Tributes paid to ‘visionary’ Tata

THE industrialist Ratan Tata, who died last week aged 86, was credited with transforming India’s Tata Group into a globally renowned conglomerate with a portfolio ranging from software to sports cars.

Ahead of a state funeral in Mumbai last week, hundreds of people including corporate leaders, politicians and celebrities gathered in the city to pay their last respects to him.

“It is with a profound sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr Ratan Naval Tata, a truly uncommon leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation,” company chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in a statement after the death was announced.

“I extend our condolences to his loved ones. His legacy will continue to inspire us as we strive to uphold the principles he so passionately championed.”

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi called Tata “a visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being”.

Modi praised Tata for providing “stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses”. He said in a post on X he was “extremely pained” by Tata’s passing and offered his condolences to Tata’s friends and family.

“India and the world have lost a giant with a giant heart,” US ambassador Eric Garcetti said on X.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said on LinkedIn: “Ratan Tata was a visionary leader whose dedication to improving lives left an indelible mark on India – and the world... His loss will be felt around the world for years to come, but I know the legacy he left and example he set will continue to inspire generations.”

Known for his exemplary business acumen and philanthropic nature, Tata as chairman led various companies within the conglomerate for more than 20 years. It recorded revenue of $165 billion (£126bn) in 2023-24.

Although in recent years Tata was not as active in the day-to-day running of the group, he was consulted on big decisions by the Tata Sons leadership, a senior company executive said.

A shy student, he planned to be an architect and was working in the United States when his grandmother, who raised him, asked him to return home and join the sprawling family business.

He started out in 1962, staying in a hostel for apprentices and working on the shop floor near blast furnaces. “It was terrible at that time, but if I look back at it, it’s been a worthwhile experience because I have spent years hand-in-hand with the workers,” he recounted in a rare interview.

Tata took over the family empire in 1991, riding the wave of the radical freemarket reforms the Indian government unleashed that year. His 21 years in charge saw the salt-to-steel conglomerate expand its global footprint to include British luxury brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover.

His ambitions for the group, founded under British colonial rule, were not initially welcomed by older board members, he said, prompting him to institute a company retirement age policy.

Born in Bombay, now Mumbai, in 1937, the Cornell University-educated Tata was known for his willingness to take risks.

In 2004, he took the group’s software outsourcing arm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) public at a time when many were nervous about investing in technology stocks.

That same year, he declared he wanted Tata Group to “spread its wings far beyond India” and become “at home in the world”– prompting a world tour to buy up major brands, including Britain’s Tetley Tea and Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus.

Tata’s 2008 decision to buy the lossmaking Jaguar and Land Rover brands for $2.3bn (£1.8bn) put him on the map.

He had less success with the $13.7bn (£10.5bn) Corus acquisition as demand for European steel plummeted due to Chinese competition.

And his pet project Tata Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car, stuttered to a halt after finding few takers in status-conscious India, where consumers flinched at owning a so-called “poor man’s car”.

But the losses paled before his triumphs, which saw the Tata Group’s revenues rise from around $6bn (£4.6bn) to $100bn (£76.5bn), as the company’s reach grew to more than 100 countries.

A highly respected figure in India’s often turbulent corporate world, Tata could not entirely escape controversy. He was questioned in 2011 by a parliamentary watchdog probing a multi-billion-dollar telecom licensing scam. The group was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

When he stepped down the next year on his 75th birthday, praise poured in, with fellow industrialist Rahul Bajaj lauding his reign as “outstanding”.

For his part, the media-shy mogul said, “I have devoted my life, as best I could, to the welfare of the group.”

His retirement in 2012 was to prove short-lived however. Tata briefly retook the reins barely four years later as India’s largest group endured its worst crisis in decades over the acrimonious sacking of his young successor Cyrus Mistry.

The first chief appointed from outside the immediate Tata family, Mistry faced multiple challenges with lacklustre performance at several of the group’s firms.

His focus on divestments to shrink the conglomerate’s $30bn (£23bn) debt was said to have frustrated Tata, who believed the group should hold on to its assets and not reduce its global reach.

Few anticipated Mistry’s ouster and the bitterness it unleashed, with the two men engaging in furious public mudslinging, including accusations of corporate malfeasance.

Mistry also dragged the holding company Tata Sons to court over claims that he was unfairly sacked, as the feud hit the group’s global reputation and hammered its stocks.

The conglomerate stayed strong after his second departure, with Tata in 2021 welcoming debt-laden Air India back into the family fold decades after it was nationalised.

The lifelong bachelor later devoted his time to running the group’s charitable arm and funding some of India’s hottest start-ups.

A pillar of India’s proud but dwindling Zoroastrian Parsi community, Tata also joined Instagram at the age of 81, winning over followers with posts sharing his passion for cars, flying and dogs.

After he stepped back from the Tata Group, he became known as a prominent investor in Indian start-ups, backing a plethora of firms including digital payments firm Paytm, Ola Electric, a unit of ride-hailing firm Ola, and home and beauty services provider Urban Company.

Among his many awards, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, in 2008 for exceptional and distinguished service in trade and industry.

Last week, Tata’s body – draped in the Indian national flag – was kept at a cultural centre in Mumbai before being cremated with full state honours.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani; Tata Sons’ N Chandrasekaran; and Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar Mangalam Birla were among business leaders who paid their last respects.

Other attendees included India’s home minister Amit Shah, central bank governor Shaktikanta Das, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actor Aamir Khan.

(Agencies)