membership of the international advisory board of the Mitsubishi Cooperation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booze Allen Hamilton.

On his 75th birthday, i.e, on 28 December 2012 he resigned from the post of Chairman of Tata Group and was succeeded by Cyrus Mistry, managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Even after retirement, he is still an active businessman and invests in upcoming promising business ventures.

Major Works

As the Chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata was able to achieve international recognition and prestige for his company. The astounding financial success of the company brought the Tata Group to the New York Stock Exchange and under his supervision the corporation became a global brand by acquiring many companies including Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus. He was instrumental in the conception and building of Tata Nano and Tata Indica cars.

Awards & Achievements

Ratan Tata has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. In 2000, he was conferred the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honor awarded by the Government of India. He has also received awards from the governments of Uruguay, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In 2010, he won the Oslo Business for Peace Award presented by the Business for Peace Foundation.

Personal Life & Legacy

Ratan Tata is a bachelor and is known for his low profile lifestyle. He resides in a simple house in Mumbai and drives around in a Tata Sedan. He is also a notable philanthropist and more than 65% of his share is invested in charitable trusts. One of the primary goals of his life has been to raise the quality of life of Indians along with human development.

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Ratan Tata Biography, Birth, Age, Education, Family, Net Worth, and More

Ratan Naval Tata, born on 28 December 1937, is a distinguished Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and the former chairman of Tata Sons. Hailing from the illustrious Tata family, renowned for their contributions to Indian industry and philanthropy, Ratan Tata received his education at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree. You can discover the entire Ratan Naval Tata biography within this article.

Ratan Tata Biography

India holds the distinction of being ranked third, following the United States and China, in terms of having the wealthiest individuals in the country. Notably, at the age of 73, Ratan Tata stands at the helm of one of the largest conglomerates in India, overseeing nearly 100 companies with a collective revenue of approximately USD 67 billion. In 2000, he was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan, which is the third highest civilian honor in India, recognizing his outstanding achievements and contributions.

His lineage is deeply intertwined with the legacy of the Tata Group, which was founded by Jamsetji Tata. Interestingly, He is the son of Naval Tata, he was adopted by Ratanji Tata, the son of Jamsetji Tata. This adoption forged a familial connection that has played a significant role in shaping Ratan Tata’s life and his association with the Tata Group. His brother name is Jimmy Tata.

He was born on 28 December 1937 in Bombay, British India. Now he is 85 years old.

In a candid statement made in 2011, He revealed that he had come remarkably close to getting married on four separate occasions. However, each time, he ultimately withdrew from the prospect of marriage due to various reasons, often stemming from fear or other circumstances.

The octogenarian, at the age of 84, experienced education at various esteemed institutions. These included Campion School and Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and Riverdale Country School in New York City. Tata embarked on his higher education journey at Cornell University in the United States, where he delved into the fields of architecture and structural engineering. Later, he further honed his skills by undertaking a management course at Harvard University.

Twitter, Founding of Apple, Titan Company Limited, Saving Apple

In 2009, Musk ventured into the realm of social media by joining Twitter. Under the username @elonmusk, he quickly gained immense popularity, amassing over 85 million followers by 2023. Meanwhile, in late 1996, Apple was facing significant financial losses and teetering on the brink of collapse. At this critical juncture, semiconductor executive Gilbert Amelio was appointed as the new chief executive. Under the Tata Group’s organizational structure, its subsidiaries operate independently, overseen by their respective boards of directors and investors. During that time, Ratan Tata served as the interim chairman of Tata Sons. Ratan Tata expressed reservations about Tesla’s public trading status. However, Apple’s board of directors grew dissatisfied with Amelio’s inability to turn the company’s financial situation around.

Childhood and Early Life

Born into one of India’s wealthiest industrialist families in Mumbai in 1937, Ratan Tata carries a prestigious lineage. He is the adopted son of Naval Tata, the younger son of Jamsetji Tata. At the age of ten, Ratan’s parents went through a divorce, shaping his early life.

