Ratan Tata | Indian Businessman — Success stories
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One of the most well-known and respected industrialists in India, Ratan Naval Tata is the Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Group. At the age of 73, Tata heads one of the country’s largest conglomerates which comprise nearly 100 firms with revenues totalling about USD 67 billion. He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Teleservices. Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, and The Indian Hotels Company.
Upon assuming leadership of the conglomerate, Tata aggressively sought to expand it, and increasingly he focused on globalizing its businesses. In 2000 the group acquired London-based Tetley Tea for $431.3 million, and in 2004 it purchased the truck-manufacturing operations of South Korea’s Daewoo Motors for $102 million. In 2007 Tata Steel completed the biggest corporate takeover by an Indian company when it acquired the giant Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus Group for $11.3 billion.
Family and childhood
Being the son of Naval Tata, Ratan Tata actually is not a direct descendant of the Tata family. He has been adopted from an orphanage known as the J.N. Petit Parsi Orphanage by his grandmother Navajbai Tata. Both his father and mother, Naval and Sonoo got separated in the year 1948. Back then, Ratan Tata was just ten years and his younger brother Jimmy was seven.
Both the brothers were looked after and raised by the grandmother. Ratan Tata has a step-brother too. He is the first son of his father Naval and stepmother Simone Tata. His mother tongue is Gujarati.
