10 Facts On Ratan Tata, India’s Most Beloved Industrialist

Ratan Naval Tata is the great-grandson of Jamsetji Tata who founded the Tata Group. He was born on December 28, 1937, in Mumbai to Naval Tata and Sooni Tata.He was raised by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata after his parents separated in 1948.Despite coming close to marriage on four occasions, Ratan Tata never married.He once admitted that he fell in love while working in Los Angeles. But because of the ongoing 1962 Indo-China War, the girl’s parents refused to let her move to India.Starting his career in 1961, Ratan Tata started from the ground up, managing operations on the shop floor of Tata Steel. This experience laid the foundation for his future leadership role within the group.He became chairman of the autos to steel conglomerate in 1991 and ran the group founded by his great-grandfather more than a hundred years ago until 2012.He began restructuring the Tata group at a time when the liberalisation of the Indian economy was underway. He played an instrumental role in the business expansion of popular cars including the Tata Nano and Tata Indica.He got Tata Tea to acquire Tetley, Tata Motors to acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel to acquire Corus in 2004.In 2009, Ratan fulfilled his promise to make the world’s cheapest car accessible to the middle class. The Tata Nano, priced at Rs 1 lakh, became a symbol of innovation and affordability.After stepping down, he was conferred with the title of chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Tata Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals.