Ratan Naval Tata (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian
industrialist, philanthropist and former chairman of Tata Sons.
He was the chairman of Tata Group,
from 1990 to 2012, and again, as interim chairman, from October 2016 through February 2017, and
continues to head its charitable trusts
Ratan Tata was born in Bombay, now Mumbai, during the British Raj, on 28 December 1937. He is the son of Naval Tata, who was born in Surat and later adopted into the Tata family, and Sooni Tata, the niece of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata. Tata's biological grandfather, Hormusji Tata, was a member of the Tata family by blood. In 1948, when Tata was 10, his parents separated, and he was subsequently raised and adopted by Navajbai Tata, his grandmother and widow of Ratanji Tata. He has a younger brother Jimmy Tata and a half-brother, Noel Tata, from Naval Tata's second marriage with Simone Tata, with whom he was raised. He studied at the Campion School, Mumbai till the 8th class. After which, he studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, and the Riverdale Country School in New York City, which he graduated from in 1955. After graduating from high school, Tata enrolled in Cornell University, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1959. In 2008, Tata gifted Cornell $50 Million, becoming the largest international donor in the university's history.
In the 1970s, Tata was given a managerial position in the Tata group. He achieved initial success by
turning the subsidiary National Radio and Electronics (NELCO) around, only to see it collapse during an
economic slowdown.In 1991, J. R. D. Tata stepped down as chairman of Tata Sons, naming him his
successor.
During the 21 years Tata led the Tata Group, revenues grew over 40 times, and profit over 50 times.
When he took over the company, sales overwhelmingly comprised commodity sales, but at the end of his
tenure, the majority of sales came from brands. He had Tata Tea acquire Tetley, Tata Motors
acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel acquire Corus. These acquisitions repositioned Tata from a
largely India-centric group into a global business, with over 65% of revenues coming from operations and
sales internationally.He also conceptualized and spearheaded the development of the Tata Nano car, which
helped put cars at a price-point within reach of the average Indian consumer.
Upon turning 75, Ratan
Tata resigned his executive powers in the Tata group on 28 December 2012.