Of Cars, Kings and Dogs

RATAN Tata, who took the homegrown Tata Group to global heights, passed away on October 9, 2024, in Mumbai. He was 86.

- Jinit Parmar

Having led the conglomerate, whose business interests range from steel, automobiles and consumer products to software and financial services, for more than two decades, Ratan Tata was widely respected for his professional acumen as well as his personal ethics and philanthropic activities.

During his career spanning five decades, Ratan Tata faced many challenges, which he handled with equanimity. His charitable contributions to healthcare, education and rural development leave behind a lasting legacy.

Journey at Tata Group Begins

Ratan Tata returned to India in 1962 after studying architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University in the United States. He had secured a job at IBM, but his uncle J.R.D. Tata wanted him to work for the Tata Group and he was offered a job at Tata Industries. "We were close and we were not," Tata wrote in a special publication celebrating the lives of Jamsetji Tata, J.R.D. Tata, and Naval Tata. "I left India when I was 15 for a decade. I would have to say that, as often happens between a father and a son, there was, perhaps, a divergence of views." Tata joined the group and later in his stint, he spent six months training at the Jamshedpur plant of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (now Tata Motors) before joining Tata Iron and Steel Company or TISCO, (now Tata Steel). After spending years across companies in the group, Ratan Tata joined the board of Tata Sons as a director in 1974.

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