HE PRESIDES OVER the largest Indian multinational conglomerate. The salt-tosoftware Tata group is spreading its tentacles far and wide, with mergers and acquisitions spicing up its global operations. The last couple of years have proved vital for the group, under the stewardship of an aggressive yet down-to-earth chairman Ratan Tata. A mind-blowing $12 billion deal, India’s largest-ever cross-border transaction, by group company Tata Steel to acquire the UK’s Corus, has raised the bar for Indian corporates scouring for takeovers abroad A few more high-voltage takeovers by the group are in the offing, including the buyout of Ford’s two crown brands - Jaguar and Land Rover - by Tata Motors, another group company. The man, who doesn’t figure in any of the billionaires’ lists just because the holding company Tata Sons is owned by two charitable trusts, is today the most respected Indian businessman. He is also right at the top so far as the ranking of businessmen for reliability and integrity is concerned.

He is selling the ‘India story’ abroad like never before. “The Indian economy has continued its trend of robust growth on the back of strong performance in key industrial sectors,” says Tata. “While inflationary concerns last year prompted a correction in interest rates, which could lead to a slowdown in consumer demand, the fundamentals of the economy continue to remain strong and the long-term outlook for the economy continues to be positive.” The man, who scripted a huge success out of India’s first indigenously-built passenger car, the Indica, amidst growing competition from foreign auto giants, is now set to take markets by storm by launching a Rs1 lakh (Rs100,000, or about $2440) car.“The small car will be a never-before-undertaken project which will hopefully create a new paradigm in the aspirational fulfilment of the lower-income segment of the people of India, Asia and Africa,” says a confident Tata, who is now aiming high.

Tata Steel, after the Corus acquisition, has emerged as the sixth largest steel-manufacturer in the world. It is also the lowest cost steel producer in the world, catering mainly to the domestic market, and has a competitive advantage of captive iron ore mines and collieries. On the other hand, Corus has state-of-the-art plants located in the UK and Netherlands producing mainly high-end products, with a strong research and development capabilities. “The combination of these two entities will give Tata Steel access to highly developed and competitive markets of Europe, a strong product portfolio and state-of-the-art technology in manufacturing,” adds Tata. His ‘global’ ambitions have probably stemmed from his long-cherished dreams - of creating a bigger stage for India abroad. “We had set ourselves certain goals, chief among which was to go global not just to increase our turnover but to go to places where we could create a meaningful presence, where we, as the Tatas, would participate in the development of the country,” explains Ratan Tata. “We have endeavoured to play that role in places such as South Africa, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Singapore. Over the next 5-7 years, we will have to start looking seriously and strategically at creating brand awareness for ourselves in new geographies, and at how we are going to grow our businesses commercially and strategically in these regions.”


Even as the group makes frequent strides abroad, Tata, who is a known philanthropist, advocates for the downtrodden.
“While we grow, we must not forget the fact that there are numerous people living below the poverty line, especially in rural areas,” he notes. “Both the public and private sectors have a great deal to look forward to. But they also have a great deal of responsibility towards society at large.” Corporate planning, he feels, should embody responsibility besides laying down a path for profit maximisation. THE TATAGROUP has indeed lived up to his words. Tata Tea, for instance, sold its entire plantation in south India to its workers. Tata Tea buys tea from the company which is currently owned and managed by workers. It worked out a similar package for the northeastern plantations as well, by de-merging and handing over the management to a new company, partly owned by workers’ trust.

“Once the workers became owners, the plantations made a profit. A true win-win situation on both sides,” says the group chairman. Whether it’s IT, power, telecom, automobiles, steel, tea, coffee, salt and software, Tata is growing fast in every sphere. The man presiding over this diverse bunch of industries was born in 1937 and joined the group in 1962 after completing BSc (architecture) from Cornell. He subsequently completed the Advanced Management Programme conducted by Harvard Business School in 1975. Appointed director of radio manufacturer Nelco in 1971, he rose through the ranks to become chairman of the group holding company, Tata Industries, in little over a decade - in 1982.

Tata took over the chairmanship of Tata Sons, the group’s apex holding company in 1991. Within a few years, the soft-spoken Tata had established unquestioned authority over the diverse group. Tata’s tenure as executive chairman, which began in 1991, was marked by a huge transformation in the fortunes of the century-old House of Tatas.
He also spearheaded an aggressive foray into telecom, which is emerging as one of the core businesses for the group. During the same period, the group also exited non-core businesses, such as soap making (by selling Tomco to Unilever) and cement (by selling Tata’s stake in ACC to Gujarat Ambuja). He began his foreign jaunt almost a decade ago. The debut purchase of the UK tea brand Tetley in 1999 was followed by Eight O’Clock Coffee of the US, Singapore’s NatSteel and Millennium Steel of Thailand, a few years ago. His passion and interest in high-technology led the group into a series of alliances with international giants such as IBM, Honeywell, Unisys and Elxsi. The now-listed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), of course, has been a spectacular success. It has emerged as India’s leading software company.

He has never looked back since taking over at the helm of the group. Its 234,000-plus employees (without adding Corus) across 96 operating companies of the group, the largest employer in India’s private sector, are part of a loyal family - called the Tata group. Last financial year (2006-07) had been one of the most important milestones for the group. “Economic conditions during the year continued to be buoyant around the world,” points out Tata. “Asia has continued to be the prime mover of growth, with China once again dominating the world economic scene. India was not far behind. With the Indian economy growing at 9.4 per cent in the year under review, it is expected that the current year as well will see India’s GDP growing at around 9 per cent,” he adds. Whether it’s steel, automobiles or telecom, the group is going to face severe competition in every sphere.

“With intense global competition, the challenges will be great but with the spirit, commitment and dedication displaced by employees at all levels, these challenges will continue to be met and overcome,” he explains, reflecting his optimism about the future.