Mumbai: Born on December 28, 1937 in Surat, Gujarat to one of the richest families, Ratan Naval Tata is perhaps the most prominent and respected Indian industrialist and philanthropist who was the former Chairman of Tata Sons. His great grandfather was Jamsedji Tata, founder of the Tata group.
Ratan Tata’s father Naval Tata was the adopted grandson of Jamsetji Tata. His mother’s name was Sooni Tata. After his parents got separated in 1948, Ratan Tata was raised by his grandmother, Lady Navajbai at Tata Palace from the age of 10 years.
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 and in 1955 graduated from Riverdale Country School in New York City.
Tata scion went to Cornell University to study architecture and structural engineering in 1959. Later in 1975 he pursued a management course from Harvard Business School, an institution which he has since endowed.
Before returning to India in late 1962, he worked briefly with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles.
In 1962, he joined the Tata Group and his first job involved working with the Tata Steel division in Jamshedpur.
In Tata Steel, he worked with the blue-collar employees shoveling stone and working with the furnaces.
He was appointed the Director-in-Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco) in 1971.
Ratan Tata was successful in turning Nelco around. In 1981, he was made Chairman of Tata Industries.
During his tenure, Tata Tea acquired Tetley, Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel acquired Corus.
It was Ratan Tata’s attempt to turn Tata industries from a largely India-centrist group into a global business.
Interesting facts
Ratan Tata is extremely fond of flying. In 2007 he became the first Indian to pilot F-16 Falcon.
In 2009, Ratan Tata promised to make a car that would cost only a lakh and so the Tata Nano was born.
Ratan Tata is very fond of cars and his collection includes Mercedes Benz S-Class, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes Benz 500 SL, Jaguar F-Type among others.
In 2010, Ratan Tata donated USD 50 million to construct an executive centre for the Harvard Business School. The hall was named Tata Hall.
Tata is the recipient of two of the highest civilian awards of India, the Padma Vibhushan (2008) and Padma Bhushan (2000).
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