The extraordinary life of Ratan Tata, in 10 images

Ratan Tata transformed Tata Sons into a global behemoth while largely staying out of the public eye. He gave few interviews and there were fewer occasions where he was photographed.Now, with his passing, nearly everyone whose life he touched has a story to tell. Stories of grit, compassion, love and longing.Here’s the story of a remarkable life told through pictures.A youth kept under wrapsThe only things we know of Tata’s personal life are the tiny bits that he spoke of in interviews. Born to Soonoo and Naval Tata, he credited his grandmother Lady Navajbai with raising him in Mumbai.“She was very indulgent, but also quite strict in terms of discipline,” Ratan Tata would recall in an interview. “We were very protected and we didn’t have many friends.” medium114187586 medium114187592Photos from his childhood and adolescence emerged on his Instagram handle that was started after he retired as chairman of Tata Sons in 2012. In these posts, he shared a little-seen photo with brother Jimmy and his time in the US studying engineering and architecture.The apprenticeRatan Tata returned to India due to his beloved grandmother’s ill health. After his return, he was pursuing a job with IBM when JRD Tata, the then chairman of Tata Group, learned of it and wasn’t amused.“He called me one day and he said you can’t be here in India and working for IBM. I was in [the IBM office] and I remember he asked me for a résumé, which I didn’t have. The office had electric typewriters, so I sat one evening and typed out a résumé on their typewriter and gave it to him,” Ratan Tata recalled. medium114187540 medium114187545He was offered a job in 1962 with Tata Industries, the promoter company of the group. JRD remained a constant mentor and guide as Tata rose through the ranks of the conglomerate to become chairman of Tata Sons in 1991.“Jeh had been a dear friend, a role model, a mentor, and a person who had a profound influence on me, both at work and at home. We spent a lot of time together in the last few years of his life,” Tata wrote on social media.Mentor and later adversaryWhen Ratan Tata was appointed as JRD Tata’s successor at Tata Sons in 1991, he had the full backing of Pallonji Mistry, a key director and one of the largest shareholders of the company.The Mistry family’s connection with the Tatas dates back to 1936, when they first bought a stake in Tata Sons. When Pallonji stepped down as a director in Tata Sons, his son Cyrus took his place.The retirement age of non-executive directors of Tata Sons had been moved up and down over the years. It was first done to ensure Tata got control of the group, and later to ensure that he remained the chairman till 2012.In 2011, when it was time to choose a successor, Tata picked Cyrus. For a year, the to-be chairman would shadow Tata and was guided on the workings of the group. medium114187530However, the relationship between Tata and Cyrus unravelled soon after, leading to the latter’s dramatic removal as Tata Sons chairman in 2016.The removal had been enabled by changes made during Tata’s tenure. Before stepping down as chairman, Tata had empowered Tata Trusts with veto powers and the right to nominate directors, effectively putting it in charge of the holding company.In a dramatic twist, the retirement policy was tweaked again as Tata Sons eliminated the age limit for the nominees of Tata Trusts. This strategic move enabled Tata, who was chairman of Tata Trusts, to step back into a leadership role as interim chairman of Tata Sons from October 2016 to February 2017. N Chandrasekaran was subsequently handpicked by Tata to lead Tata Sons.Cyrus went to court, accusing the group of corporate mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders. The Supreme Court ruled against him. The verdict ended the most acrimonious succession battle in the group’s history.Cyrus died in a car accident in September 2022.The pride project that never caught onRatan Tata had already launched the Indica in 1998, which resulted in a ₹500 crore loss for Tata Motors in FY2000. The car’s woes led to shareholder discontent and Tata even offered to resign from the chairmanship.The company also tried selling the passenger car business to Ford. The American automaker declined, stating it would be akin to doing the Indian group a favour if it purchased the business.R Gopalakrishnan, former executive director at Tata Sons, said that Tata had already outlined an idea of using scooter parts and the infrastructure of the scooter component industry to make an indigenous passenger vehicle.“The idea was received politely but with little enthusiasm,” he wrote in TOI. medium114187498Nevertheless, his commitment to innovation led to the launch of the Nano in 2005, touted as the world’s cheapest car. After a political battle over land acquisition resulted in the car manufacturing plant being moved from West Bengal to Gujarat, the car was finally launched in 2009 in Mumbai.The car was never a success despite various modifications. Tata said years later that it might have been a mistake to brand the Nano as a “cheap car”.However, Tata’s passion for automobiles also resulted in one of the group’s biggest international acquisitions. In 2008, Ford — which once rejected Tata — was facing bankruptcy and sold its iconic Jaguar-Land Rover brands to Tata Motors for $2.3bn.The deal not only saved Ford from financial collapse but also became one of Tata’s most successful overseas acquisitions, generating two-thirds of Tata Motors’ revenue.A passionate pilotWhile his enthusiasm for cars was well known, what was less known was Tata’s passion for flying. He’s one of the few corporate leaders to have flown in an F-16 and F-18. He was also known to fly the company’s private jet.Tata got his pilot’s licence while studying at Cornell University in the US and even survived multiple close calls. medium114187650In the book Story of Tata by Peter Casey, Tata spoke of an occasion in which he was flying a helicopter and was forced to land due to engine failure. On at least two occasions, he lost an engine while flying a single-engine aircraft.“The first time I was just doing circuits and landings, so that was easy. But the second time, I was with three classmates flying around Cornell and about 9 miles from the airport and made it back to the airport and landed,” he said.Dealt with a range of politicians, kept out of politicsWhether it was an internal conflict in Telco in 1988 or the land acquisition protest in West Bengal decades later, Tata navigated the corridors of political power with ease. medium114187483 medium114187611Tata was said to have gotten along with Rajiv Gandhi when he was prime minister due to a shared love for flying. He dealt with the communists in West Bengal and moved the Nano plant to Gujarat after being invited by then chief minister Narendra Modi.However, he never harboured any political ambitions, not even a Rajya Sabha seat. Tata cited his mentor JRD as an inspiration to keep out of politics.“Like my mentor JRD Tata, I had never considered politics. I’m not cut out to be a political person and will not venture into it,” Tata said in an interview.A man and his dogsTata had studied architecture but had designed little apart from a home in Alibag and his own house in south Mumbai. The apartment, notably, had a garden for his dogs Tito and Tango.The normally reticent Tata documented his love for his dogs even on a public forum like Instagram and the loss of his beloved dog Tito. Tito’s death is said to have been a driving force behind the setting up of the Tata Trusts Small Animal Hospital in central Mumbai. medium114187473The 98,000sq feet facility in Mahalaxmi offers round-the-clock medical care for dogs, cats, rabbits and other small animals. In an exclusive interview with TOI before the hospital’s inauguration in July, Tata had recalled the ordeal he faced before he flew his dog to University of Minnesota in the US for a joint replacement.“But I was too late, and so they froze the dog’s joint in a particular position. That experience enabled me to see what a world-class veterinary hospital was equipped to do,” he said.But Tata’s love for dogs extended beyond the ones he had. The century-old Bombay House, the headquarters of Tata Group, has a room allocated for street dogs in the vicinity. The swish yellow ground-floor kennel has a flap door, a bathing area and a team of doctors. Apart from non-residents who saunter in now and then, the kennel houses the formerly homeless Goa, Sweety, Junior, Simba, Chhotu, Rana, Jackal, Bushy and Munni as permanent residents.Besides cushions, toys and chewies, their upgraded lifestyle apparently entails food boiled in the kitchen from where top Tata executives get their meals.