The business field in India saw new dimensions with the business tycoon playing his game.
Ratan Naval Tata, the chairman of Tata Sons and Tata groups is one of the most gigantic and successful business houses in India.
Aged 73, Tata owns one of the largest conglomerates which encompass about 100 firms and revenue worth about 67 billion USD.
He is the proud recipient of the highest civilian awards of India, the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.
Let us take a look at the tycoon’s life and why he is known for his business ethics and philanthropy.
Early life of Ratan Tata
He was born as the scion of the Tata Family in 1973. His great grandfather Jamshedji Tata was the founder of the Tata group.
As a child, Tata experienced a disturbing childhood as his parents split and he was raised by his grandmother.
He graduated from Cornell University College of architecture and joined his company in 1961 and later completed an Advanced Management Program from Harvard business school in 1975.
He turned down a job at IBM and gave a shot at the Tata steel shop floor. He worked with blue-coloured employees at Tata steel. He started by shovelling stones and working at blast furnaces.
In 1971 he took up the position of Director-in-charge of the national Radio and electronics company (NELCO).
He worked hard to build better electronics for the consumers and stroke success.
The success laid his path to becoming the chairman of Tata industries and the first stone for his successful business reign was laid.
His stewardship raised the company to heights of popularity. He took the Tata consultancy service to the public and Tata motors found its place in the New York stock exchange list, grabbing international attention.
He also owns the credit of cracking one of the successful bids of Tata for an Anglo-Dutch steel and aluminium producer Corus.
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The rewarding failure of Ratan Tata
Ratan Tata knows how much energy and time is required to scale a company.
He is a successful business and success is a reward for several failures. Not every idea of his bore fruit and earned a name for him.
A recent example is the failure of nano cars. When Tata motors were not doing well, he encouraged his employers to come out of AC rooms and wanted them to come close with reality and think about how innovation can help different sections of society.
The birth of Tata Indica, the truly Indian car came out under Tata’s tenure in 1988. The first-year launch didn’t gain much success, many advised Tata to sell the passenger car business.
After a mocking session in an attempt to sell Tata motors to Ford, Tata gave a great comeback and overpowered Ford while they went into bankruptcy. Later Tata group offered to buy Ford’s luxury brand Jaguar-Land rover.
The ladder of success
Tata group bought the Tea firm, Tetley, for about GBP 70 million. The conglomerate’s revenue grew 12 fold in 2009 with a total of USD 67.4 billion.
They are a part of Fiat SpA, Alcoa, Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase, Rolls Royce, Temasek Holdings, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
In 2000 he received the Padma Bhushan award by the government and was also bestowed with an Honorary doctorate in business by the Ohio university.
He also conferred an honorary doctorate in technology from the Asian Institute of technology and an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Warwick.
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The magnanimous personality of Ratan Tata
As a patriot by heart, he helped a lot in overcoming the effects of the Taj attack in Mumbai. He stood unarmed and alone outside the Taj hotel and administered the activities done to help the victims.
His generosity grew few folds as he visited the families of all the 80 employees personally and provided relief.
His love for the motherland also gained popularity when he turned down the Order of Tata Sumos from the Pakistani government.
His generosity and love for the motherland is the reason why many love him.
The philanthropist: Ratan Tata
Many may not know that he is an eminent philanthropist. Above 65 percent of his share has been invested in charitable trusts.
His primary goal of life is to scale the quality of life in India along with human development.
Bottom line
Tata believed in what he did and executed all his ideas with utmost belief. Everyone in the world has an idea but only a few execute without the fear of failure.
Only when people express confidence in their ideas, the ideas will take them on the path of success.