Indian tycoon Ratan Tata dies aged 86

10/10/2024 6:10

        Ratan Tata, the former Tata Group
        chairman who put a staid and sprawling Indian conglomerate on
        the global stage with a string of high-profile acquisitions, has
        died, the Tata Group said in a statement late on Wednesday. He
        was 86.
        
        Tata, who ran the conglomerate for more than 20 years as
        chairman, had been undergoing intensive care in a Mumbai
        hospital, two sources with direct knowledge of his medical
        situation told Reuters earlier on Wednesday.
        
        "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," 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 pained
        by his passing away. My thoughts are with his family, friends
        and admirers in this sad hour."
        
        After graduating with a degree in architecture at Cornell
        University, he returned to India and in 1962 began working for
        the group his great-grandfather had founded nearly a century
        earlier.
        
        He worked in 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 group unit National Radio & Electronics Company.
        
        In 1991, he took the helm of the conglomerate when his uncle
        J.R.D. Tata stepped down - the passing of the baton coming just
        as India embarked on radical reforms that opened up its economy
        to the world and ushered in an era of high growth.
        
        In one of his first steps, Ratan Tata sought to rein in the
        power of some heads of Tata Group's companies, enforcing
        retirement ages, promoting younger people to senior positions
        and ramping up control over companies.
        
        He founded telecommunications firm Tata Teleservices
        in 1996 and took IT firm Tata Consultancy Services
        , the group's cash cow, public in 2004.
        
        But to grow properly, the group determined it needed to look
        beyond Indian shores.
        
        It "was the quest for growth and changing the ground rules
        to say that we could grow by acquisitions which earlier we had
        never done," he said in an interview with the Stanford Graduate
        School of Business in 2013.
        
        The group purchased British tea firm Tetley in 2000 for $432
        million and Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2007 for $13
        billion, at the time the biggest takeover of a foreign firm by
        an Indian company. Tata Motors then acquired British luxury auto
        brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co in 2008
        for $2.3 billion.
        
        His pet projects at Tata Motors included the Indica - the
        first car model designed and built in India - as well as the
        Nano, touted as the world's cheapest car. He contributed initial
        sketches for both models.
        
        The Indica was a commercial success. The Nano, however,
        priced at just 100,000 rupees (about $1,200) and the culmination
        of Ratan Tata's dream to produce an affordable car for India's
        masses, was hurt by initial safety issues and bungled marketing.
        It was discontinued a decade after its launch.
        
        A licensed pilot who would occasionally fly the company
        plane, Ratan Tata never married and was known for his quiet
        demeanour, relatively modest lifestyle and philanthropic work.
        
        About two-thirds of share capital of Tata Sons, the group's
        holding company, is held by philanthropic trusts.
        
        His leadership at Tata was not without controversy - most
        notably a bitter public feud after the company ousted Cyrus
        Mistry, a scion of the billionaire Shapoorji Pallonji clan, as
        chairman of Tata Sons in 2016.
        
        The Tata Group said Mistry had failed to turnaround poorly
        performing businesses while Mistry accused Ratan Tata, who was
        chairman emeritus of the conglomerate, of interfering and
        creating an alternate power centre at the group.
        
        After he stepped back from the Tata Group, Ratan Tata became
        known as a prominent investor in Indian startups, backing a
        plethora of companies 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.