Ratan Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who brought a sprawling Indian conglomerate onto the global stage with a series of high-profile acquisitions, has died, the Tata Group said in a statement. He was 86 years old.
Tata, who ran the conglomerate for more than 20 years as chairman, was in intensive care at a Mumbai hospital, two sources with direct knowledge of his medical situation told the Reuters news agency.
“It is with a deep sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, a truly unusual leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation,” the company said.
Ratan Tata “was a visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on social media platform X.
“Extremely saddened by his passing. My thoughts are with his family, friends and admirers at this sad time.”
Who was Ratan Tata?
After graduating in architecture from Cornell University in the United States, he returned to India and, in 1962, began working for the group that his great-grandfather had founded almost a century earlier.
He worked at several Tata companies, including Telco, now Tata Motors Ltd, as well as Tata Steel Ltd, later making his mark by erasing losses and increasing market share at the group’s unit National Radio & Electronics Company.
In 1991, he took the helm of the conglomerate when his uncle JRD Tata resigned, the passing of the baton coming just as India embarked on sweeping reforms that opened its economy to the world and ushered in an era of strong growth.
In one of his first steps, Ratan Tata sought to rein in the power of some executives at Tata Group companies by imposing retirement ages, promoting young people to senior positions and increasing control over companies.
He founded telecommunications firm Tata Teleservices in 1996 and took IT company Tata Consultancy Services, the group’s main revenue driver, public in 2004.
But to grow properly, the group decided it needed to look beyond Indian shores.
“It was the pursuit of growth and changing the ground rules that said we could grow through acquisitions that we had never done before,” he said in an interview at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2013.
The group bought British tea company Tetley in 2000 for US$432 million ($643 million) and Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2007 for US$13 billion ($19.3 billion), all It was the largest acquisition of a foreign company by an Indian company at the time. Tata Motors then acquired British luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co in 2008 for US$2.3 billion ($3.43 billion).
His pet projects at Tata Motors included the Indica – the first car model designed and built in India – as well as the Nano, advertised as the world’s cheapest car. He contributed initial sketches for both models.
A licensed pilot who occasionally flew the company’s aircraft, Ratan Tata never married and was known for his quiet demeanor, relatively modest lifestyle and philanthropic work.
About two-thirds of the share capital of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company, is held by philanthropic trusts.
Since retiring from the Tata Group, Ratan Tata has become known as a major investor in Indian startups, backing a plethora of companies, including digital payments firm Paytm, Ola Electric, a unit of ride-hailing firm Ola and a home and beauty service provider. Urban company.
Among his many awards, in 2008 he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, for outstanding and distinguished service in commerce and industry.