Ratan Tata
Encyclopedia
Ratan Naval Tata (Gujarati
: રતન નવલ ટાટા) is the present chairman of Tata Sons
and therefore, Tata Group
. Also, he is one among the few Zoroastrians in the world. He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel
, Tata Motors
, Tata Power
, Tata Consultancy Services
, Tata Tea
, Tata Chemicals
, The Indian Hotels Company and Tata Teleservices.
In 1971, he was appointed the Director of National Radio and Electronics (Nelco), which was in dire straits when he came on board: with losses of 40% and barely 2% share of the consumer electronics market. However, just when he turned it around (from 2% to 25% market share), the Emergency was declared. A weak economy and labour issues compounded the problem and Nelco was quickly near collapse again.
For his next assignment, in 1977 he was asked to turn around the sick Empress Mills, which he did. However, he was refused a Rs 50 lakh investment required to make the textile unit competitive. Empress Mills floundered and was finally closed in 1986.
In 1981, JRD Tata stepped down as Tata Industries chairman, naming Ratan as his successor. He was heavily criticized for lacking experience in running a company of the scale of Tata Industries.
In 1991, he was appointed group chairman of the Tata group. As group chairman, he has been responsible for converting "the corporate commonwealth" of different Tata-affiliated companies into a cohesive company. He has been responsible for the acquisition of Tetley
, Jaguar Land Rover
and Corus, which have turned Tata from a largely India-centric company into a global business, with 65% revenues coming from abroad. He also pushed the development of Indica
and the Nano
. He is widely credited for the success of the Tata Group of companies, especially after the liberalization of controls after the 1990s.
In August 2007, Ratan Tata lead the Tata Group's acquisition of British steel maker Corus. At that time, this was the largest takeover of a foreign company by an Indian company, and resulted in Tata Group becoming the fifth largest steel producer in the world. According to the BBC, however, some analysts criticized the move, saying that Tata Group had overpaid for Corus and had prioritized national pride before its shareholders.
Tata is set to retire in December 2012 to be succeeded by Cyrus Mistry
, the 42-year-old son of Pallonji Mistry
and managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
's India AIDS initiative.
Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation
, the American International Group
, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton
. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California
and Cornell University
.
He also serves as a board member on the Republic of South Africa's International Investment Council and is a member of the Asia-Pacific advisory committee for the New York Stock Exchange
. In 2010, he joined BMB Group
as an advisory board member.
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
: રતન નવલ ટાટા) is the present chairman of Tata Sons
Tata Sons
Tata Sons is a promoter of the key companies of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in these companies. It was established as a trading enterprise by Group founder Jamsetji Tata in 1868...
and therefore, Tata Group
Tata Group
Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...
. Also, he is one among the few Zoroastrians in the world. He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel
Tata Steel
Tata Steel is a multinational steel company headquartered in Jamshedpur, India and part of Tata Group. It is the world's seventh-largest steel company, with an annual crude steel capacity of 31 million tonnes, and the largest private-sector steel company in India measured by domestic production...
, Tata Motors
Tata Motors
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. Part of the Tata Group, it was formerly known as TELCO...
, Tata Power
Tata Power
Tata Power is India’s oldest and largest private sector power utility with an installed generation capacity of over 2977 MW.On the 22 March 2011 it has announced partnership with Sunengy an Australian firm, to build India's first floating solar plant....
, Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services Limited is a global IT services, business solutions and outsourcing company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is the largest provider of information technology in Asia and second largest provider of business process outsourcing services in India...
, Tata Tea
Tata Tea
Tata Tea Limited, also known as Tata-Tetley, is the world's second largest manufacturer and distributor of tea. Owned by India's Tata Group, the Tata Tea Limited markets tea under the major brands Tata Tea, Tetley, Good Earth Teas and JEMČA...
, Tata Chemicals
Tata Chemicals
Tata Chemicals Ltd is a Tata Group Company based in Mumbai. The company is one of the largest chemical companies in India with significant operations in India and Africa.-Plant locations:*Mithapur *Babrala *Nanded...
, The Indian Hotels Company and Tata Teleservices.
Career at Tata Sons
When he returned to India in 1962 after turning down a job with IBM on the advice of JRD, he was sent to Jamshedpur to work on the shop floor at Tata Steel with other blue-collar employees, shovelling limestone and handling the blast furnace.In 1971, he was appointed the Director of National Radio and Electronics (Nelco), which was in dire straits when he came on board: with losses of 40% and barely 2% share of the consumer electronics market. However, just when he turned it around (from 2% to 25% market share), the Emergency was declared. A weak economy and labour issues compounded the problem and Nelco was quickly near collapse again.
For his next assignment, in 1977 he was asked to turn around the sick Empress Mills, which he did. However, he was refused a Rs 50 lakh investment required to make the textile unit competitive. Empress Mills floundered and was finally closed in 1986.
In 1981, JRD Tata stepped down as Tata Industries chairman, naming Ratan as his successor. He was heavily criticized for lacking experience in running a company of the scale of Tata Industries.
In 1991, he was appointed group chairman of the Tata group. As group chairman, he has been responsible for converting "the corporate commonwealth" of different Tata-affiliated companies into a cohesive company. He has been responsible for the acquisition of Tetley
Tetley
Tetley, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Global Beverages , is the world's second largest manufacturer and distributor of tea. Owned by India's Tata Group, Tetley's manufacturing and distribution business is spread across 40 countries and sells over 60 branded tea bags...
, Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover is a British automotive company owned by Tata Motors of India. It develops, manufactures and sells vehicles under the Jaguar and Land Rover marques.-History:...
and Corus, which have turned Tata from a largely India-centric company into a global business, with 65% revenues coming from abroad. He also pushed the development of Indica
Indica
Indica may refer to:Historical ethnographic accounts of India* Indica , Arrian's account of Nearchus' voyage from India* Indica , the Biruni's account of his travels in South Asia...
and the Nano
Tata Nano
The Tata Nano is an inexpensive, rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by the Indian company Tata Motors and is aimed primarily at the Indian domestic market....
. He is widely credited for the success of the Tata Group of companies, especially after the liberalization of controls after the 1990s.
In August 2007, Ratan Tata lead the Tata Group's acquisition of British steel maker Corus. At that time, this was the largest takeover of a foreign company by an Indian company, and resulted in Tata Group becoming the fifth largest steel producer in the world. According to the BBC, however, some analysts criticized the move, saying that Tata Group had overpaid for Corus and had prioritized national pride before its shareholders.
Tata is set to retire in December 2012 to be succeeded by Cyrus Mistry
Cyrus Pallonji Mistry
Cyrus Pallonji Mistry is the youngest son of Irish construction magnate Pallonji Mistry. He has been appointed deputy chairman and chairman-designate of Tata Group and its holding company Tata Sons, which will make him the first non-Indian national to head the Indian conglomerate...
, the 42-year-old son of Pallonji Mistry
Pallonji Mistry
Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry is an Irish-Parsi construction tycoon. According to Forbes, his wealth is estimated to be US$8.8 billion as of 2011. He is the richest person of Parsi descent followed by Adi Godrej at US$7.3 Billion . With his 18.5% stake in Tata Sons, he is the single largest...
and managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
Honours, awards and international recognition
Ratan Tata serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of RAND's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the program board of the Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationBill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
's India AIDS initiative.
Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsubishi Corporation
is Japan's largest trading company , a member of the Mitsubishi keiretsu. Mitsubishi Corporation employs over 50,000 people and has seven business segments including finance, banking, energy, machinery, chemicals, food and more....
, the American International Group
American International Group
American International Group, Inc. or AIG is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is located in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in...
, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. , or more commonly Booz Allen, is an American public consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia, with 80 other offices throughout the United States. Ralph Shrader is its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The firm was founded by Edwin Booz in...
. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
.
He also serves as a board member on the Republic of South Africa's International Investment Council and is a member of the Asia-Pacific advisory committee for the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
. In 2010, he joined BMB Group
BMB Group
The BMB Group Ltd is an investment and advisory services firm founded in 2004 to focus on the needs of Eastern investors. The Company has interests in real estate, natural resources, wealth management, Islamic finance and philanthropy. Rayo Salahadin Withanage and Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Anak Haji...
as an advisory board member.
| Year | Name | Awarding organization | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Honorary Doctor of Laws | Pepperdine University Pepperdine University Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of... . |
|
| 2010 | Legend in Leadership Award | Yale University Yale University Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States... . |
|
| 2010 | Businessman of the Decade | Federation of Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce. | |
| 2008 | Honorary Doctor of Science | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is an autonomous engineering, technology and management oriented institute of higher education established by the government of India in 1951... . |
|
| 2008 | Honorary Doctor of Law | University of Cambridge University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally... . |
|
| 2007 | Honorary Fellow | London School of Economics London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London... . |
|
| 2007 | Honorary Citizen of Singapore Honorary Citizen of Singapore The title of Honorary Citizen is a national award conferred by the Singapore government starting from 2003 to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of foreigners who have rendered extensive and valuable services to Singapore and its people, or who have made a significant impact in the areas... |
Singapore government. | |
| 2007 | Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. | |
| 2005 | Honorary Doctor of Science | University of Warwick University of Warwick The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom... . |
|
| 2004 | Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology | Asian Institute of Technology Asian Institute of Technology The Asian Institute of Technology is an international institution for higher education in engineering, advanced technologies, and management and planning... . |
|
| 2004 | Honorary Economic Advisor | Hangzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people... , China. |
|
| 2001 | Honorary Doctor of Business Administration | Ohio State University Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States... . |
|
- FIRSTFirst Magazine LimitedFIRST Magazine , or FIRST is a multi-disciplinary international affairs organisation based in London. The company was founded in 1984 and aims to promote communications between leaders in industry, finance and government worldwide and to promote strategic dialogue...
Award for Responsible Capitalism. - 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, awarded by Cornell University
- recipient of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards (2008)
External links
- Ratan Naval Tata's chairman profile at Tata Group
- Profile at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Ratan Naval Tata collected news and commentary at The Bloomberg Businessweek
- Ratan Naval Tata collected news and commentary at The Times of IndiaThe Times of IndiaThe Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
- Tata '59: The Cornell Story" YouTube video