ratan-tata-human-philanthropist-businessman

I was a rookie reporter with the women's magazine Femina in Mumbai, finding my feet in the bustling metro after moving from the sleepy city of Chandigarh, when a story on stray dogs was assigned to me.

My brief was to write about strays making great pets and give gyan to others on the benefits of adopting the hardy animals and keeping them off the streets.

 

Ratan Tata's love for dogs was legendary - he treated his pets, I had heard, like family, so, since one could not shoot off emails in those days (the '90s, before the advent of WWWs and dotcoms), I sent a letter to his office with questions, asking for time for an interview in case he was available.

 

A few days I received a rather formal looking envelope in office. It was a letter signed by Tata himself, saying he would have loved to talk about his pets but an interview within the deadline was impossible as he was travelling.

Some 30 years later I still have that letter somewhere in the house because, honestly, to have an industrialist as busy as him take the time out and bother to respond to a story on stray dogs, of all things, so politely (okay, okay, even have his office do it for him) and sign it off, was unexpected.

 

For the said rookie, nervous, meek, low on confidence, struggling with a new job in a big city, it was a big gesture which was much appreciated.

 

That's how I know so many people remember him - a genuinely nice person and considerate of others.

 

Years later, a visit to Srishti Trust in Kerala’s Munnar, which educates, rehabilitates and creates sustainable jobs for differently-abled children and young adults of the local rural tea plantation community, was an eye-opener.

 

The trust had begun its work in 1991 and was assisted by the then Tata Tea through its welfare offices in identifying such children/youth, who were unable to help themselves or anyone else and were left alone at home as their parents went to work in the plantations.

 

Now suppored by TATA Consumer Products Limited & TATA Trusts, Srishti has rewritten its students' life stories - involving them in full-fledged academic programmes, teaching them self-help and social skills and creating sustainable livelihoods for them.

 

As a visitor it was a wonderful experience to see the students/adults at Srishti show off the cakes and cookies at the bakery, demonstrate how to dye scarves, print them (some with natural leaves) and happily display their natural dyed textile products.

 

Some of them giggled while showing me eco-friendly paper made with elephant poop, and proudly talked about the totes, candles and art products they had made.

 

The Tatas have a number of charitable enterprises, but Srishti was another lesson in the power of corporates to genuinely make a difference in people's lives - especially the specially-abled, who in most cases are given up as lost causes by the world.

 

Despite his achievements in turning the Tata Group into a global powerhouse – the Jaguar and Tetley acquisitions notwithstanding – his 
philanthropic endeavours perhaps remain Ratan Tata's most enduring legacies. 

 

Born on December 28, 1937, to Sooni and Naval Tata,  Ratan Naval Tata was chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons from 1991 to 2012, and its interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017.

 

After schooling in Mumbai from Campion, Cathedral and John Connon; and in Shimla from Bishop Cotton School, Tata moved to Riverdale Country School in New York City.

 

He then graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor of architecture degree in 1962 before joining the Tata group as an assistant in Tata Industries the same year. 

 

Later in that year he spent six months training at the Jamshedpur plant of Tata Engineering and Locomoitve Company (Now Tata Motors), before moving to Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tisco), now Tata Steel, at its Jamshedpur facility for training.

 

 In 1965 he was appointed technical officer in Tisco's engineering division and by 1969 he was working as the Tata Group's resident representative in Australia.

 

In 1970 Tata joined Tata Consultancy Services and the next year he was named director in charge of an underperforming National Radio and Electronics.

 

In 1974 he joined the board of Tata Sons as a director.

 

He then went to Harvard Business School for an advanced management programme and by 1981 was appointed chairman of Tata Industries.

 

From 1986 to 1989 Tata served as chairman of Air India and in 1991 took over from JRD Tata as Chairman of Tata Sons as well as Tata Trusts, at a time when the Indian economy was being liberalised.

 

From then on the Tata Group's growth went on a continuous upward trajectory, the year 2000 onwards heralding high profile international acquisitions, from Tetley to Corus, Jaguar Land Rover, Brunner Mond, General Chemical Industrial Products and Daewoo.

 

Tata received the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour, in 2000

The group made a big splash with the launch of the Nano in 2008, the tiny car with great power, helping low-income families transition to four-wheelers.

 

In the same year Tata was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country's highest civilian honour by the Indian government.

 

By 2012 Tata made his retirement plan official, stepping down as Chairman of Tata Sons even as he was appointed Chariman Emeritus of the group.

 

Many legends have been woven around him, especially when it came to the acquisition of the iconic brands Jaguar and Land Rover.

 

Close associates talk about how he felt "insulted" when he was in USA's Detroit to meet Bill Ford, then chairman of auto giant Ford.

Tata's dream project, the Tata Indica, India's first hatchback with a diesel engine, was not doing well as sales were slow and Tata Motors planned to sell it off a year after its debut in 1998.

 

Ford was seen as a potential buyer and after talks with officials of the company at Bombay House in 1999 Tata felt Ford was interested in buying the business.

Tata and his team's meeting with Bill Ford in Detroit,  however, did not go as well as he expected.

 

The American, according to business lore, humiliated Tata.

 

"You do not know anything, why did you start the passenger car division at all," the Ford officials told the team, making it seem as if they would be doing Tata a favour by buying the Indica business.

 

The deal fell through, sources said, and on the flight back from Detroit to New York, Tata was described as being very quiet.

 

He must have been making plans because soon he announced his plans to not sell the unit.

 

Tata was also biding his time because  nine years later, Ford was on the verge of bankruptcy following the Great Recession of 2008.

 

Tata offered to buy two iconic brands in the Ford portfolio - Jaguar and Land Rover.

 

USD 2.3 billion all-cash deal was completed in June 2008, and Pravin Kadle, who was in Tata's team recounted in at an event in 2015 that  Bill Ford thanked Tata, saying, "You are doing us a big favour by buying JLR."

 

In Tata's death, India has not only lost a great industrialist, but a great human being as well.

 

As Adi Pawari, the 90-year-old former employee of a Tata Group company told a media channel after Tata passed away, "He (Ratan Tata) was definitely a wonderful person, he will be in heaven." 

The channels also reported another resident of Mumbai’s Parsi Colony, Dayal, recalling how humble Tata was.

 

"It's a loss to the whole community as well as the country. Seventy to seventy five per cent of the profits of Tata companies are donated in charity, I don't think anyone else does that," the senior citizen said.

 

Ayesha Banerjee