The Sky Is The Limit – The Remarkable Story Of Tata 

From the above title, you could have come to know that this piece of content is entirely about one of India’s finest industrialists – The TATAs. There can be a question in everyone’s mind that how does the industry last successfully till now when it had been started a century ago.

The seed for this industrial empire was sown by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. He floated the central Indian spinny wearly and manufacturing company in Nagpur. The people thought that what Tata has done is just disdain because those days Bombay was the ‘Cottonpolis’ of India. But on the contrary, it was a great success due to readily available abundant farm produce and land was comparatively cheaper in Nagpur than Bombay. 

Being a strong supporter of the Swadeshi Movement, he encouraged the production of Indian goods and boycotted imports. He wanted to reduce its cloth import from Manchester and to produce cloth which is comparatively equal to the quality of cloth produced in Manchester, which was famous for producing softer clothes and eventually he achieved that goal and became a major exporter. Due to his efforts and broader vision, even in his later stages of life, Jamsetji Tata continued to be an important figure in the industrial world.

Tata had four goals in his life: Setting up an iron & steel company; a unique hotel; a world-class learning institution; and a hydroelectric power plant. Sadly, he could achieve only one of his goals during his lifetime. His dream hotel ‘Taj Mahal’ was set up in Mumbai on 3 December, 1903. He died before the completion of the project, which was to set up TATA’s Iron & Steel industry. Later, it was completed by Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, Jamsetji’s first cousin. His legacy was later carried down by Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (J.R.D Tata).

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, though he was born in the Tata family he did not become the chairman at ease. Initially, he joined Tata’s Sons as an unpaid apprentice. Only at the age of 34, he was elected as the chairperson of Tata. Tata was the first to launch commercial airways in India, named TATA Airlines in 1932, and in 1948 launched India’s first international airlines ‘Air India’, and was obviously called the ‘Father of Indian Civil Aviation’.

Tata Motors was also founded during his period, in 1948. Tata always maintained high ethical standards and refused to bribe politicians or to use the black market. During the time he led the Tata Groups, its assets grew from $100 million to $5 billion USD. Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), 1968, and Titan Industries, 1987 was also started by J.R.D. Tata. 

Employees are the key to your success with customers. Treat them well!

Ron Kaufman and J.R.D Tata had clearly understood that.

Tata greatly cared about the welfare of the workers. It was he who introduced different schemes for the welfare of workers like free medical aid, eight-hour working day, worker’s provident scheme, workmen’s accident compensation scheme, etc. Later it was adopted as a statutory requirement in India.

Not only an industrialist, but Tata was also a great philanthropist. He was the trustee of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust from its outset. Under his guidance, his trust established Asia’s first cancer center, Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer, Research and Treatment in Bombay,1941. In 1991 J.R.D. stepped down and named Ratan Tata as his successor.

Ratan Tata is son of Naval Tata, who is the adopted son of Ratanji Tata after his death by his wife Navajbai Tata. Naval Tata was the grand-nephew of Navajbai Tata’s mother-in-law who directly belonged to the broader Tata family. Thereby Ratan Tata became the great-grandson of Jamsetji Tata.

In earlier stages, Tata faced much resistance from company heads who had spent decades there. He replaced them by setting a retirement age. Under his chairmanship which was for a period of 21 years, the revenue of Tata Groups grew over 40 times and profit over 50 times which was impeccable. Tata’s exemplary knowledge in the field of business and management led Tata Groups to great heights.

India-centric Tata Group became Global Business, acquiring Tetley by Tata Tea, Jaguar Land Rover by Tata Motors, and Corus by Tata Steels with over 65% revenue coming from operations and sales in over 100 countries. Tata Nano was a milestone in Tata Motors which made its name popular worldwide. In 2012, Tata resigned his chairmanship, and currently, Tata Groups is taken care of by Natraj Chandrasekaran, being the present chairman.

Under the leadership of Ratan Tata, Tata Trust provides never-ending philanthropic services for education,  research & development, medicine, and rural development.

“Common people have an appetite for food, uncommon people have an appetite for service.” – J.R.D Tata