Ratan Tata

Gender : Male Date of birth : Dec 28, 1936 City : Mumbai State : Maharashtra Country : India

Ratan Tata - Tata Group's CEO

Ratan N. Tata is the chairman of India's largest conglomerate, the Tata Group, established by his family's earlier generations. Tata is organized into seven divisions: engeneering, materials, chemicals, energy, NTIC, services and consumption goods. Ratan Tata was born in 1937, in Mumbai, India. The Tata family have been active in industry and philanthropy since the 19th century. The Tata Group, founded by Ratan's great grandfather, Jamsetji Tata, is one of the largest private employers in India. JRD Tata, Ratan's father, was the first Indian citizen to obtain a plane pilot's license, and he is considered the father Indian aviation. In 1932, he founded Tata Airlines, which became Air India in 1946. Ratan's childhood was troubled as his parents divorced when he was 7 years old. He was raised by his grandmother. After the Campion School in Mumbai, he graduated in Architecture and Structural Engineering from Cornell University, New York, in 1962. That same year, he joined the Tata Group to work in the family steel plant in Jamshedpur, where he shoveled limestone and handled the blast furnaces alongside other employees. In 1971, Ratan was named Director-in-Charge of the NELCO (National Radio & Electronics Company Limited), a venture that was in dire financial difficulty. But with a lot of flair and despite JRD's disapproval, he invested in developing high-technology products. The company

climbed from a 2% market share to 20% in 1975. But the economic recession of 1975 and the confrontations between Tata with the unions took its toll on the venture. In 1981,Ratan was appointed chairman of Tata Industries, the group's other holding company, where he was in charge of transforming it into the group's strategy think-tank and promoting new ventures in high-technology businesses. Ratan took over as group chairman from JRD Tata in 1991, and since then has ushered in young managers pushing out the old guard. He reshaped the fortunes of the Tata Group, which today holds the largest market capitalization of any business on the Indian stock market. Ratan also introduced Tata Motors on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2006, Ratan signed agreements with Italian car manufacturer Fiat and helped introduce the Italian cars the Indian market. In December 2007, Ratan, who turned 70, launched the "peoples' car," officially the Tata Nano, at Auto Expo in New Delhi. It's the world's most inexpensively manufactured car and is sold for $2.522.

It was a ritual at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel. Two months ago, Ratan Naval Tata, 67, nonexecutive chairman of the Rs 79,000 crore (Rs 790 billion) Tata group was presiding over the annual group management meeting for 200 of his senior managers, including Tata Sons' directors. For the past six years, this has been Tata's way of reaching out to his people, telling them where the group is headed, what needs to be done and how they can do it. This year's theme was the global story. And the punch line? Be bold; think big; lead, never follow. "It is Tata's State of the Union address to us," says a manager who has been attending these dos. Such exhortations are heard more often these days at Bombay House, the Tata group headquarters. It's a decade since McKinsey & Co offered its blueprint for ushering in change.

And next year, it will be 15 years since Tata, who is low profile almost to the point of reclusiveness, was made chairman, when his legendary predecessor J R D stepped aside in 1991. Tata's game plan, according to his managers, was simple -- rationalise the group's business portfolio; deliver a return on investment that exceeded the cost of capital; have a symbolically and emotionally unified brand; and grab new opportunities. Surely, after taking over, Tata's first job was to see that many of the group stalwarts, who were well past their retirement age, hung up their boots. He brought in new people to strengthen the parent company Tata Sons Ltd, where Tata trusts continue to hold a 66 per cent stake. Ratan Naval Tata (born December 28, 1937), who made the Tata Group a global conglomerate and made the world's cheapest car, will retire by the end of 2012. The Tata Group is India's oldest and best-known conglomerate. Ratan was born to Naval Tata and Soonoo Commisariat in the Tata family, a prominent family belonging to the Parsi community. He was brought up by his grandmother Lady Navajbai, after his parents separated in 1944. He completed his Advanced Management Program form Harvard Business School. With an annual revenue of more than $70 bn, and with 357,000 employees worldwide, the Tata Group's 98 operating companies derive more than 65% of their revenues from overseas. No other Indian family-run conglomerate has looked overseas to fill the top spot. Even though Ratan Tata has said he will look outside India for his successor, speculation is building that his half-brother, 53-year-old Noel Tata, may succeed him. The group, founded in 1868, runs India's top vehicle maker, Tata Motors, top software services company Tata Consultancy Services, top private sector power producer Tata Power and the world's seventh-largest steel maker by output, Tata Steel. In 2007, Tata Steel paid $13 bn for Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, the largest acquisition by an Indian company, which catapulted the unit to the world's sixth-largest steelmaker spot at the time. In 2008, Tata Motors paid $2.3 bn to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co, the first time an Indian automaker bought brands from a US automaker. While those decisions were praised by many, Tata also drew criticism for the pricey deals. The chairman, who is a descendant of the conglomerate's founder, was the driving force behind the Nano, the world's cheapest car at Rs 100,000 ($2165), which it unveiled in 2008. Ratan Tata was ranked No. 59 in the 2009 Forbes list of the world's most powerful people. He has been the chairman of Tata Sons, the promoter company of the Tata group, since 1991. He is the chairman of two of the largest private-sectorpromoted philanthropic trusts in India. The government of India honoured Tata with its secondhighest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008.
Ratan Naval Tata is popularly known as Ratan Tata. He is a pioneer businessman in India and the present Chairman of the Tata Group, India`s largest conglomerate established by Jamsedji Tata, which was further strengthened and expanded by later generations of his family. Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937 to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata, a Gujarati-speaking Parsi family in Mumbai. Despite being born into the wealthy and famous Tata family of Mumbai, Ratan Tata`s childhood was

