Ratan Tata, former Chairman of Tata Sons, passed away at age 86, in Mumbai on October 9, 2024. He had been one of the greatest industrialists and philanthropists worldwide who led Tata Group to great success across the globe and invested in numerous ventures. His demise is a great loss for India’s business world and philanthropy.

Ratan Tata was an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and former chairman of the Tata Group. He was appreciated for his important contributions to the business world and for his philanthropic work. His demise occurred at the age of 86 years. His death was reported on October 9, 2024, when he was admitted to Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital due to age-related sicknesses, and later shifted to the ICU.

Ratan Tata Biography

Ratan Tata: Birth, Age, Family, and Education

Born on 28 December 1937 in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai), Ratan Tata is the son of Naval Tata and Sooni Commissariat. They separated when Ratan Tata was 10 years old. He was subsequently legally adopted by his grandmother Navajbai Tata through the J. N. Petit Parsi Orphanage. Ratan Tata was raised along with half-brother Noel Tata who is the son of Naval Tata and Simone Tata.

The 84-year old attended Campion School in Mumbai, Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University and Harvard Business School.

Ratan Tata as Chairman of Tata Sons

When JRD Tata stepped down from the chairmanship of Tata Sons in 1991, he appointed Ratan Tata as the chairman. This was opposed by most of the company presidents who had given decades to their company. However, Tata retaliated by instituting a retirement age and so began to phase out these aging gentlemen leaders. He further ensured that each of the companies reported directly to the group office. Under his guidance, the corresponding entities of Tata Sons were harmonized to form a cohesive and synergized organization.

Revenues increased by over 40 times and profits by more than 50 times during his 21-year tenure. He has successfully managed Tata Tea’s acquisition of Tetley, Tata Motors’ acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus in the process of transforming the organization from a largely India-centric entity to a global powerhouse.

He is also said to have created the Tata Nano car. The car was priced at a level to become within anyone’s budget in India.

Ratan Tata stepped down as Chairperson of Tata Sons when he turned 75 on 28 December 2012. Cyrus Mistry was to take over, but the Board of Directors and the Legal division decided his fate, voting for him to be expelled as chairman by the latter on 24 October 2016, reinstalling Ratan Tata as the interim chairman.

With this in mind, Ratan Tata set up a search committee comprising of Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan-the chairman of the TVS Group, Amit Chandra-from Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen, and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya to find Ratan Tata’s successor. On January 12, 2017, the committee confirmed Natarajan Chandrasekaran as the Chairperson of Tata Sons.

Ratan Tata invested his savings in  Snapdeal, Teabox, and CashKaro.com. He also invested in companies like Ola Cabs, Xiaomi, Nestaway, and Dogspot.

Philanthropic Work of Ratan Tata

Being an education supporter, medicine, and rural development supporter, Ratan Tata supported the University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering in enhancing water quality for challenged areas.

The Tata Education and Development Trust has endowed a lovely $28 million Tata Scholarship Fund, which Cornell University can utilize for undergraduate students from India. The amount will support about 20 students each year under this scholarship.

In 2010, Tata Group companies and their charitable foundations contributed $50 million to the Harvard Business School (HBS) for an executive center.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has donated $35 million to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for a building dedicated to research of cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles. This is the largest donation any company has ever made, and the 48,000 square-foot building is named TCS Hall.

In 2014, a staggering amount of Rs. 950 million was donated by the Tata Group to the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, thus establishing the Tata Center for Technology and Design (TCTD). This was the institute’s largest contribution ever received.

Tata Trusts gave the Centre for Neuroscience at the Indian Institute of Science a generous grant of ₹750 million to understand the mechanisms that cause Alzheimer’s disease and develop methods to diagnose and treat it much earlier.

The Tata Group founded the MIT Tata Center of Technology and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on the developing challenges in resource-constrained communities, beginning with India.

Ratan Tata’s wife.

“I came close to getting married four times, and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another,” Ratan Tata recalled in 2011.

He once loved a girl in Los Angeles while he was working there, but he had to return to India due to a family member’s illness. The girl’s parents refused to let her travel to India. Tata remained steadfast in his commitment and remains unmarried to this day.

Awards 

Ratan Tata was awarded many awards and honors. Some of them are listed below: 

Also read: SSC CPO Admit Card 2024

Ratan Tata Families

1. Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata– he is the Founder of Tata Group and India’s biggest conglomerate company. He was married to Hirabai Daboo.

2. Dorabji Tata The elder son of Jamshedji Tata and second chairman of the Tata Group. His wife was Meherbai Tata, who was the paternal aunt of the famous nuclear scientist Homi J. Bhabha. 

3. Ratanji Tata- The younger son of Jamshedji Tata. He was the first to do research on poverty. He married Navajbai Tata. His wife adopted an orphan boy, Naval, who was the grand-nephew of Hirabai Tata, and raised him as her own son.

4. Naval Tata- Adopted son of Navajbai Tata. His biological father was Hormusji Tata. His maternal grandmother was the sister of Hirabai Tata. he was a Director in several Tata companies, an ILO member, and recipient of Padma Bhushan, Naval Tata had three sons– Ratan Tata (5th chairperson of Tata Group), Jimmy Tata, and Noel Tata (Chairperson of Trent Limited) from two marriages.

5. Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was one of the first stalwarts to service the Tata Group. His father Dadabhoy and his mother Jamshedji Tata, Jeevanbai, were siblings. He married Suzanne Brière and the couple had five children including J.R.D. Tata and Sylla Tata.

6. J.R.D. Tata- He was the fourth Chairperson of Tata Group. He was also the founder of Tata Airlines which later became Air India. 

7. Sylla Tata- JRD Tata’s elder sister married Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, founder of the first textile mill in India. Her sister-in-law  Rattanbai Petit, was married to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. Dina Jinnah, Jinnah’s only child was married to Neville Ness Wadia.

Ratan Tata’s Famous Quotes 

• “Businesses need to go beyond the interest of their companies to the communities they serve.”
• “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.”
• “Take the stones people throw at you, and use them to build a monument.”
• “Young entrepreneurs will make a difference in the Indian ecosystem.”
• “I don’t believe in making the right decisions. I take decisions and then make them right.”
• “None can destroy iron, but its own rust can! Likewise, none can destroy a person, but its own mindset can!”
• “Don’t be serious, enjoy life as it comes.”
• “I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can’t respect him.”
• “I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can’t respect him.”
• “There are many things that, if I have to relive, maybe I will do it another way. But I would not like to look back and think what I have not been able to.”

RIP Ratan Tata: A Loss for India and the Business World

He was taken to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, where he died. His blood pressure suddenly dropped there while under observation. He had initially informed on October 7 saying he was on routine check-ups following his old age. Later though, his health went down, and he had to be shifted to the ICU. There are still many statements coming in from many places to Tata. Industrialist Harsh Goenka tweeted over the sad news, saying “Tata a beacon of integrity for business and society.”.

Ratan Tata has recently silenced health speculations, stating that he was undergoing routine medical investigations given his age. In this respect, it’s a momentous day for the Indian industry, as Ratan Tata has been more than just a central figure in the Tata Group’s growth; he’s also a revered philanthropist who earned the admiration for ethical leadership and strong dedication to social causes.

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What Happened to Ratan Tata FAQs

1.What happened to Ratan Tata?

Ans Ratan Tata, the former chairman of the Tata Group, passed away on October 10, 2024. 

2. What was Ratan Tata death cause?

Ans The exact cause of Ratan Tata’s death has not been publicly disclosed yet.

3. Who succeeded Ratan Tata as the chairman of the Tata Group?

Ans Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the former CEO of TCS, succeeded Ratan Tata as the chairman of the Tata Group.