Ratan Tata Biography: Interesting facts about Ratan Naval Tata
Ratan Naval Tata was born on 28th December 1937 to Naval Tata and his first wife Soonoo in Mumbai. Ratan Tata is a descendant of the Tata family and his biological grandfather and biological maternal grandmother had been related closely to the Tata family, making Ratan Tata a part of the Tata family by birth. Ratan Tata’s father Naval Tata was adopted by Ratanji Tata when he was 13 years old. Ratanji Tata was the son of Jamsetji Tata, the man who found the Tata Group. Ratan Tata’s parents split up in 1948, while he was 10 years old. Ratan Tata was then raised by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata. Navajbai Tata, the widow of Ratanji Tata formally adopted Ratan Tata from the J.N Petit Parsi Orphanage. Ratan Tata was raised alongside his half-brother Noel Tata, who is Naval Tata’s son from his second marriage. Ratan Tata’s first language is Gujarati.
Ratan Tata never married and during one of his interviews stated that he came close to marrying four times, but backed out because of different reasons each time. He also disclosed in an interview that he fell in love with a girl in Los Angeles but since he had to move back to India and the girls’ family did not allow her to move to India, so he decided to stay true to his commitment of never getting married.
Ratan Tata early education
Ratan Naval Tata studied at the Campion School in Mumbai till Class 8th and then moved to Cathedral and then to John Connon School. Ratan Tata also studied at the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. In the year 1955, Ratan Tata graduated from the Riverdale Country School, New York City. Ratan Tata also pursued architecture and in 1959, he got his degree in architecture from Cornell University. Ratan Tata also attended an Advanced Management Program from the Harvard Business School in the year 1975.
Ratan Tata has made some remarkable contributions in making the Tata Group a globalized business, a vision he turned into reality. Ratan Tata joined the company in 1961 and started working on the shop floor of Tata Steel. Ratan Tata also got Tata Tea to acquire London-based Tetley Tea in 2000 for $431.3 million. Apart from the acquisition of Tetley Tea, Ratan Tata also went on to acquire some other major brands across the world, like, Daewoo Motors of South Korea, Corus Group, the Anglo-Dutch Steel manufacturer in 2007. In the subsequent year, Ratan Tata took over Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company for $2.3 Bn and the deal became the largest ever deal signed by an Indian automotive.
Interesting facts about Ratan Naval Tata
Here is all you need to know about Ratan Tata’s professional life.
Ratan Tata took over the charge of Tata Group in the year 1991 after Jamshedji Tata stepped down and named Ratan Tata as his successor. Ratan Tata worked in different businesses of the Tata Group and gained experience. In 1971, Ratan Tata was named as the Chairman of National Radio and Electronics Co., however, the company had to be shut down during an economic slowdown which was witnessed soon after. Ratan Tata faced a lot of criticism and resistance after he took charge as the Chairman of the Tata Group. While innovation was given priority along with younger talents, Ratan Tata also set a retirement age for the ones who rose to fame and grew to become successful names in the industry. After managing the roles and responsibilities of the Tata Group for 21 years, Ratan Tata resigned and then began a crisis for the next chairman.
During his tenure of 21 years, Ratan Tata took the Tata Group from being an Indian-centric business to a global business, and the revenue of the group soar under his leadership. In 2008, Ratan Tata also announced the Tata Nano project and explained his vision for this project. Apart from this, Ratan Tata is widely acknowledged and known for his role as a philanthropist. Ratan Tata has always been a strong supporter of education, rural development, and medicine. Apart from his philanthropy projects in India, Ratan Tata’s projects in several other countries are known and widely regarded. He has also used his personal savings as investments in several companies including Snapdeal, CashKaro.com, Xiaomi, Dogspot, and many more.
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Interesting facts about Ratan Naval Tata
Apart from handling one of the largest conglomerate groups in India, Ratan Tata also serves as a Board member in several organizations in India and abroad. Ratan Tata also still continues to chair two trusts of Tata Group, namely, Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trust, and Sir Ratan Tata trust. Ratan Tata is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry.
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Interesting facts about Ratan Naval Tata
Ratan Tata has received numerous honours and awards for his exemplary work and contribution to the Indian industry and trade. He has been conferred with Padma Bhushan in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008, the second and the third highest civilian honours by the Government of India. He has also received numerous awards from universities abroad. Queen Elizabeth II also awarded him the Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the year 2009. In 2021, Ratan Tata was awarded the highest civilian award by the Assam government ‘Assam Baibhav’ for his outstanding contributions in furthering cancer care in Assam.
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