Ratan Tata steps down today after making Tata Group truly Global

Ratan Naval Tata born in December 1937, is the adopted great-grandson of Tata group founder Jamshedji Tata.  He is stepping from the helm of Tata Group today.

He has taken the business empire that was set to high standards by someone like JRD Tata to even higher levels.  Ratan Tata’s TOP 10 Achievements during his tenure at the helm of Tata Sons are the following!

TOP 10 ACHIEVEMENTS OF RATAN TATA

1. 1998: The Tata Indica, the conglomerate’s first passenger car, was launched this year. The car went on to become the No. 1 brand in its segment within two years.
2. 2000: Tata Tea, now Tata Global Beverages, acquired the Tetley group, the world’s second largest manufacturer and distributor of tea. Tetley is the largest tea company in the UK.
3. 2001: Tata AIG, a joint venture between the Tata group and American International Group Inc (AIG), marks the re-entry of the Tata group into the insurance sector. The group’s insurance company, New India Assurance, founded by Dorab Tata in 1919, was nationalised in 1956.
4. 2002: The group acquires a controlling stake in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. VSNL was founded in 1986 and was the first Indian PSU to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
5. 2003: Tata Consultancy Services became the first Indian software company to cross $1 billion in revenue. The company went public a year later.
6. 2004: Tata Motors is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company also acquires the heavy vehicles unit of Daewoo Motors the same year.
7. 2007: Tata Steel acquires Anglo-Dutch company Corus, the second-largest steel maker in Europe.
8. 2008: Tata Motors unveils the Nano, the country’s cheapest passenger car. It was initially dubbed the Rs 1 lakh car, though it now costs Rs 1.5-2 lakh.
9. 2008: Tata Motors acquires the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses from Ford, and forms a new company, Jaguar Land Rover.
10. 2012: Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks form a joint venture, Tata Starbucks Ltd, and open their first store in Mumbai.

Under his leadership, Tata truly became a Global conglomerate, with 65% of its revenues coming from abroad.  From the time that he took over as Tata Group chairman on March 25, 1991 – the Tata Group revenues @ Rs 3.46 lakh crore (Rs 3.46 trillion), have grown 40 times and Profits by 4 times.

In 1991, when he became the Chairman, Russi Mody, the other contender for the post, was very critical of him and even called him as the “Clown in a Circus”.  Ratan Tata also paved for exit of Russi Mody, someone as powerful as him, from Tata Steel.  Despite such initial bad blood, Tata Steel grew as did the Tata Group.

“Ratan Tata outperformed JRD. He toppled people as strong as Russi Mody, thought out of the box and came up with path-breaking concepts like the Nano,” says Bala V Balachandran, faculty member at Kellogg School of Management, and dean of the Great Lakes Institute of Management. (link)

Cyrus Mistry, 44 years old, from the Shapoorji Pallonji group and whose family owns 18 per cent stake in Tata Sons, will succeed him as the Chairman of the Tata Group (link).  He is not from the Tata family.  Mistry has very large shoes to fill, given Ratan Tata’s achievements and where he has taken Tata Group.  He will have to solidify Tata Group as a great Global brand in the coming, after Ratan Tata has set the foundation.

This video is the interview with Ratan Tata by Simi Grewal.