The life and times of Ratan Tata: Here are 15 facts about the industry legend and humanitarian

CHENNAI: Tata Group’s chairman emeritus and veteran industrialist Ratan Tata died at a city hospital late on Wednesday evening. Tata, who led the salt-to-software conglomerate to new heights, was 86. 

A recipient of Padma Vibhushan, he breathed his last at south Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital at 11.30 pm, a top police official told news agency PTI.

Ratan Tata led the Tata Group for 21 years --- from March 1991 to December 2012 --- as Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the conglomerate.

Here are 15 must-know facts about the late industry legend and national icon:

1. Ratan Naval Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Mumbai to Naval Tata and Sooni Tata. He was raised by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata, at the Tata Palace, after his parents separated in 1948. He is the great-grandson of Jamshedji Tata who founded the Tata Group.

2. He studied at Campion School, Cathedral School, and John Connon School in Mumbai, and Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. He received his diploma from Riverdale Country School in New York City in 1955. He later went to Harvard Business School. He is also an alumnus of the Cornell University College of Architecture where he studied architecture and structural engineering in 1959.

3. Despite coming close to marriage on four occasions, Tata never married. He once admitted to having fallen in love while working in Los Angeles. But because of the ongoing 1962 Indo-China War, the girl's parents had refused to let her move to India, Tata said.

4. Starting his career with the Tata Group in 1962, Tata managed operations on the shop floor of Tata Steel, where he shovelled limestone into furnaces. He worked across different Tata businesses, acquiring hands-on experience.

5. In 1991, Tata became chairman of the conglomerate after being chosen successor by his uncle, the iconic JRD Tata, and went on to run the group founded by his great-grandfather more than a hundred years ago until 2012.

6. He began restructuring the Tata group during the liberalisation of the Indian economy and went on to play an instrumental role in the business expansion of popular cars including the Tata Nano and Tata Indica, the first car model designed and built in India.

7. Tata led the group into some notable acquisitions, starting from Tetley by Tata Tea for $450 million in 2000, to steelmaker Corus by Tata Steel in 2007 for GBP 6.2 billion, and the landmark Jaguar LandRover in 2008 for $2.3 billion by Tata Motors. 

8. Global IT leader Tata Consultancy Services went public under Ratan Tata's leadership in 2004.

9. In 2009, Tata made good his promise to make the world's cheapest car --- the Tata Nano, priced at Rs 1 lakh.

10. After stepping down in 2012, Tata was conferred with the title of chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Tata Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals.

11. During Ratan Tata's tenure, the group's revenues grew manifold, totalling $100.09 billion (around Rs 475,721 crore) in 2011-12 from a turnover of a mere Rs 10,000 crore in 1991.

12. After the ouster of Cyrus Mistry, his successor, during a leadership dispute, Tata briefly served as interim chairman from October 2016 and returned to retirement in January 2017 when N Chandrasekaran was appointed chairman of the Tata Group.

13. Tata was a licensed pilot and reportedly was the first Indian to fly an F-16 Falcon in 2007. He was also passionate about cars and had a deep love for animals, particularly dogs.

14. Tata's name is synonymous with philanthropy. About two-thirds of the share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts.

15. He had won several international and national laurels including India's second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan.