Top 10 Interesting facts about Ratan Tata
Ratan Tata’s father Naval Tata was the adopted son of Ratanji Tata and Navajbai Tata. Earlier Naval Tata was growing in J.N. Petit Parsi Orphanage. Navajbai Tata, the grandmother of Ratan Tata was very fond of him. Naval was biologically related to Tata as his biological maternal grandmother was the sister of Hirabai Tata, wife of Jamshedji Tata & his biological grandfather Hormusji Tata belonged to a broader Tata family.
Born in 1937, Ratan Tata is the great-grandson of Jamsetji Tata who founded the Tata Group. His parents got separated in 1948 when he was just 10. He was raised by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata.
Ratan Tata studied at Cornell University College of Architecture and completed an Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975.
Ratan Tata used to shovel limestone.In 1961, Ratan Tata joined Tata Steel. His job was to operate the blast furnace & shovel limestone.
Ratan Naval Tata loves dogs
Since the days of JRD Tata, the Bombay House, the Headquarters of Tata Sons has a tradition of letting stray dogs in during rains. After its recent renovation, the Bombay house now has a kennel for stray dogs. This kennel is equipped with toys, play area, water and food. Continuing the tradition, Ratan Tata has an extreme love for dogs . He has two pet dogs that he takes care so fondly namely Tito and Maximus.
Ratan Tata is man of words.
Man of Words
In 2009, Ratan Tata promised to make the cheapest car that can be afforded by the middle classes. When they started manufacturing Nano cars the expense was more than the selling price. But Ratan Tata kept his promise & not increased the price.
Championed some historical mergers
Ratan Tata accomplished some historical mergers for his company including Land Rover Jaguar with Tata Motors, Tetly with Tata Tea and Corus with Tata Steel. All these mergers played a significant role in the Tata Group’s phenomenal growth.
Car lover:
Ratan Tata is very fond of cars. He has a collection of Ferrari California, Cadillac XLR, Land Rover Freelander, Chrysler Sebring, Honda Civic, Mercedes Benz S-Class, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes Benz 500 SL, Jaguar F-Type, Jaguar CFTR & many other exquisite motors.
Ratan Tata is a skilled pilot:
Ratan Tata loves flights and flying. He is a skilled pilot. Ratan Tata was the first Indian to pilot F-16 Falcon in 2007.
Donated $50 million to Harvard Business School:
In 2010, Ratan Tata pooled up a sum of $50 million to construct an executive centre for the Harvard Business School from where he received his collegiate education. The hall was named Tata Hall.
The group also donated Rs 950 million to Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and created the Tata Center for Technology and Design (TCTD) to further innovation in engineering.
The Tata Group, under his leadership, endowed a scholarship fund of $28 million towards Cornell University to provide aid to undergraduate students from India.
He became the chairman of the Tata Group in 1991 and he took the conglomerate to new heights. During his 21 year tenure, the revenues of Tata Group grew over 40 times and the profit increased over 50 times.
Ratan Tata is unmarried. He has admitted that he came close to marrying four times, but could not go through with it for various reasons.
Ratan Tata is also well known for his philanthropic work which has earned him several awards and recognition, not just in India but globally. For his immeasurable contributions towards national building, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan by the government of India.