Industrialist and Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata celebrates his 85th birthday today, December 28. Apart from being a business tycoon, he is also a motivational speaker and a great philanthropist. He believes in running a business with humanity and he has dedicated a huge part of his wealth to the well-being of society.
Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Mumbai to Naval Tata and Sooni Tata. He went to Cornell University to study architecture and structural engineering in 1959 and briefly worked with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles before returning to India in 1962.
Ratan Tata joined the Tata Group in 1962 and his first job was to work with the Tata Steel division in Jamshedpur. In 1975, he completed a management course at Harvard Business School.
In 1991, Ratan Tata took over as the chairman of the Tata Group.
At a time, when globalisation was a new concept in India, Ratan Tata took the lead with big acquisitions to take his group global.
Beginning with Tata Tea's acquisition of Tetley in 2000, he went on to acquire about 36 companies in just 9 years. The most noteworthy acquisitions to date in India have been the Tetley acquisition by Tata Tea, Tata Steel's takeover of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus and the acquisition of British automobile major Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors.
His Net worth
Ratan Tata’s net worth was estimated to be Rs 3,500 crore last year according to IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List. He was ranked as the 433rd richest person in the country, which could be surprising to know for many. The reason behind his low ranking is the large-scale philanthropic work that he does through the trusts and charity institutions managed by Tata Group.
Charities
Ratanji Tata, the younger son of Jamsetji Tata was the main contributor to the charity work done by the Tata Group. He had willed a large part of his property for charitable purposes and in 1919 the Sir Ratan Tata Trust was established with a corpus of Rs 80 lakh. Today, Tata Trust exists as one of India’s oldest and most respected charity foundations.
Tata Sons are the principal promoter entity of Tata group companies and 66 percent equity shares of Tata Sons are held by philanthropic trusts, which support health, education, art and culture and other charities. Under Ratan Tata’s leadership, the Tata group has made a significant contribution towards alleviating India from contemporary issues in the field of healthcare and education among others.
