Ratan Tata is turning a year old today. He started his career in the shop floor Tata Steel in the 1960s, handling the blast furnace, to heading the Tata Group as a Chairman had very much exciting and eventful journey for him. Tata has gone through a lot of obstacles and ups and downs. Being a part of such a huge conglomerate he naturally went through plenty of failed ventures, disputes, losses in his professional life. He became the Chairman of The Tata Group.

Tata always managed to overcome all odds. Let us know some of the interesting facts about the most interesting personality:

1. He was born into a wealthy family in Mumbai. He faced a tough time in his childhood when his parents separated during the 1940s when he was just 7 years old. Later on, he was raised by his grandmother.

2. He went to Captain School in Mumbai which was followed by Bishop Cotton Shop in Shimla and later she went to Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. He went to New York to complete his B.S. in Architecture in 1962 for his further studies. He also got an Advanced Management Program degree from Harvard Business School. Later he joined the family business.

3. In 1962, Ratan joined the Tata Group. He joined at Jamshedpur to work at Tata Steel. He worked as a blue-collar employee till 1971. Later he was promoted as the Director-In-Charge at the National Radio and Electronics Company Limited. When the company was facing a tough phase he suggested Nelco should invest in developing high technology products other than consumer electronics. J.R.D was initially confused about it but he still followed Ratan’s idea and eventually the results were positive as the company recovered the damages.

4. Soon he became the Chairman of Tata Industries in 1981. Now he had the responsibilities of promoting ventures in high technology businesses. Later he took over as the group Chairman from J.R.D Tata. Now Tata Group is one of the largest market capitalizations than any other business house.

5. As a leader of Tata Group, he successfully acquired Jaguar, Corus, Land Rover, and Tetley. His guidance and leadership qualities changed the company position from being a local company to an international business name. Tata motors then established one of its children and named it as Tata Indica. He gained more popularity when he introduced the world’s cheapest car Tata Nano which is also known as People’s car.

6. Ratan Tata’s foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, The American International Group, and JP Morgan Chase. Not only this he is also a member of the board of trustees of RAND Corporation, University of Southern California and Cornell University. He is also serving as a board member of Republic of South Africa’s International Investment Council and Asia-Pacific advisory committee member for the New York Stock Exchange.

7. He bagged a lot of awards during his successful and entrepreneurial journey. It included Padma Bhushan in 2000 and Padma Vibushan in 2008. He was honored as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow. This is one of the honorable awards which was given by Cornell University.

Here’s wishing Ratan Tata a very Happy Birthday!!

Published by Isha Kataria on 27 Dec 2018