Ratan Tata, of India's Tata conglomerate, dies at age 86
October 09, 2024 at 02:25 pm EDT
Share
(Reuters) - Ratan Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who put a staid and sprawling Indian conglomerate on the global stage with a string of high-profile acquisitions, has died, Tata Group said in a statement late on Wednesday. He was 86.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Gursimran Kaur; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Chris Reese)
Ratan Tata is at the head of Tata Group, a conglomerate of hundreds of subsidiaries among these Tata steel, the fourth largest steel company in the world, Tata Motors and Tata Telecom.
He graduated from Cornell University in New York; Ratan declined a proposal from IBM to join the Tata group. He began his career in steel branch of the group, where he stayed until 1971, where he was appointed Director of National Radio & Electronics Company (NELCO), company of the Tata group. In that period the company had met many difficulties, and then he bet on a new technology. In four years, the market share of Nelco rose to 20% from 2%, but this success will be very short.
In 1975 Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister, recession hit the country, the business suffered and social movements paralyzed Nelco’s production. The crisis will be strong as Nelco is forced to close.
In 1977 Ratan was in charge of the textile factory of the group, but the latter still using old technologies and suffered the competition of new factories. Ratan proposed to start a modernize process but the group didn’t give to him a financial support. In 1985, the factory closed.
In 1986 he was appointed chairman of Tata industries, before becoming in 1991 the CEO of Tata group. He began a restructuring process in order to draw seven areas of activity, in add he invited the old managers to leave the place in benefit to younger people.
In 2000 Tata bought Tetley Tea, English tea maker, this is the start of construction of the Tata empire.
In 2007, Tata acquired for $2.6 billion the anglo-dutch group Corus, specialist in steel and aluminium, and his group became the fourth largest steel producer in the world.
In March 2008, he bought two historic brands in the automobile sector, Land Rover and Jaguar for $2.3 billion, and he became the boss of 16000 UK employees. In late 2008, the automotive industry crisis brings down the manufactures’ profits nearly 30%, for this reason Tata decides to ask to Brown’s government to save Tata motors, and he requires a bill out of one billion dollars.
Tata group, it counts now 98 subsidiaries, 300 000 employees and 3.2% of Indian GFP.
In June 2011, the market capitalization of Tata group reached 4.32 trillion rupees, or $87 billion, and it is the first Indian group.
Tata Steel Limited is an India-based global steel company with an annual crude steel capacity of approximately 35 million tons per annum. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of manufacturing and distribution of steel products across the globe. The Company and its subsidiaries have a presence across the value chain of steel manufacturing, from mining and processing iron ore and coal to producing and distributing finished products. Its products include cold rolled (Non-branded), BP sheets, Galvano, HR commercial, hot rolled pickled and oiled and hot rolled skin passed pickled and oiled, high tensile steel strapping, pre-engineered buildings, projects/ tenders, construction and projects, and full hard cold rolled. The Company's brands include MagiZinc, Ymagine, Ympress, Contiflo, Strongbox, SAB Profil, Fischer Profil, Montana, Advantica, Fischertherm, Fischerfireproof, Montanatherm, Montapanel, Swiss Panel, Holorib, Serica, MagiZinc Auto, HyperForm, HILUMIN and Colorcoat.