MUMBAI: India’s best known industrialist and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, 86, passed away at South Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital late on Wednesday night leaving a vacuum in the formidable $100 billion Tata Group.
Confirming persistent speculation that the ailing corporate leader had breathed his last, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran announced: “It is with a profound sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr Ratan Naval Tata, a truly uncommon leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation.”
Paying condolences to the industrialist, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X said: “He provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses.”
As late as on Monday, when he was admitted to hospital, Ratan Tata took to X to scotch speculation about his ill health saying he was going in for a routine medical check-up.
Ratan Tata started his career in the Tata Group in 1961 managing operations on the shop floor of Tata Steel.
Ratan Tata passes away at hospital in Mumbai
Having acquired the business acumen and leadership qualities required to lead the large conglomerate, he became chairman of the group in 1991, and drove the expansion of the group as the nation embraced an era of liberalization.
Holding the reins of a group that traced its pedigree to the company’s founder and his great-grandfather, Sir Jamsetji Tata, Ratan Tata made his mark by helming the conglomerate’s transition to a truly multi-national company.
He got Tata Tea to acquire the British company Tetley, Tata Motors to take over the ailing Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel to acquire Corus in 2004. Everything did not always go his way. His dream project of manufacturing the world’s cheapest car, the ‘Tata Nano’ in 2009, was an engineering marvel, but failed in the market.
He inducted the Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Cyrus Mistry as Tata Sons Chairman after he stepped down in 2012; but the corporate battle and Mistry’s messy exit thereafter was a dark period of the group.
Things settled and leadership was back in place with the accession of N Chandrasekaran. Ratan Tata, a bachelor, was an untiring philanthropist dedicating many hours every week to providing for healthcare and old age support to the less fortunate. He was also a dedicated animal lover, setting up dog shelters in Mumbai.
