The death of Ratan Tata, heir to an industrial empire and Indian icon

Leader of the Tata family empire for two decades, Ratan Tata died at the age of 86, after transforming the group into a powerful conglomerate, omnipresent in the daily lives of Indians.

One expression perfectly sums up the power of the Tata group in India, and its influence on the life of the country: it is said that we can “live using only Tata products and services“. It is true that it is difficult to escape the presence of the brand and its countless subsidiaries in the daily life of the most populous country in the world, where the disappearance of Ratan Tata, Tuesday October 9, 2024, triggered a shower of tributes, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bollywood star, actor Salman Khan.

To give you an idea of ​​the juggernaut that the Tata group represents, the conglomerate has nearly a million employees in India, spread across more than 50 companies, also present in around a hundred countries around the world. Activities as diverse as steel, automobiles, energy, real estate, tea, airplanes and even household appliances. From the washing machine to the salt placed on the table, including the car or home insurance, Tata is everywhere in the lives of Indians, and alone, the company represents 6% of Indian GDP.

This power and scale owe a lot to Ratan Tata, who took control of the group in 1991, and who brought it into the era of globalization. He diversified his activities, establishing himself well beyond the country’s borders, and acquiring symbols that can be seen as snubs at British colonization: the Tetley brand in 2000 or the legendary car manufacturer Jaguar in 2008, integrated into Tata Motors. Tata also owns the leading digital services company in Asia, and is one of the heavyweights in telephony and the Internet.

Having withdrawn from the direct affairs of the group for several years to devote himself to philanthropic activities, Ratan Tata follows in the lineage of the great leaders of an emblematic family in India. Legend has it that he started out in the group as an apprentice, alongside workers in the steel production blast furnaces. He will retain an image of modesty and integrity, at the head of a giant intimately linked to national history. Jamshedji Nasarwandji Tata, founder of the company in 1868, had a dream, to build the country’s first steelworks, and help build the Indian nation. Some 150 years later, the Tata group is inseparable from the economic and social takeoff of the most populous country in the world.