Ratan Tata, the previous chair of India’s oldest conglomerate, and of Tata Metal and Jaguar Land Rover, has died aged 86.
Tata Sons chair Natarajan Chandrasekaran confirmed Mr Tata had died and described him as his “friend, mentor, and guide” in an announcement.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Mr Tata was “a visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being”.
“He provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses. At the same time, his contribution went far beyond the boardroom,” he mentioned on X.
“He endeared himself to several people thanks to his humility, kindness and an unwavering commitment to making our society better.”
Mr Tata labored in a number of Tata corporations, together with Telco, now Tata Motors Ltd, in addition to Tata Metal Ltd, earlier than taking the helm in 1991 and working the conglomerate for greater than 20 years.
In 2000 Mr Tata was given the Padma Bhushan, one in all India’s most distinguished civilian awards.
He additionally acquired the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, in 2008 for distinctive and distinguished service in commerce and trade.
Tata Group, a sprawling assortment of almost 100 corporations, employs greater than 350,000 folks worldwide.
In 2000 the group purchased tea agency Tetley for $432m (£331m) and in June 2008 it purchased Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3bn (£1.8bn).
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Ratan Tata with Jaguar’s C-X16 automotive in 2012. Pic: Reuters
‘He deeply cared about making India better’
Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned Mr Tata left behind “an extraordinary business and philanthropic legacy” and mentioned he was “instrumental in mentoring and developing the modern business leadership in India”.
“He deeply cared about making India better,” he mentioned.
UK Enterprise Secretary Jonathan Reynolds described Mr Tata as “a titan of the business world and someone who played a huge role in shaping British industry”.
Tata was integral to industrial aviation in India when it launched an airline in 1932, which later grew to become Air India and was taken over by the federal government.
Tata Group then purchased state-owned Air India in 2021 and began a full-service service, Vistara, with Singapore Airways, which lately merged with Air India.
After stepping again from Tata Group, Mr Tata grew to become a distinguished investor in Indian startups.
