Indian tycoon Ratan Tata dies

Ratan Tataone of India’s most influential business leaders, has died aged 86 in a Mumbai hospital, according to the Tata Group, the conglomerate he led for more than two decades.

As President of the Tata Group, he was the architect of the conglomerate’s global expansion, making it one of the largest and most respected in the world, with annual revenues exceeding US$100 billion. His tenure was marked by a series of high-profile and strategic acquisitions that significantly raised the group’s global profile. Among the most notable movements are the purchase of Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus, the acquisition of iconic British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover, and the purchase of Tetley, the world’s second largest tea company.

. These actions not only diversified the group’s portfolio, but also placed it among the elite of multinational conglomerates.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekharan confirmed Tata’s death and called him a “friend, mentor and mentor” in a statement.

Tata was admitted to the intensive care unit at Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Tata as a visionary, compassionate leader and an extraordinary human being. “He has provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses. At the same time, his contribution went far beyond the boardrooms,” the prime minister said on social network X.

After graduating from Cornell University with a degree in architecture, Ratan Tata returned to India and in 1962 began working for the group that his great-grandfather had founded almost a century earlier.

He worked for several companies, including Telco, now Tata Motors, as well as Tata Steel, and later achieved success by cutting losses and increasing market share in the group’s National Radio & Electronics Company division.

In 1991, he took over the conglomerate when his uncle J.R.D. Tata resigned. The transfer of power came just as India embarked on sweeping reforms that would open up its economy to the world and usher in an era of great growth.

In 1996, he founded the telecommunications company Tata Teleservices and In 2004, Tata Consultancy Services, the goose that lays the group’s golden eggs, went public.

But in order to grow properly, the group decided that it needed to expand beyond India’s borders. It was “a commitment to growth and changing the ground rules to say we can grow through acquisitions, which is something we’ve never done before,” he said in a 2013 interview with Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The group bought British tea company Tetley in 2000 for $432 million and Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus in 2007 for $13 billion at the time. largest acquisition of a foreign company by an Indian company.

In 2008, Tata Motors acquired British luxury car brands. Jaguar and Land Rover Ford Motor Company for $2.3 billion.

Ratan Tata, a certified pilot who flew company aircraft from time to time, never married and was known for his calm demeanor, relatively modest lifestyle and philanthropic work.

About two-thirds of the share capital of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company, is held by philanthropic trusts.

(According to AP and Reuters)