In 1962, Ratan Tata embarked on his career as a mining worker, establishing his own firm—an endeavor that was quite remarkable. In 1991, J. R. D. Tata, Ratan’s predecessor, stepped down as the chairman of Tata Sons, and he designated Ratan as his successor. Upon assuming the role of chairman, Ratan Tata implemented transformative changes within the Tata Group. He streamlined operations across subsidiaries, transitioning from overlapping activities to cohesive company-wide operations. To embrace globalization, the group divested from unrelated businesses.

Awards List

As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, Ratan Tata’s net worth was estimated to be around one billion dollars. However, please note that net worth values can fluctuate over time due to various factors such as investments, business ventures, and market conditions.

Check Also: Nora Fatehi Biography

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• “Ratan Tata’s Legacy,” The Economist, December 1, 2012
• FTF Ratan Tata 28 6 2000 [Interview posted to Youtube]
• R. M. Lala, “Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Liberalization:The Tata Group,” in Medha M. Kudaisya, ed., The Oxford Indian Anthology of Business History. Oxford University Press, 2011
• Jayati Sarkard, “Business Groups in India, “ in Aslı Colpan, Takashi Hikino, and James R. Lincoln, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Business Groups. Oxford University Press, 2010
• Dwijendra Tripathi, The Oxford History of Indian Business. Oxford University Press, 2004
• Simon Mundy and Victor Mallet, "Tata boss: ‘I needed to stop the bleeding’," Financial Times , February 19, 2018.
• Tata Central Archives
• Tata Group International Businesses, 1903–2014 [Historical Data Visualization trends over time map]
• Video file of this interview available at Baker Library Historical Collections, histcollref+hbs.edu . Harvard ID holders can access the full-length video above.

Interview Citation Format

"Interview with Ratan Naval Tata, interviewed by Tarun Khanna, April 27, 2015, Creating Emerging Markets Project, Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, http://www.hbs.edu/creating-emerging-markets/."

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The Man Behind The Authorised Biography Of Ratan Tata

• Muskan Khandelwal
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• Ratan Tata’s authorised biography, which is all set to get published in November this year, is penned by retired IAS officer of 1983 batch, Dr Thomas Mathew
• Dr Thomas Mathew was the Additional Secretary to Former President of India, Late Pranab Mukherjee
• The comprehensive biography will include Ratan Tata’s childhood, his professional and private lives, college years, his return to India and early tenure with the Tata Group
• Share this article

• Former IAS Thomas Mathew with Business Tycoon Ratan Tata

WHO IS DR THOMAS MATHEW?

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ABOUT THE BOOK

• Dr Thomas Mathew
• Former IAS Officer
• Harper Collins
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• IAS Officer
• Ratan N. Tata: Authorised Biography
• Ratan Tata Biography

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The Best Biography

Ratan Tata (Indian Businessman) Biography

January 18, 2024 by Sophia Leave a Comment

He was born on December 28, 1937 in Surat, India, to Naval Tata and Soni. Naval Tata was the adopted son of the Jamsetji Tata’s younger son Ratanji Tata. Jamsetji Tata was the founder of the Tata Group of Companies. Ratan Tata has a brother, Jimmy, and a step-brother, Noel Tata.

When he was ten, his parents, got separated and thereafter, he and his brother were brought up by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata. He received his early education from the Campion School, Mumbai and finished his schooling from the Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai. In 1962, he obtained his B.S. in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University, U.S.A. Later he got enrolled at the Harvard Business School and completed an Advanced Management Program in 1975.

Table of Contents

Ratan Tata Biography

Ratan tata childhood and early life.

Ratan Tata was born in 1937 and is the current Chairman of Tata Sons. He has a brother named Jimmy, and a step-brother called Noel. His parents separated when he was ten years old. He spent his childhood with his grandmother, who raised both of them. He attended Campion school in Mumbai and eventually graduated from Cornell University for architecture, and structural engineering. In 1975 he did an advanced management program at Harvard Business school to become CEO of Tata Group started by my ancestor Lalubhai Jamshedji Modhavandiyya on 1st January 1945.

Ratan Tata Education 

Ratan tata career.

