Ratan Tata: From a small beginning to global business icon

10 October 2024

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Mumbai, Oct 10: Legendary industrialist Ratan Naval Tata died at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital late Wednesday, leaving behind a legacy that far exceeds his immensely successful business empire.

Ratan Tata, who remained a bachelor, is survived by his younger brother, Jimmy Tata, step-brother Noel Tata and step-mother Simone. Noel Tata is chairman of Trent.

Ratan Tata’s Entry Into Business & India’s Growth Story
Ratan Tata joined the family firm after acquiring a BS in Architecture from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 1962. He initially worked on the shop floor, gaining experience in a number of Tata Group businesses before being named director in charge of one of them, the National Radio and Electronics Co, in 1971.

A decade later, Ratan Tata assumed leadership in 1991 after his uncle, JRD Tata, who had been in charge for more than half a century, passed away in Switzerland.

By coincidence or destiny, his taking over the Tata Group coincided with the opening up of India’s economy in 1990. The resulting economic reforms brought liberalisation and global investment into the country, and Ratan Tata soon turned the group, which began as a small textile and trading firm in 1868, into a global conglomerate, with operations stretching from salt to steel, cars to software, power plants and airlines.

The businessman inherited one of India’s oldest conglomerates and rapidly expanded the 156-year-old business house. It now has operations in more than 100 countries and clocked $165 billion in revenue for the year ended March 2024.

In 2000, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, and in 2008, the country’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.

Acquisitions under Ratan Tata: A Tale of Business Growth & National Pride
Known as “unpretentious” and “down-to-earth,” Ratan Tata controlled over 30 companies in 100 countries on six continents yet lived an unpretentious life. As chairman of Tata Sons for 21 years, he led the salt-to-steel conglomerate’s aggressive expansion.

A big flavour of the expansion was the “turn-the-tables” on a number of British businesses, which garnered much national pride among the common Indian public after 200 long years of colonisation and hard-won independence.

In 2000, Tata Group acquired London-based Tetley Tea for $431.3 million.
In 2004, the company bought the truck-manufacturing operations of South Korean automaker Daewoo Motors for $102 million.
In 2007, Tata expanded its reach by buying Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus Group for a hefty $11.3 billion.
Then, in a purchase that made much noise, the conglomerate bought elite British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) in 2008 for a cost of $2.3 billion from the Ford Motor Company.
But perhaps the final business battle Tata fought was his most gratifying. In 2021, Tata Sons regained control of Air India, the nation’s flagship carrier, almost 90 years after it was taken over by the state.
Today, Tata Group spans coffee and cars, salt and software, airlines and e-commerce businesses, with plans in place for a $11 billion chip fabrication plant (with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp) and an iPhone assembly unit.

“Ratan Tata imagined big and took the empire beyond India,” said Kavil Ramachandran, executive director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Center for Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.

The biggest among Tata’s gambles was Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The software maker would become a cash cow years later.

Another major venture was Tata’s decision to enter the auto space. In 1998, Tata made its vehicle debut with the Indica, the first locally built passenger vehicle that he called “my baby.”

But not everything was successful. “While he thought globally, these turned out to be hasty initiatives,” said Ramachandran.

During the 2008 financial crisis, Tata’s Corus buy was criticised as an “overpaid” acquisition. Tata Steel has pared its European operations in recent years in the face of slumping demand and high-cost structures and slashed thousands of jobs on the continent.

JLR also hit a rough patch soon after Tata acquired it, as the financial crisis pummeled demand for luxury cars and the company’s ability to access credit. While the Tata Group managed to turn around the marquee car brand within a couple of years, it soon faced other headwinds, from slumping Chinese demand to Brexit. The pandemic and chip shortage have affected JLR in recent years.

Tata also faced another auto-related setback, the failure of the Nano, which he launched in 2008. While his dream envisioned all Indian families in a vehicle instead of motorbikes and scooters, the ₹1 lakh Nano shut production only 10 years later, in 2018, amid a lack of demand and due to early quality and safety concerns.

(With inputs from Agencies)