Tata, The Titan: A Tribute To India's Business Royalty

Just to watch the outpourings of public figures on the passing of Ratan Tata may be so humbling for anyone. In the minds of most people he symbolised Indian industry. I grew up when Tata-Birla meant business. Then we saw the emergence of Ambani and Adani. But Tata remained the ultimate Indian business royalty!

When I joined Roche as a CIO in Basel, Switzerland, my budget was in multiples of TCS revenue and I wrote to RNT a half page letter sharing my opinion at the time. Within days I received a letter from him and the sheer speed surprised me.

Later I requested Minoo Mody, who as the CEO of Tata Sons, competed with Ratan to chair it and lost,  to chair my first entry into kind of business, the James Martin & Co. Friends warned me of the risk it may put us with the Tatas. Being young, I didn’t care and learnt a great deal from Minoo though the war between the two surprised me.

My meetings with Ratan were mostly incidental and each one of them left me thinking of his style, humility, confidence and in the moment presence.

One of the surprising, humorous and memorable episodes of my life will be how I got mistaken for him, or one of his family,  in Boston. Within weeks of my first visit to the U.S. and joining the Fletcher School, one of my classmates who came from some wealth took me to Ritz Carlton and in 1984 we had a $100 meal that my friend treated me to. But I began liking the place and it became my favourite haunt ever since..

Once, landing in Boston, I told my partner to head off to Ritz. Reaching there I saw some change and a new name Taj had replaced Ritz. As I stopped and the valet approached me, I was on the phone talking to someone, and the valet asked me how should he address me, precisely at the moment I said the word Tata to the person on the phone, referring to Tata buying Ritz.

That was an unusual evening for me. I began noticing a change in the behaviour of people around me. I was lucky to get my favorite table. But I couldn’t get over the feeling that something had changed. I saw US Senator Chris Dodd smiling at me with seemingly an extra effort, and it felt like the world around me was trying to be nicer to me than I was used to..

Then it was the time to pay the bills. I asked for the check and my waiter politely said: “that won’t be necessary, Mr Tata”! I didn’t want to disappoint him and simply thanked him and left a $100 tip in the honour of the Tata who I was mistaken for and wondered how RNT lives such moments every moment..

That man passed today. He wasn’t an accountant. He became a visionary. His companies may not have made profit in the beginning, he made his business global. He tried making a car, though without success, that would target those who couldn’t imagine owning one.

Today Tata is a global brand from India. And Ratan has had more than just something to do with. Past 3 decades of Indian industry may easily be seen as the Ratan Tata era of Indian industry. The respect he earned among the businessmen is non-pareil.. RIP Mr Tata!