Pride of the Nation: Ratan Tata

By Prateeksha M. Tiwari

Ratan Tata was born (December 28, 1937 in Surat, Gujarat) into the wealthy and famous Tata family of Mumbai. He was born to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata. Ratan is the great grandson of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata. Ratan?s childhood was troubled, his parents separating in the mid-1940s, when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five. His mother moved out and both Ratan and his brother were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai. He was schooled at the Campion School, Mumbai and graduated from Cornell University in 1962 with a degree in Architecture and Structural Engineering.
Ratan Tata is a role model in both his personal life and professional career. He serves as the Chairman of two of the largest private-sector philanthropic undertakings in India: the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation and of the program board of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?s India Aids Initiative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9789350830550

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Navsari

To know Tatas better first you should know about the land where they come from.

Navsari, one of the oldest towns of Gujarat, has an inspiring history of over 2000 years. According to the Greek historical writings, a celebrated Egyptian astronomer and geographer named Ptolemy mentioned about Navsari’s port in his book written about 1850 years ago.

Navsari, like any other city, has passed through many vicissitudes in the matter of political reign. About fourteen hundred years ago, the kings of the Chalukya Dynasty governed the region of Navsari. Later on, the Parsis, who migrated from Iran, virtually ruled this small town. One group of Parsis, then Persian Zoroastrians, left Iran from a place in north eastern region with Sari, Iran as the main town; its possible this is the name adopted by Parsis (new Sari-Navsari) for Nav Sarika. The reign of the Parsis ended as the Muslim rulers took over. For the last one hundred years, until India’s independence in 1947, Navsari was the property of the Gaekwads of Baroda.

Navsari also boasts of a big Parsi-Zoroastrian community. Dadabhai Naoroji, the ‘Grand Old Man of India’, who was the South Asian to be elected to the British Parliament; and Jamsetji Tata, founder of the Tata group of companies, were both born in Navsari. J. N. Tata’s birth place is still preserved as a memorial. Late PM Indira Gandhi’s husband Firoz Gandhi was born in Navsari.

The famous Salt March undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi and his followers in 1930 passed through Navsari on the way to Dandi beach from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. At Dandi beach, Gandhi and his followers defied the British authorities by making salt, and this act signified the beginning of non-violent resistance to British rule which culminated in Indian independence in 1947.

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Tata Titans

JAMSETJI NUSSERWANJI TATA (1887-1904)

SIR DORABJI TATA (1904-1932)

SIR RATAN TATA J. R. D. TATA (1938-1991)

RATAN N. TATA (Since 1991-)

(Years mentioned indicate the period of Chairmanship)

Jamsetji Tata: The founder of the Tata Group began with a textile mill in central India in the 1870s. His powerful vision inspired the steel and power industries in India.

Sir Dorabji Tata: Through his endeavours in setting up Tata Steel and Tata Power, this elder son of Jamsetji Tata was instrumental in transforming his father’s grand vision into reality.

Sir Ratan Tata: A philanthropist throughtout his life, he created a trust fund for the advancement of learning and for the relief of human suffering and other works of public utility.

JRD Tata: The late chairman of the Tata Group pioneered civil aviation on the subcontinent in 1932 by launching the airline now known as Air India.

Ratan Naval Tata: The present Chairman of the Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate founded by Jamsedji Tata and consolidated and expanded by later generations of his family.

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Jamsetji Nusservanji Tata

A pioneer, a visionary, a seer—perhaps these adjectives are not enough to describe a man of such extraordinary caliber and stature who has secured a strong foothold in the map of industrialized nations of the world. The creative forces of his genius were harnessed to cater, to the development of his own land and his dreams arising out of intense love of humanity. The same passion, ideals and vision went a long way in shaping an outstanding business conglomerate that, ever since, has been constantly nourished and nurtured to offer credence to this one man’s novel dream, dreamt more than a century ago.

Jamsetji Nusservanji Tata was a pioneer in the field of modern industry. He was born in Navsari, Gujarat, India.

He founded what would later become the Tata Group of companies. Jamsetji Tata is regarded as the ‘father of Indian industry’.

Jamsetji Tata was born on 3 March 1839 in Navsari, a small town in South Gujarat. Jamsetji was the only son of five children of Nusserwanji, a member of the Parsi religion and a descendant of a priestly family, and Jiverbai Cowasjee Tata.

When Jamsetji was thirteen years old, his father opened an export business in Bombay, India. In 1855, when he was sixteen, in accordance with Parsi custom, which encouraged early marriage, he married a ten-year-old girl named Berabai. They would later have a daughter, who died at the age of twelve, and two sons, Sir Dorabij Jamsetji and Ratan Jamsetji.

Nusserwanji Tata was the first businessman in a family of Parsi Zoroastrian priests. He moved to Bombay and started trading.

He joined his father’s trading firm in 1858 and had an outstandingly successful business career during which he made a massive contribution to India’s Industrial Development. He set up cotton mills in Bombay and Nagpur and founded the Tata Iron & Steel Company, which is among the largest integrated steel mills in the world. He planned the utilisation of hydroelectric power, which resulted in the formation, after his death, of the Tata Power Companies, which supply electric power to Bombay city and the surrounding areas.

Jamsetji Tata’s contribution to India’s industrial advance was monumental. Even when the country was under foreign rule he had the vision to realise the importance of a modern industry for giving a better life to the people. His activities were many- sided. He introduced sericulture into India, founded the Indian Institute of Science in Banglore and applied scientific techniques to the cultivation of cotton and other crops.

