RATAN TATA

Ratan Naval Tata (Ratan Ṭāṭā, born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and a
former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also chairman of Tata Group, from 1990 to 2012, and again, as
interim chairman, from October 2016 through February 2017, and continues to head its charitable trusts. [3]
 He is the recipient of two civilian awards of India, the Padma Vibhushan (2008), the second highest
[4]

civilian honour, and the Padma Bhushan (2000), the third highest civilian honour.[5]

Born in 1937, he is a scion of the Tata family, and son of Naval Tata who was later adopted by Ratanji
Tata, son of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of Tata Group. He is an alumnus of the Cornell University College
of Architecture and Harvard Business School through the Advanced Management Program that he
completed in 1975.[6] He joined his company in 1961 when he used to work on the shop floor of Tata Steel,
and was the apparent successor to J. R. D. Tata upon the latter's retirement in 1991. He got Tata Tea to
acquire Tetley, Tata Motors to acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel to acquire [[Corus plc|Corus]],
in an attempt to turn Tata from a largely India-centrist group into a global business.

Ratan Tata was born in Bombay, now Mumbai, during the British Raj on 28 December 1937,[7] and is the
son of Naval Tata (born in Surat). His biological maternal grandmother had been the sister of Hirabai Tata,
wife of group founder Jamsetji Tata. His biological grandfather, Hormusji Tata, had belonged to the
broader Tata family; Ratan therefore was a Tata by birth. Parents Naval and Sonoo separated in 1948 when
Ratan was 10, and he was subsequently raised by the widow of Sir Ratanji Tata, his grandmother, Navajbai
Tata, who formally adopted him through the J. N. Petit Parsi Orphanage. [8] He has a half-brother, Noel
Tata (from Naval Tata's second marriage with Simone Tata), with whom he was raised. His first language
is Gujarati.[9]

He studied at the Campion School, Mumbai till the 8th class, followed by Cathedral and John Connon
School, Mumbai and at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla,[10] and, in 1955, graduated from Riverdale
Country School in New York City.[11][12] In 1959, he then received a degree in Architecture from Cornell
University, and in 1975, attended the seven-week Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business
School — an institution which he has since endowed.[13][14]

Promoted to management during the 1970s, Ratan achieved initial success by turning Group company
National Radio and Electronics (NELCO) around, only to see it collapse during an economic slowdown. [15]
[16]
 In 1991, J. R. D. Tata stepped down as chairman of Tata Sons, naming him his successor. When he
settled down into the new role, he faced stiff resistance from many companies heads, some of whom had
spent decades in their respective companies and rose to become very powerful and influential due to the
freedom to operate under JRD Tata. He began replacing them by setting a retirement age, and then made
individual companies report operationally to the group office and made each contribute some of their profit
to build and use the Tata group brand. Innovation was given priority and younger talent was infused and
given responsibilities.[17] Under his stewardship, overlapping operations in group companies were
streamlined into a synergised whole,[18] with the salt-to-software group exiting unrelated businesses to take
on globalisation.

During the 21 years he led the Tata Group, revenues grew over 40 times, and profit, over 50 times.
 Where sales of the group as a whole, overwhelmingly came from commodities when he took over, the
[15]

majority sales came from brands when he exited.[19][20] He boldly got Tata Tea to acquire Tetley, Tata
Motorsto acquire Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel to acquire Corus. All this turned Tata from a largely
India-centric group into a global business, with over 65% revenues coming from operations and sales in
over 100 countries.[15][21] He conceptualised the Tata Nano car.[17] In 2015, He explained in an interview for
the Harvard Business School's Creating Emerging Markets project, the development of the Tata Nano was
significant because it helped put cars at a price-point within reach of the average Indian consumer. [22]

Ratan Tata resigned his executive powers in the Tata group on 28 December 2012, upon turning 75 and
Board of Directors and Legal division refused to appoint Cyrus Mistry as a successor of 44-year-old son of
Pallonji Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the largest individual shareholder of the group and related
by marriage.[23][24] On 24 October 2016, Cyrus Mistry was removed as the chairman of Tata Sons and Ratan
Tata was made interim chairman. The decision went through intense media scrutiny that made many
scrutinize the root causes of the sudden removal, and the resultant crisis. [25] A selection committee was
formed to find a successor. The selection committee consisted of Mr. Tata, TVS Group head Venu
Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya. All
of them, except Mr. Bhattacharya, were on the board of Tata Sons.[26] On 12 January 2017, Natarajan
Chandrasekaran was named as the chairman of Tata Sons, a role he assumed in February 2017.

Tata invested personal savings in Snapdeal – one of India's leading e-commerce websites –and, in January
2016, Teabox, an online premium Indian Tea seller, [27] and CashKaro.com, a discount coupons and cash-
back website.[28] He has made small investments in both early and late stage companies in India, such as
INR 0.95 Cr in Ola Cabs.[29] In April 2015, it was reported that Tata had acquired a stake in Chinese
smartphone startup Xiaomi.[30] In 2016, he invested in Nestaway [31] an online portal to find fully furnished
flats for bachelors which later acquired Zenify to start family rental segment and online pet care
portal, Dogspot.[32][33][34] Tata Motors rolled out the first batch of Tigor Electric Vehicles from its Sanand
Plant in Gujarat, regarding which Ratan Tata said, "Tigor indicates a willingness to fast-forward India's
electric dream. The government has set an ambitious target to have only electric cars by 2030." [35]

Tata Sons vs. Cyrus Mistry[edit]

In one of the most dramatic developments in the recent past, the board of directors of Tata Group on 24
October 2016 voted for the removal of its chairman Cyrus Mistry with immediate effect and made Ratan
Tata the interim chairman, and in February 2017, Mistry was removed as a director for Tata Sons.
 The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had decided in December 2019 that the
[36]

removal of Cyrus Mistry as the Chairman of Tata Sons was illegal and that he should be reinstated.
  India's Supreme Court heard an appeal by the $111-billion conglomerate to quash the NCLAT order that
[36]

directed the Tata group to rehire the man it fired as chairman. Ratan Tata is personally leading the charge
in the case, and filed a separate petition challenging the ruling in the Supreme Court. [37] The Supreme Court
has stayed the NCLAT order that allowed Cyrus Mistry to be reinstated as Tata Sons chairman in January
2020.[36] However the Supreme Courtupheld the dismissal of Cyrus Mistry.[38]