• In 1962, he started his career with the Tata Steel division where he shoveled stones and worked with the furnaces along with the blue-collar employees. It was a difficult job and helped him gain a better understanding and respect for his family business.
• In 1971, he was appointed as the Director-in-Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (NELCO) in order to help its struggling finances. He worked towards building a better consumer electronics division but the economic recession and union strikes prevented him from achieving success.
• In 1977, he was moved to Empress Mills, a struggling textile mill within the Tata Group. He proposed a plan for the mill but the other Tata executives rejected it and the mill was shut down. Later, he was moved to the Tata Industries.
• In 1991, J.R.D. Tata appointed him as the new Chairman of the Tata Group of Companies. This decision came under scrutiny following objections from other executives of the company and questions were raised regarding his ability to run the corporation.
• But he succeeded in improving the financial success of the industries and expanded the growth of the organization under his leadership. He transformed the management and vision of the division, and managed to bring in significantly larger dividends.
• He also became a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry. He served on the advisory board of the RAND’s center for Asia Pacific Policy and is also an active participant in India’s AIDS initiative program.
• He also holds the membership of the international advisory board of the Mitsubishi Cooperation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booze Allen Hamilton.
• On his 75th birthday, i.e, on 28 December 2012 he resigned from the post of Chairman of Tata Group and was succeeded by Cyrus Mistry, managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Even after retirement, he is still an active businessman and invests in upcoming promising business ventures.

Ratan Tata Net Worth

According to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List, Ratan Tata’s net worth was estimated at Rs 3,500 crore last year.

Ratan Tata – Major Successes

In his capacity as Tata Group’s Chairman, he took the company to such heights that it was prestigiously recognized at the international level. Tata Group reached the New York Stock Exchange and achieved great financial success. In addition to the Tata Nano and Tata Indica automobiles, he led the Tata Group in acquiring Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, and Tetley, leading to the Tata Group becoming a global brand. A philanthropist, he has invested over 65 percent of his share in charitable trusts. He strives to improve the quality of life for Indians.

Also Read : Mukesh Ambani (Indian Businessman) Biography!

Ratan Tata – Achievements and Awards

• Padma Bhushan (3rd highest civilian honor of the Govt. of India (2000)
• Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (Govt. of Uruguay (2004))
• International Distinguished Achievement Award 
• Honorary Fellowship of The London School of Economics and Political Science (2007)
• Padma Vibhushan (2nd highest civilian the honor of the Govt. of India (2008).
• Award of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Government of Italy (2009)).
• Title of Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, United Kingdom (2009).
• Oslo Business for Peace Award (Business for Peace Foundation (2010)).
• Honorary Knight Grand Cross of The Order of the British Empire (2014).

Ratan Tata Marriage

Tata has never married and has no children. In 2011, Ratan Tata stated, “I came close to getting married four times and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another.”

Ratan Tata Car Company List  

• Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc
• Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd (TMPV Ltd)
• Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd (TPEM)
• Tata Motors European Technical Centre PLC (TMETC)
• Tata Motors Insurance Broking and Advisory Services Limited (TMIBASL)
• TMF Holdings Limited
• TML Distribution Company Limited (TDCL)
• Tata Technologies Limited
• Tata Marcopolo Motors Limited (TMML)
• TML Holdings Pte. Limited
• Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company Limited

Ratan Tata Family Tree

• Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata- Founder of Tata Group, India’s biggest conglomerate company. He was married to Hirabai Daboo. 
• Dorabji Tata- The elder son of Jamshedji Tata and second chairperson of the Tata Group. His wife was Meherbai Tata, the paternal aunt of renowned nuclear scientist Homi J. Bhabha.
• Ratanji Tata- Younger son of Jamshedji Tata. He was the pioneer of poverty studies. He was married to Navajbai Tata. His wife adopted an orphan, Naval, who was the grand-nephew of Hirabai Tata, and raised him as her own son.
• Naval Tata- Adopted son of Navajbai Tata. His biological father was Hormusji Tata. His maternal grandmother was the sister of Hirabai Tata. Director in several Tata companies, ILO member, and recipient of Padma Bhushan, Naval Tata had three sons– Ratan Tata (5th chairperson of Tata Group), Jimmy Tata, and Noel Tata (Chairperson of Trent Limited)– from two marriages.
• Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata- He was one of the early stalwarts who served the Tata Group. His father Dadabhoy and his mother Jamshedji Tata, Jeevanbai, were siblings. He married Suzanne Brière and the couple gave birth to five children, including J.R.D. Tata and Sylla Tata.
• J.R.D. Tata- He served as the fourth Chairperson of the Tata Group. He is the founder of Tata Airlines (later Air India).
• Sylla Tata- Elder sister of J.R.D. Tata was married to the founder of the first textile mill in India, Dinshaw Maneckji Petit. Her sister-in-law  Rattanbai Petit, was married to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah’s only child, Dina Jinnah, was married to Neville Ness Wadia. 

