Indian tycoon Ratan Tata, respected for his business acumen and philanthropy, dies at 86

Ratan Tata, a pillar of India's proud but dwindling Zoroastrian Parsi community, who led the Tata Group for decades, died in a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday night, aged 86. His years at the helm of a family business empire founded under British colonial rule saw the Tata Group expand its global footprint. Back home, Tata was renowned for his group's myriad charity projects.

Industrialist Ratan Tata, who has died aged 86, was credited with transforming India's Tata Group into a globally renowned conglomerate with a portfolio ranging from software to sports cars.

A painfully shy student, he planned to be an architect and was working in the United States when his grandmother, who raised him, asked him to return home and join the sprawling family business.

He started out in 1962, staying in a hostel for apprentices and working on the shop floor near blast furnaces.

"It was terrible at that time but if I look back at it, it's been a very worthwhile experience because I have spent years hand-in-hand with the workers," he recounted in a rare interview.

Tata took over the family empire in 1991, riding the wave of the radical free-market reforms that the Indian government unleashed that year.

His 21 years in charge saw the salt-to-steel conglomerate expand its global footprint to include British luxury brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover.

(AFP)


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