Ratan Tata's story is of a man who overcame extraordinary travails and whose compassion took priority over business compulsions, uniquely achieving both goals. As the head of India's oldest and largest business house, his story is also the narrative of India's growing ambitions on the world stage and rising clout in the last few decades.
Ratan Tata turned the Tata conglomerate into a global colossus, daring to acquire the marquee brands of Tetley Tea, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus Steel, among others. Today, the group is India's most valuable brand and amongst the most respected worldwide, with a market capitalization of over $250 billion that employs over 750,000 people – who make cars, blend tea, write software, among much else – across 100 countries.
During his momentous tenure, Ratan Tata transformed the Tata Group from a collection of disparate companies into a unified powerhouse. Today, it is one of the world's largest business conglomerates and is greatly admired for its compassionate capitalism and trusteeship model of holding wealth.
Dr Mathew's comprehensive account of Ratan Tata's life includes unknown details and fascinating stories from his formative years, the time he spent in America as a student, his return to India and his early tenure with the Tata Group. It leads up to the inspiring and engaging documentation of Mr Tata's business strategies, leadership vision and personal integrity that have shaped the Group.
With inputs from a variety of interviewees – from the likes of Henry Kissinger to Karuna, the janitor at GT Hospital, Mumbai – this is the only comprehensive, definitive and authorized account of Mr Tata's life and times, his struggles and his important contributions to contemporary India. What emerges is the story of a private individual, a great industrialist and a remarkable leader who steadfastly believes, above all, in the values that he inherited, and who spent his life in the service of his fellow humans and a fledgling nation.
