Ratan Tata: He steered the Tata Group through choppy seas

By Anil Singh*

Ratan Tata was synonymous with the Tata Group. Taking over from JRD Tata in 1991, he steered the group through choppy seas. However, the glowing tributes to him speak as much for the goodwill the Tatas still retain.

Despite the occasional hiccup, the Tata Group has an enviable reputation as an ethical Indian company that doesn’t prioritize profit over people, whose products and services are trustworthy, and which engages in genuine philanthropy. 

It is a conglomerate of more than 100 companies – from salt to software — employing more than six lakh workers and its annual revenues are more than Rs 8,40,000 crores or 100 billion US dollars.

Despite being the most powerful Indian magnate, Ratan Tata was a quiet, unassuming man who neither flaunted his wealth nor power. He was contemplative and admitted to his mistakes, sometimes publicly. After the prolonged 1989 strike at Tata Motors was broken with police intervention, Tata admitted: “Perhaps we took our workers for granted. We assumed that we were doing all that we could do for them when probably we were not.”

No wonder that celebrations were suspended for a day in several Navratri mandals in Mumbai after Ratan Tata’s death on October 9, 2024.

However, the Tata Group is no longer what it was under JRD Tata. It has grown too big and unwieldy. Also, it is overdependent on its $27 billion Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and to a lesser extent on Tata Motors. Air India is gasping for breath even two years after the takeover. While it lumbers on, Tata’s competitors are nimble. The Tata Group needs a dynamic leader.

Also read:

• Ratan Tata: The People’s Bharat Ratna
• Ratan Tata: The titan we never crowned
• Success is humility –  Ratan Tata

The Tatas have struggled to come to terms with the new political and business environment where doing business can be tricky and where rivals use all and any means to get ahead.

In 1997, the Assam government accused Tata Tea of being hand-in-glove with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Leaked telephone taps suggested that Tata executives were paying extortion money to militants to secure their tea estates. However, Tata Tea said it provided financial assistance as part of a medical aid scheme for the Assamese people and was unaware of any ULFA connection.

The Niira Radia tapes scandal of 2010 also dimmed the Tata Group’s halo. Embarrassing phone conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, who was handling PR for the Tata Group, and influential figures from politics, business, and the media were leaked.

Despite the Tatas facing the ire of the saffron hardliners over various issues, the Tanishq ad for one, Ratan Tata was the guest of honour at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters at Nagpur at least twice and openly lauded them. He also met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray at the latter’s house. And, the sight of him standing in a queue of top industrialists to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not sit well with his persona as the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian business.

Tata Sons is also spending Rs 650 crore through its Corporate Social Responsibility fund to build a ‘Museum of Temples’ in Ayodhya when the Tata Institute for Social Sciences is downsizing its faculty.

However, the most unsavoury episode was the controversy over the removal of Cyrus Mistry, a man Ratan Tata himself had chosen as his successor. Mistry accused Tata of interference and alleged that this was affecting governance. Many of Tata’s decisions, he said, were driven by emotion rather than sound business reasoning. This ugly spat saw Tata parting ways with old friend Nusli Wadia who supported Mistry.

Ratan Tata helmed the Tata Group during turbulent times but the one lesson he failed to imbibe from his guru JRD was when to let go.

*Anil Singh is a veteran Mumbai-based journalist and the author of The Fault With Reality published by Notion Press.