Famous Quotes By Ratan Tata

• “I don’t believe in taking the right decisions. I take decisions and then make them right.”
• “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”
• “I’ve often felt that the Indian Tiger has not been unleashed.”
• “People still believe what they read is necessarily the truth.”
•  “If it stands the test of public scrutiny, do it… If it doesn’t stand the test of public scrutiny then don’t do it.”
• “Power and wealth are not two of my main stakes.”
• “I have been constantly telling people to encourage people, to question the unquestioned, and not to be ashamed to bring up new ideas, new processes to get things done.”
• “None can destroy iron, but its own rust can! Likewise, none can destroy a person, but its own mindset can!”
• “Businesses need to go beyond the interest of their companies to the communities they serve.”
• “Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive.”
• “Apart from values and ethics which I have tried to live by, the legacy I would like to leave behind is a very simple one – that I have always stood up for what I consider to be the right thing, and I have tried to be as fair and equitable as I could be.”
• “I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can’t respect him.”
• “There are many things that, if I have to relive, maybe I will do it another way. But I would not like to look back and think what I have not been able to.”
• “Don’t be serious, enjoy life as it comes.”
• “I have always been very confident and very upbeat about the future potential of India. I think it is a great country with great potential.”
• “One hundred years from now, I expect the Tatas to be much bigger than it is now. More importantly, I hope the Group comes to be regarded as being the best in India.. best in the manner in which we operate, best in the products we deliver, and our best in our value systems and ethics. Having said that, I hope that a hundred years from now we will spread our wings far beyond India.”
• “Take the stones people to throw at you, and use them to build a monument”
• “I followed someone who had very large shoes. He had very large shoes. Mr. J. R. D. Tata. He was a legend in the Indian business community. He had been at the helm of the Tata organization for 50 years. You were almost starting to think he was going to be there forever.”
• “Young entrepreneurs will make a difference in the Indian ecosystem.”
• “I would say that one of the things I wish I could do differently would be to be more outgoing.”
• “The strong live and the weak die. There is some bloodshed, and out of it emerges a much leaner industry, which tends to survive.”
• “At Tatas, we believe that if we are not among the top three in an industry, we should look seriously at what it would take to become one of the top three players.. or think about exiting the industry”

Ratan Tata Cars

Ratan Tata is known to be a car enthusiast and has owned several luxury cars over the years. Here is a list of all the cars that he owns:

• Ferrari California
• Honda Civic
• Mercedes Benz-500 SL
• Land Rover Freelander
• Mercedes Benz W124
• Cadillac XLR
• Tata Indigo Marina
• Mercedes Benz S-Class

Ratan Tata Interesting facts:

• Our admirable Ratan Tata is unmarried. 
• Despite being the chairman of one of the largest conglomerates in India, he is down to Earth. 
• He is the driving force behind the historic merger of Land Rover Jaguar with Tata Motors. 
• He is also the driving force behind the development of the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano.
• Ratan Tata is a skilled pilot as well. 

Ratan Tata Houses and Real Estate Properties

Ratan Tata owns several properties, including a sea-facing bungalow in Colaba, Mumbai. The Colaba residence, which has three floors and a total of seven levels, is a sea-facing building with a generous 13,350 square feet of space.

Ratan Tata Controversies

• Involvement in Tata Tapes
• Tata Nano Controversy
• Radia Tapes

Ratan Tata flies F18 plane

Ratan Tata sits in the cockpit of a F17 fighter plane during the Aero India 2011, India’s biggest air show, at Yelahanka air base in Bangalore. Tata group chairman Ratan Tata waves to the media before he sits in the F18 fighter plane during the Aero India 2011 in Bangalore. Ratan Tata flies the F18 fighter plane during the Aero India in Bangalore.  