troubled; his parents separated when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy five. Ratan Tata is the great grandson of Tata group founder Jamsedji Tata. After his parent`s divorce, both Ratan Tata and his brother were brought up by their grandmother Lady Navajbai. Ratan Tata completed his schooling at the Campion School, Mumbai and graduated from Cornell University in 1962 with a degree in Architecture and Structural Engineering. . He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975. Very soon, he was offered with a job at IBM but he turned the offer down. Ratan Tata`s professional career started with serving the various companies, until he was appointed director-in-charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (NELCO) in 1971. On the advice of JRD Tata he joined the Tata Group in December 1962. Ratan Tata was first sent to work at Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. He started to work on the floor along with other blue-collar employees. His job responsibilities included shoveling limestone and handling the blast furnaces, which he did with no complex. In 1981, he was selected as the chairman of Tata Industries. Ratan Tata was responsible for transforming the industries into a Group strategy think-tank. Eventually, he promoted several new ventures in high technology businesses

Ratan N Tata has been the Chairman of Tata Sons since 1991. He is also the chairman of the chief Tata companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Taj Hotels, Tata Chemicals, Tata AutoComp Systems and Tata Teleservices. During his tenure of business in TATA Group, the company`s revenues have grown more than ten-fold and added up to Group revenues of $62.5 billion annually. Ratan Tata is also the chairman of two of the largest private sector promoted philanthropic trusts in India.

Other than TATA Group, Ratan Tata is also closely related to various organizations in India and abroad as well. He is the chairman of the Government of India`s Investment Commission and a respected member of the Prime Minister`s Council on Trade and Industry, the National Hydrogen Energy Board and the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. This business magnet is involved in the decisionmaking procedures of the International Investment Council set up by the president of the Republic of South Africa and the UK Prime Minister`s Business Council for Britain. Ratan Tata is a member of the American International Group, the International Advisory Council of Singapore`s Economic Development Board, the Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee, JP Morgan Chase and Rolls Royce. He is one of the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange and of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, the Fiat SpA and the

Alcoa. Ratan Tata serves the Presidentship of the court of the Indian Institute of Science and is the chairman of the Council of Management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. A member of the board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California and of the Foundation Board of the Ohio State University, Ratan Tata is also a member of the Programme Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation`s India AIDS Initiative and Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS. The Government of India conferred Ratan Tata with its second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008. He had been awarded the Padma Bhushan on India`s 50th Republic Day on 26 January 2000. The Ohio State University honored Ratan Tata with the doctorate degree in business administration. He was also awarded the honorary doctorate degree in technology by the Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok; an honorary doctorate degree in science by the University of Warwick and an honorary fellowship by the London School of Economics. Ratan Tata was one of the worthy recipients of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards-2008 given away at a ceremony on February 14 2008 in Mumbai. The Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 was given to the Tata family and Ratan Tata accepted it.

Ratan Tata was recently listed among the 25 most powerful people in business by Fortune magazine in November 2007. Soon, in May 2008, he progressed to the Time magazine`s 2008 list of the World`s 100 most influential people. Tata recently inaugurated his tiny car `Nano` worth Rs. 1 lakh. On 29th August 2008, the Government of Singapore presented honorary citizenship to Ratan Tata, in acknowledgment of his enduring business relationship with the island nation and his input to the growth of high-tech sectors in Singapore. Ratan Tata is the first Indian to receive this honor. After much heated controversy, Ratan Tata launched his Nano Car from the manufacturing unit in Gujarat, by joining hands with the chief minister Narendra Modi. Tata Motors commercially launched Nano on March 23, 2009 and the sales of the car will begin in July 2009 with a starting price of Rs 115,000 (rupees). It has an 8 percent smaller exterior size and a 23 percent larger interior space compared to Maruti 800. Tata had sought to produce the least expensive production car in the world, thus aiming for a starting price of Rs.100,000.