Last updated on July 24th, 2023 at 03:30 pm
Born on December 28, 1937, Ratan Naval Tata is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He served as chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, and also served as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017. Its charitable trusts are headed by him.
He received the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honor in India, in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honor in India, in 2008. He is the son of Naval Tata, who was adopted by Ratanji Tata, the son of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group.
He graduated from the Cornell University College of Architecture with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1975 and from Harvard Business School with a management course in the same year. He joined Tata in 1961 and worked on the shop floor of Tata Steel. Upon J. R. D. Tata’s retirement in 1991, he later succeeded him as chairman of Tata Sons.
In an attempt to turn Tata from a largely India-centric group into a global business, the Tata Group acquired Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus under his tenure. Tata is one of the world’s largest philanthropists, donating around 60-65% of his income to charity.
Ratan Tata is available on Twitter @RNTata2000
Interesting facts about Ratan Tata:-
Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Bombay, India, during the British Raj. Naval Tata, who was born in Surat and later adopted into the Tata family, is the father of he, and Sooni Tata, the niece of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata, is the mother.
He studied at the Campion School in Mumbai until the 8th grade. He graduated from Riverdale Country School in 1955 and studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla afterward. In 1959, Tata graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He attended the seven-week Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School in 1975 and has since endowed the institution.
Tata was given a managerial position in the Tata group in the 1970s. He achieved initial success by turning the subsidiary National Radio and Electronics (NELCO) around, but it collapsed during an economic slowdown.
Tata is a leading philanthropist in India who supports education, medicine, and rural development. The University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering was supported by Tata to develop capacitive deionization to provide improved water for challenged areas.
The largest-ever donation by a company to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has been given by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for a facility to research cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles. This grand 48,000-square-foot building that is called TCS Hall was donated by TCS for $35 million.
Ratan Tata was the chairman of Tata Sons for a period of time. He continues to head the main two Tata trusts, Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and their allied trusts, with a combined stake of 66% in Tata Sons, Tata group’s holding company.
Ratan Tata was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, which are the third and second-highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India. He received the Assam Vaibhav, the highest civilian award of Assam, in 2021 for his exceptional contribution towards furthering cancer care in Assam.
