One of the most well-known and respected industrialists in India, Ratan Naval Tata is the Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Group. At the age of 73, Mr. Tata heads one of the country’s largest conglomerates which comprise nearly 100 firms with revenues totaling about USD 67 billion.
He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Teleservices. Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, and The Indian Hotels Company.
Mr. Tata was born on December 28, 1937 in Mumbai, in one of the richest families. His great grandfather was Jamsedji Tata, founder of the Tata group. As a young boy, He had a disturbed childhood after his parents split. He was raised by his grandmother, Lady Navajbai in the lap of luxury at Tata Palace. America held a special fascination for the Tata scion and he went to Cornell University to study architecture and structural engineering. Later he pursued a management course from Harvard University.
In 1962, he joined the Tata Group and his first job involved working with the Tata Steel division in Jamshedpur, where he worked with the blue-collar employees shoveling stone and working with the furnaces. He was appointed the Director-in-Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco) in 1971 and was successful in turning Nelco around.
Mr. Tata later paved his way to become the Chairman of Tata Industries and was instrumental in ushering in a wide array of reforms.
In year 2000, he was honored with Padma Bhushan by the government of India.
Mr. Tata set a perfect example of generosity and leadership during the 26/11 attacks. Unarmed he stood all alone outside the Taj hotel and supervised the activities to help the victims. He showcased his humane gesture by personally visiting the families of all the 80 employees who were killed or injured.
Standing tall with his contemporaries with a staggering fortune and world recognition, Ratan Tata has amazingly never featured in the ‘Forbes billionaires list’.