Ratan Tata

You may wonder why the Tatas — among the country's biggest and most illustrious industrial families for well over a century — never show up on any of those ritual listings of India's richest people. The reason is as simple as it is remarkable. Over generations, the Tatas have sustained a tradition of bequeathing much of their personal wealth to the many trusts they have created for the greater good of India and its people.

Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Bombay. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from Cornell University in 1962. Ratan Tata had a short stint with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles, California, before returning to India in late 1962. He joined the Tata Group and was assigned to various companies before being appointed director-in-charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company (NELCO) in 1971. Ratan Tata was appointed Chairman of Tata Industries in 1981. He was assigned the task of transforming the company into a Group strategy think-tank, and a promoter of new ventures in high technology businesses.

His words, ‘a promise is a promise is a promise’, went in history as golden words when the Tata Nano debuted at the 9th annual Auto Expo on January 10, 2008. Despite of facing heaps of political as well as social pressure in West Bengal, the Tatas showcased their character and delivered the car at the committed price of 1 lakh.
Ratan Tata has his own capital in Tata Sons, the holding company of the group. His share is around 1%, valuing his personal holding at approximately US$ 1 Billion.

About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamshedji Tata. Ratan Tata is on the board of trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, giving him significant influence on the board of Tata Sons, despite his minority personal shareholding.

After the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Forbes opined Ratan Tata be brought into politics, calling him India’s most respected business leader.