Ratan Tata speech, with PM by his side, wins hearts

Ratan Tata, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inaugurated seven state-of-the-art cancer hospitals and laid the foundation stone.

Today, seven new cancer hospitals have been inaugurated in Assam. There was a time, even one hospital getting opened up in seven years was a thing to celebrate. Times have changed now. I have been told three more cancer hospitals will be ready for your service in a few months,” PM Modi said.

Ratan Tata said, “I dedicate my last years to help make Assam a state that recognises and is recognised by all.

Ratan Tata is a titan of biz, industry & philanthropy not just in 🇮🇳, but his contributions have also made a significant impact in 🇦🇺. Delighted to confer Order of Australia (AO) honour to @RNTata2000 in recognition of his longstanding commitment to the 🇦🇺🇮🇳relationship. @ausgov pic.twitter.com/N7e05sWzpV — Philip Green OAM (@AusHCIndia) April 22, 2023

Ratan Tata is a titan of biz, industry & philanthropy not just in but his contributions have also made a significant impact in Delighted to confer Order of Australia (AO) honour.

Ratan Tata: Latest updates

Ratan tata celebrates 84th birthday.

Ratan Tata celebrated his 84th birthday on December 28, 2021. The social media was flooded with a heartwarming video where Ratan Tata was seen blowing out the candle on a cupcake while one of his employees, Shantanu Naidu, clapped, sang a birthday song, and fed him a piece of cake. Users online posted their wishes while admiring the simplicity the industrialist is known for. Shantanu Naidu works as a deputy general manager. The video clip was shared by Vaibhav Bhoir, a business development manager at Tata Motors Finance.

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• IAS Preparation
• UPSC Preparation Strategy

Ratan Tata Biography for UPSC

An eminent industrialist and philanthropist, Ratan Naval Tata was the Chairman of Tata Sons from 1991 to 2012. He made remarkable contributions to developing the TATA group as one of the prodigious conglomerates in India and collaborated with several organisations in India and abroad.

Under his stewardship, TATA became one of the biggest conglomerates in India. A perceptive businessman, and the recipient of the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, his vision and ideals have left an indelible mark on the business landscape of the country.

Read more articles for UPSC 2023 from the linked article.

Ace your UPSC Preparation with UPSC Current Affairs by BYJU’s.

Ratan Tata- Download PDF Here

Early Life of Ratan Tata

• Ratan Naval Tata was born on December 28, 1937 as the son of Naval Tata. He was adopted by the son of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata group.
• He completed his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University College of Architecture. After a short period working with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles, he returned to India by the end of 1962.
• He started working with the TATA group in 1962 and initially collaborated with TATA steel. Meanwhile, he also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975.
• After associating and gaining experience with the TATA companies, he took the responsibility of Director In Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company.

Chairmanship of TATA Group

• JRD Tata stepped down as the Chairman of the TATA Group in 1991 and named Ratan Tata as his successor. Amidst facing criticism for his linexperience in running a giant company like TATA Group, he was appointed the Chairman of the TATA group in 1991. Under his Chairmanship, the company expanded its horizons from an Indian-centric conglomerate to a global player. 65% of the revenues were coming from abroad. Under his supervision, the revenues rose by 40 times, and profits increased by 50 times.
• With a pretension of globalising the business, TATA group acquired London-based Tetley Tea for $431.3 million. It purchased the truck manufacturing unit of South Korea’s Daewoo motors in 2004 for $ 102 million. In 2007, it achieved a milestone and became the first Indian Company to acquire the huge steel manufacturer, an Anglo-Dutch company, Corus Group, for $11.3 billion.
• Acquisition of Tetley by TATA Tea, Jaguar Land Rover by TATA Motors, and Corus by TATA Steel aided their growth at the international level, spreading over 100 countries. It gave a new impetus to the Indian Industrial sector and global Industrial sector,with investments in giant multinational corporations like Jaguar, Tetley & Land Rover. His remarkable achievements in the business field got listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
• In 2015, he came up with the idea of the TATA Nano Car.Through the introduction of NANO cars in the market, he emphasised providing safe and affordable travel to middle and lower-middle-income consumers across the World.
• TATA Nano, designed with a seating capacity of 5 people and starting price of $ 2000, was referred to as the “ people’s car” due to its pricing and convenience.

