Ratan Tata (28 December 1937–9 October 2024) was an Indian industrialist who served as the chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Sons. He was the chairman of the Tata Group, India’s largest business entity, from 1991 to 2012. Additionally, he was the executive chairman of the group from October 2016 to February 2017. Under his leadership, the Tata Group expanded globally and made several significant acquisitions. After receiving the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour, in 2000, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, in 2008.
Ratan Tata was the son of Naval Tata, whom Ratanji Tata adopted. Ratanji Tata was the son of Jamsetji Tata and the founder of the Tata Group. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the College of Architecture at Cornell University. [4] He joined the Tata Group in 1961 and worked on the work floor of Tata Steel. Later, upon the retirement of JRD Tata in 1991, he became the Chairman of Tata Sons. During his tenure the Tata Group acquired Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus, with the aim of transforming Tata from a largely India-centric conglomerate to a global business. Tata was also a philanthropist.
Tata was an investor and invested in more than 30 start-ups, most in his personal capacity and some through his investment company.
Ratan Tata Early life and education
Ratan Tata was born on 28 December 1937 in Bombay, now Mumbai, during the British Raj to a Parsi Zoroastrian family.He was the son of Naval Tata, who was born in Surat and was later adopted into the Tata family. In 1948, when Tata was 10, his parents separated and he was subsequently raised and adopted by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata, the widow of Ratanji Tata.[8] He has a younger brother, Jimmy Tata, from Naval Tata’s second marriage to Simone Tata,[9] and a half-brother, Noel Tata, with whom he was raised.
Tata studied at the Campion School in Mumbai until grade 8. Thereafter, he attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and the Riverdale Country School in New York City, from which he graduated in 1955. After high school, Tata went to Cornell University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1959. While at Cornell, he joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. In 2008, Tata donated $50 million to Cornell, making him the university’s largest international donor in history.