Expanded Tata & Co. to Asia

Jamsetji attended Elphinstone College in Bombay from 1855 to 1858. He did so well there that the school refunded his fees. After his schooling, his father employed him in the family business. In December of 1859, Jamsetji’s father sent him on a business trip to Hong Kong, where he worked to open a branch of his father’s firm, and remained until 1863. He established connections and buyers for the business; this was only the beginning of an expansion of the firm, called Tata & Co. and later renamed Tata & Sons. Through Jamsetji’s travel and work, the firm would eventually expand its reach to create branches in China, Japan, Paris, and New York, as well as in London:

In 1863, Jamsetji began travelling to England, where he worked to establish an Indian Bank. This venture proved unsuccessful, largely because of bad timing; at the time, a financial crisis was brewing back in India, and the Tata firm was forced to declare bankruptcy. Part of this crisis was the result of the ending of the American Civil War; during the war, the American South did not produce much cotton, so demand for Indian cotton skyrocketed. Once the war was over and American production resumed, demand for the Indian product diminished. However, the Abyssinian war soon brought contracts for army clothing and supplies for the British-Indian Army, and these lucrative contracts allowed the firm to be resurrected. In 1871, Jamsetji began to promote his Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company, Limited.

Adopted Innovations in Factories

In 1872, Jamsetji returned to England to study the cotton industry there, specifically the cotton mills in Lancashire. He was interested in developing the still-primitive cotton industry in India. After examining the Lancashire mills, he decided to site an Indian cotton factory at Nagpur, and he opened his Empress cotton mill there on January 1, 1877; the factory received its name because on the same day, Queen Victoria of England was proclaimed Empress of the British Empire, which at the time included India. Later, Jamsetji bought a troubled mill, the Dharamsi Cotton Mill at Coorla, near Bombay, and made it profitable, renaming it the Swadeshi (own country) Mill. This mill was named after a political movement, which promoted the use of Indian-made product, as opposed to products imported from Britain, and its founding marked an upsurge in nationalistic feeling among Indians, who wanted to become independent of Britain. The mill was supported by Indian shareholders, and it soon produced cloth that was exported to China, Korea, Japan, and the Middle East.

According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Jamsetji’s textile mills were soon recognized to be the best managed of Indian-owned factories. Jamsetji kept a close eye on the factories, and continually made improvements in order to increase their production as well as to improve the conditions for their workers. Jamsetji, in moves that were far ahead of his time, hired his managers carefully, and instituted policies that gave workers training, guaranteed pensions and tips, medical care, accident compensation, and daycare for women employees who had children. He also devoted his time to improving the quality of the cotton itself. At the time, Indian cotton was rather coarse, so Jamsetji imported different strains of cotton which yielded longer, finer, and softer fibres. One of these types of cotton came from Egypt, and although it was difficult to get the plants to grow in the Indian climate, Jamsetji persisted despite the fact that government agriculturists told him the project was doomed to failure. He eventually succeeded, and even published a pamphlet titled Growth of Egyptian Cotton in India. Another pamphlet described how the supply of skilled labourers could be increased.

Jamsetji noted that freight charges for shipping between Bombay and the company’s branches in China and Japan were eating into the company’s profits. At the time, this shipping route was monopolized by three companies, which kept prices high, so Jamsetji turned to the Japanese Steam Navigation Company (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) for cheaper shipping. As a result, the three monopolizing companies fought back, and Jamsetji spent a great deal of money to prove that their monopoly was hurting Indian trade. He eventually won, and in June of 1896 the freight fees were reduced to a reasonable and competitive level. In addition to fighting for fair freight charges, Jamsetji also opposed taxes placed on Indian cotton products.

Jamsetji realized that the industrial revolution was a key element in industrial success, and he was determined to take advantage of the new advances in technology and methods. At the time, railroads and telegraphs were beginning to be built in order to link various regions of India with one another. Tata incorporated these inventions into his industrial empire, and he also concentrated on enhancing his industries by incorporating the iron and steel industry, electric power generation, and technical education.

Began Iron and Steel Industry

In 1901, Jamsetji turned his attention to the Indian iron industry, which, like the cotton industry, was largely undeveloped; at the time, iron was produced on a very small, local scale, largely by families of craftspeople. He employed English and American surveyors, most notably American Charles Page Perin, who spent years examining the Indian geology for iron deposits. In addition, he travelled to Europe and the United States to get technical advice on the process of making steel. Jamsetji wanted to refine iron ore on a large, factory-based scale, and he invested large sums in the project. Although he would die before this scheme was realized, on August 26, 1907, his sons registered the Tata Iron and Steel Company, sited in Sakchi, about 150 miles west of Calcutta. The manufacturing process drew on coalfields in Bengal, which had rich ore as well as plentiful supplies of water necessary for processing it. The company grew rapidly, and by 1911 included railways connecting the factory to the iron and coal beds, and was producing about 70,000 tons of iron per year. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, the entire industry would support 60,000 workers and their dependants.

Another idea Jamsetji was noted for was his suggestion that India make use of the extremely heavy seasonal rainfall that occurred each year in parts of the country to create hydroelectric power that would fuel factories in Bombay. On February 8, 1911, the Governor of Bombay laid the foundation for this project, which involved the creation of several dams to hold the water.

Jamsetji also built the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay, which cost a quarter of a million dollars, a huge sum at the time; the hotel was considered the best in India. Jamsetji was not interested in running the hotel; he built it solely to attract visitors to India. On his far-ranging travels, Jamsetji bought many of the hotel’s furnishings himself, including the latest European amenities— a soda and ice factory, washing and polishing machines, a laundry, elevators, and an electric generator. The hotel, which opened in 1903, was the first building in Bombay to be lit by electricity.

Became a Philanthropist

Jamsetji also improved the architecture of Bombay, and provided well-built suburban homes for workers. He was generous with his profits, and created scholarships for young students. Although originally these scholarships were open only to Parsis, in 1894 they were broadened