Philanthropy

• Ratan Tata established Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, transforming his father’s vision into reality. Around 60-65% of the total profit earned by Ratan Tata was donated for charity purposes.He made notable contributions to the philanthropic field, particularly in:
• Ratan Tata continued the legacy of the founder and visionary of the TATA group, Jamsetji Tata. JN Tata Endowment for Higher Education supports Indian students with scholarships to pursue higher education. He embodied Jamshetji Tata’s vision of constructive philanthropy.
• TATA Trusts has been addressing the challenges in the education sector with a profound understanding of the needs of communities and stakeholders. Ensuring a quality education for children, especially those belonging to marginalised communities, has been the central aim. Tata Trusts attempts to provide authentic, high-quality learning experiences through critical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative learning, the use of technology, etc.
• TATA trusts work in the field of education in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

1. Quality Education (SDG -4)

2. Gender Equality (SDG – 5)

3. Decent Work and Economic Work (SDG -8)

4. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG – 9)

5. Reduced Inequality ( SDG – 10)

6. Partnerships to achieve the SDG (SDG -17).

• There are premier educational institutions established and supported by the TATA Trusts under Ratan Tata in India and abroad. They are:
• Tata Centre for Technology and Design at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), Tata Centre for Technology and Design in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Chicago
• Tata Centre for Genetics and Society at the University of California San Diego, Harvard University South Asia Institute,
• Indian Institute of Science (IISc) – Bengaluru,
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) – Mumbai, Tata Memorial Centre – Mumbai,
• Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) – Mumbai
• National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) – Bengaluru.
• The Tata Education and Development Trust, as a part of their charitable services, established a $28 million Tata Fundraising Campaign, in association with Cornell University to lend financial help to Indian undergraduates who cannot afford educational expenses.

Medical field

• Ratan TATA came out with cohesive strategies to improve primary health care in India, and bolstered multi-pronged initiatives for issues related to maternal health, child health, mental health, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, malaria, tuberculosis, etc.
• He undertook a multi-faceted approach that included direct implementation of projects, institution building, partnerships, and the use of technology and innovation.
• TATA group, under the Chairmanship of Ratan Tata, provided a grant worth ₹750 million Indian rupees to the Centre of Neuroscience at the Indian Institute of Science. The fund was given to pursue research on the mechanisms that cause Alzheimer’s disease and detect methods for early diagnosis and treatment.
• He has worked with governments, non-governmental organisations, and implementation partners to assure proper maternal care, nutrition, water, sanitation, infrastructural support, and poverty alleviation to bring about a change to achieve a sustainable effect on public health.

Rural development and Agricultural development

• An initiative of the TATA group known as the Transforming Rural India Initiative (TRI), worked with Governments, NGOs, civil society groups, and philanthropists to transform areas of acute poverty.
• He gave generous donations during times of natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, schools, and hospitals.

Sir Ratan Tata Trust

• In 1919, Ratan Tata established the trust post the demise of Ratanji Tata. Trust works according to his will for the well-being of the underprivileged in education, learning, and other branches. They partnered with different organisations to bring about change in a sustainable manner. Trust provides two types of grants. They are:
• Institutional grants include endowment grants, programme grants, and small grants.
• Endowment grants are provided to organisations with a well-defined mission and strive to bring about positive change in society.
• Emergency Grants : These grants are given during a time of urgency or a crisis. Ratan Tata and TATA Trusts donated 1500 crore rupees to PM CARES Fund during COVID-19.
• Programme grants include Rural livelihoods and communities, Arts and Culture, Civil society and governance, education, and health.
• In Rural livelihoods and communities, the Trust focuses on land and water development, Microfinance, etc.
• In Arts and Culture, grants are given to nurture crafts-based livelihood initiatives, support community-based media projects for the upliftment of communities, support the livelihood of performing artists, and give a new life to performing arts.
• Small grants : Small grants are given by TATA Trust to small-scale organisations that seek support for the implementation of innovative ideas for the welfare of the people.
• Individual grants , which include medical and educational grants.
• Trust has been focusing on imparting quality education in India through continuous efforts. The three aspects of importance are; school-based education, out-of-school education, and education management. Merit scholarships are provided to students with excellent academic performance, especially undergraduate students in medicine and engineering. Travel grants are provided to individuals pursuing postgraduate and doctoral courses or to doctors of government hospitals.
• Medical grants are given to patients to meet their expenses for treatment. This includes organising health programs for the rural population, specialised healthcare services, resources for healthcare, and financing poor patients in private hospitals.
• Ratan Tata also heads Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts along with Ratan Tata trust. He owns a 66% stake in TATA Sons.

