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The face of TATA Group, Ratan Tata, is not just a businessman but an industrialist. He is globally renowned for his philanthropy. His views have changed the fate of the TATA group turning it into a worldwide business from India based one. The former chairman of TATA Sons and Group has taken the whole business to the peak. Let’s read more in Ratan Tata Biography.
Personal Life
Ratan Tata was born to Naval and Soonoo Tata in Mumbai in 2037. The couple got separated when he was 10. After that, Tata was raised and later officially adopted by his grandmother Navajbai Tata, the widow of Sir Ratanji Tata. He got a half-brother, Noel Tata, from the re-marriage of his father to Simone Tata.
Ratan Tata never got married. While asked about the reason behind this, he answered, “I came seriously close to getting married four times, and each time I backed off for one reason or another.”
Early Life
Ratan Tata’s schooling was done at Campion School, Mumbai, Cathedral and John Connor School, Mumbai, and Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. Later he passed out from Riverdale Country School in New York in 1955 and 1975, received his degree in Architecture from Cornell University. He had also joined the seven-week Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Career
Ratan Tata was named the successor of Tata Sons in 1991 when the former chairman J. R. D. Tata stepped down. After gaining the position, he made changes in the management and administration in the individual companies that were run by TATA Sons. He made sure the new generation got a fair chance to showcase their thoughts and views. Innovation became one of the major priorities.
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He led the TATA Group for 21 years, during which period, the revenue growth increased over 40 times, and the profit, over 50 times. He brought Tetley under Tata Tea, Jaguar and Land Rover under Tata Motors, and Corus under Tata Steel. Under his leadership, Tata turned into a global brand from an India centric business group. It gets around 65% of revenues from sales and operations in more than 100 countries.
Under the guidance of Ratan Tata, Tata Nano was conceptualized and released in the market. According to him, bringing Tata Nano to the market was important as it set a price point for other cars also that can be within reach of the average Indian consumer.
As he turned 75, he decided to resign from Tata Group in 2012 and announced Cyrus Mistry, his successor. Although, Ratan Tata was made the interim chairman of Tata Sons in 2016. Again, in January 2017, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was named the chairman of the company.
Investments
From his personal savings, Tata invested in the e-commerce site Snapdeal. He acquired Teabox and CashKaro.com in 2016. He has also invested around INR 0.95 Cr in Ola Cabs. In 2015, Ratan Tata attained a stake in Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi. In the same year, he became a partner of American Express by investing in Bitcoin venture Abra.
The Man as a Philanthropist
As a supporter and enhancer of education, development, and medicine, Ratan Tata played a great role in helping out those who had been in need. Firstly, he helped the University Of New South Wales to develop capacitative deionization that can work to provide water in tough-to-reach areas.
Tata Education Development Trust endowed $28 million to Cornell University to offer monetary aid to the undergraduate Indian student. The scholarship is to ensure that students from India do not lack behind due t financial issues and carry on with their studies.
Tata Group Charities donated an amount of $50 million to build an executive hall in Harvard Business School. The seven-storied building has been named after Ratan Tata, Tata Hall.
Tata Consultancy Services has donated the largest ever amount to Carnegie Mellon University for the research of cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles. The donation was of $35 million, and the research building is to be called TCS Hall.
Tata Group donated INR 950 million to IIT Bombay in 2014 and formed the Tata Center for Technology and Design. With the guidance of Ratan Tata, the MIT Tata Center of Technology and Design was formed in MIT.
Awards
Ratan Tata has achieved numerous honors and awards. He was honored with Padma Bhusan in 20000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008. The followings are some of the awards he has received – Honorary Doctor of Business Administration (2001) from Ohio State University, Honorary Doctor of Technology (2004) from Asian Institute of Technology, Honorary Doctor of Science (2005) from University of Warwick, Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy (2007) from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Honorary Citizen Award (2008) from Government of Singapore, Honorary Doctor of Law (2010) from University of Cambridge, Commander of the Legion of Honour (2016) from Government of France, and the list goes on.
Sum Up
As of the latest records, Ratan Tata’s net worth is $1 billion. He is one of the most renowned philanthropists on the earth as 65% of his fortune is donated for charity. He stands as one of the richest personalities in the world. Tata is known and respected by all for his humble and kind personality traits. With his brilliance and a sharp mind, the man stands as one of the most influential humans all over the world. We hope you will enjoy Ratan Tata biography, if you think we miss any things about Ratan Tata, please comments.
