Ratan Tata: In a class of his own

While Thomas Mathew's admiration for his subject is evident, Ratan Tata: A Life also explores the challenges that the Tata Group faced

- Ronen Sen

Thomas Mathew's biography of Ratan Naval Tata (RNT) is an easy and engrossing read. It is by far the most authoritative and comprehensive biography of RNT.

The book is based not just on rigorous research of the existing Tata archives in Mumbai, Pune and Jamshedpur, but on a treasure trove of documents painstakingly gathered by the author which were not even known to many Tata insiders. These were supplemented by hundreds of hours of interviews by the author with family members, friends, peers, colleagues and, above all, through unprecedentedly extensive personal interactions with his illustrious subject.

While meticulously documenting the process of the consolidation and coordinated functioning of the Tata Group and its evolution into India's largest and most diversified global conglomerate, the author offers fascinating insight into RNT's private life, his personality and outlook, his dreams and aspirations, and his setbacks and frustrations. These help the reader better understand him as a warm, compassionate and yet complex human being.

What placed RNT in a class of his own was his unwavering adherence, often under very difficult circumstances, to the Tata legacy of impeccable integrity and probity and an abiding belief that its stakeholders were not only its owners and shareholders, but its employees, local communities and the nation as a whole. As underlined by him, "no success or achievement in material terms was worthwhile unless it was by fair and honest means".