Other initiatives

• He has held various roles in organizations in India and abroad. He is a member of the Prime Minister’s Trade and Industry Council and the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. He serves on the jury of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is considered one of the world’s leading architecture awards. He serves on the boards of Alcoa Inc, Mondelez International, and the East-West centre.
• Ratan Tata is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California, the Dean’s Advisory Board of Harvard Business School, and Cornell University. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Advisory Board of Bocconi University. He is also a member of the Harvard Business School India Advisory Board (IAB) since 2006.
• In 2013 he was appointed to the board of directors of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In February 2015, Ratan assumed an advisory role at The Kalaari Capital, a venture capital firm founded by Vani Kola.

Titles and Honours

• Ratan Tata received the second-highest civilian honour of the country, Padma Vibhushan, in 2008, and the third-highest civilian honour of the country, Padman Bhushan, in 2000.
• He was appointed as the “Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order” of the British Empire. He received a lifetime achievement from Rockefeller Foundation, an American philanthropic and medical research organisation.
• Ratan Tata is an honorary fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Royal Academy of Engineering, and a foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering.
• He also received honorary doctorates from the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, Ohio State University, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur,etc.
• Ratan Tata resigned from his powers on 28 December 2012, at the age of 75. Cyrus Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the largest individual stakeholder of the TATA group, was appointed the successor of Ratan Tata. Facing opposition from the Board of Directors and legal division, he got removed from the position on 24 October 2016. Thus, Ratan Tata served as an interim chairman.
• The next successor for the TATA group was chosen by a selection committee on 12 January 2017. Thus, Natarajan Chandrasekharan was appointed the chairman of the TATA Group and the successor of Ratan Tata.

Current Engagement

• Currently, Ratan Tata heads Tata Trusts and Tata Sons. He is the second person to head both companies after JRD Tata.

Frequently Asked Questions about Ratan Tata

Who is Ratan Tata?

Ratan Tata is one of the leading industrialists and the former Chairman of one of the largest conglomerates in India, the TATA group.TATA group owns around 100 firms and earns revenue of $67 million.

How is Ratan Tata related to Jamsetji Tata?

Jamsetji Tata is the grandfather of Ratan Tata and the founder of the TATA group in India.

Which is the most important step by Ratan Tata to transform the TATA group into a global brand?

TATA group made several acquisitions, including Tetley Tea, Jaguar Land Rover, Daewoo Motors, and Corus group.

What was Ratan Tata’s contribution to Tata Motors?

During the tenure of Ratan Tata as the chairman of the TATA group, TATA Motorsgot got listed on the New York stock exchange. In 1998, he launched TATA Indica, the first hatchback in India with a diesel engine. With an objective to introduce affordable cars in India, TATA Nano was launched in 2008 by Ratan Tata.

What were the major philanthropic activities of Ratan Tata?

Ratan Tata was involved in numerous philanthropic activities. He encouraged, collaborated, and funded a number of activities and initiatives contributing to the quality of life, education, healthcare, and rural development of the population.

Which are the important awards received by Ratan Tata?

Ratan Tata is the recipient of Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour, and Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in the country. His predecessor, J R D Tata, was the recipient of Bharat Ratna. Apart from that, Ratan Tata received recognition from India and abroad, for his contribution to humankind and impregnable adherence to ethics and human values.

Which are the trusts established during the tenure of Ratan Tata?

Ratan Tata established Sir Ratan Tata Trust in 1919, which transformed traditional ideas of charity. He also established Sir Dorabji Tata Trust during his tenure.

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