Ratan Tata | Industrialist – Business Gossips

Tata Group

It is an Indian multinational group ( India’s largest conglomerate ) located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company was founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868. The Company’s initial start was rupees 21000. Jamsetji was the person who want to grow all the people. The idea of selling the goods to the British instead of buying from them took him to the heights. He established Empress miles in Nagpur where, he built an employee welfare scheme, a childcare centre and schools for the women working in the miles. The market value of Tata Group is 13 trillion India Rupees.

SIR Ratan Tata – The Savage Gentleman

Ratan Tata is an Indian tycoon, a philanthropist and was the chairman of Tata Group from the year 1990 to 2012. He completed his schooling at Cathedral and John Connon School Mumbai and graduated from Cornell University in Architecture. The net worth of Ratan Tata is $1 billion. He retired at the age of 75 in 2012. He returned as the chairman of Tata Sons in the year 2016 to 2017. He is now focused on his charitable interest.  The profit of Tata Group grew over 50 times in his 21 years of leadership. In 1991 when Ratan Tata was named the chairman of the Tata Group, he got to work streamlining operations bringing new talent acquiring additional brands and changing the group from an India-based business to a global entity. In 1991 the company’s revenue was about $5.7 billion and by 2016 it was $103 billion.

Ratan Tata family

At the age of 10, Ratan’s father Naval Tata and his mother Sooni Tata get divorced. He starts living with his grandmother  Navajbai Tata. She adopted him from J.N. Petit Orphanage and she raised him.

Career

In 1961 he was offered a job by IBM (International Business Machine Corporation) but he turn down to join the family business. At the age of 21, he joined the Tata Group. He wanted to earn a spot in the company so he started working on the shop floor as a worker and started from the basics.

F-16 Falcon

F-16 Falcon is a $14.6 million U.S combat aircraft that is used in the airforce of 25 different countries. This plane is capable of flying at MARC2 at 1500 miles per hour. It can reach altitudes in access of 50000 feet. Ratan was the first Indian civilian to fly the F-16 Falcon. He is a trained pilot and he has been known to fly the various aircraft owned by the Tata Group. In 2007 at the age of 69 at the Aero India show he had a completely new flying experience.

Nano Car

He conceptualised the idea of the Nano car. He wanted to come up with a low-cost car that would attract Indians who relied on motorcycles. It has been introduced as the most affordable car in the world. The car was invented and went for sale in 2005. Customers can buy the car for just 1,71,780 Indian Rupees. But the price now is doubled.

Philanthropic – Tata Trust

A philanthropic trust owns 66% of Tata Sons. Ratan Tata held the trust the entire time he was the chairman of Tata Sons. The trust contributed over $800 million towards charitable causes to improve the lives of Indians. Its current focus is to bring clean water to the areas of India where it’s needed the most. They have bought water for 12000 villages.

Honorary Knighthood

Ratan Tata is the first Indian to be awarded Honorary Knighthood. In 2014 he received the Honanry Knighthood when receiving the Knight Grand Cross of the order of the British Empire. The GBE one of the UK’s highest civilian honours was given in recognition of his positive impact on Uk Inda relations, his philanthropic work and his investments in the UK.

California – One of his Favourite places

In 2016 he partnered up with the University of California to start a venture capital fund to invest in startup businesses.

Ford and The failure of Tata Indica

In 1998 Tata Group launched a passenger car named Tata Indica which failed in its first year. It was a failure of Ratan Tata as he was the leading the project as the chairman of the company. The company had to face many losses from this failure. The director board of the company suggested Ratan sell the business of the car Tata Indica. Tata group present an offer to Ford Motors and the company accepted the offer. For the meeting, he went to the headquarters of Ford Motors. The Chairman of Ford Motors, Bill Ford insulted Ratan Tata for Tata Indica, he said ” Why did you start the business if you don’t have enough knowledge of it. I’m doing a favour to you for buying the business”. From the insult, Ratan Tata rejected the deal and didn’t sell it to Ford. He started the business again from the beginning, keeping in mind the old mistakes and the demands of the customers. They launched the car again which was a great success for the Tata group.

In 2008, due to the financial crisis, Ford Motors went down. Ratan Tata made an offer to the company that he could not reject at all. In Rupees 9300 crores he purchased the business of Jaguar and Land Rover.