Having led the conglomerate, whose business interests range from steel, automobiles and consumer products to software and financial services, for more than two decades, Ratan Tata was widely respected for his professional acumen as well as his personal ethics and philanthropic activities.
During his career spanning five decades, Ratan Tata faced many challenges, which he handled with equanimity. His charitable contributions to healthcare, education and rural development leave behind a lasting legacy.
Journey at Tata Group Begins
Ratan Tata returned to India in 1962 after studying architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University in the United States. He had secured a job at IBM, but his uncle J.R.D. Tata wanted him to work for the Tata Group and he was offered a job at Tata Industries. "We were close and we were not," Tata wrote in a special publication celebrating the lives of Jamsetji Tata, J.R.D. Tata, and Naval Tata. "I left India when I was 15 for a decade. I would have to say that, as often happens between a father and a son, there was, perhaps, a divergence of views." Tata joined the group and later in his stint, he spent six months training at the Jamshedpur plant of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (now Tata Motors) before joining Tata Iron and Steel Company or TISCO, (now Tata Steel). After spending years across companies in the group, Ratan Tata joined the board of Tata Sons as a director in 1974.
The Ford-Tata Story
This story is from the November 01, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 01, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Life is a Mela
Modern intellectuals are yet to appreciate the specialness of melas, a unique Indian cultural phenomenon
Shopping With God
What is lost through the glitz that Mecca has acquired is the subtlety of the spiritual experience
Religious Itinerary
In India, religious tourism is not a new thing, but the upsurge is unprecedented, leading to a very evident mixing of religion and politics, where temple reconstruction is one of its features.
No Brotherhood, This
India's foreign policy initiatives in recent years have shown signs of giving in to pressure from the United States
The Chak De! Gang
Unconditional love for the sport and systemic support have resulted in Jharkhand turning into a nursery of hockey players, especially for tribal girls
Piecemeal PEACE
Forget a ceasefire, the spat between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump at the White House has further complicated the situation, with Europe seeking to put a spanner in Trump's plans for a peace deal
The Lord's City Sits on Sand
As the underwater search continues for relics from the mythical Dwarka of Lord Krishna submerged under the Arabian Sea, are ecological threats to the still- inhabited city on the Gujarat shore getting less attention than they deserve?
In Baba-Land
The advent of social media changed life in the sleepy town of Gadha, where a 28-year-old Dhirendra Krishna Garg aka Bageshwar Baba, has amassed an unbelievable following who believe he has supernatural powers
Sitakund
With Sitamarhi in Bihar included in the central government’s Ramayan Circuit list, Sita’s birthplace may finally get the same stature as Ram’s in Ayodhya
Sacred Games
Pilgrims are being fast-tracked into 'spiritual tourists'. This places impossible demands on the vulnerable Himalayan region
