From The Economist :

Face value
The shy architect

Jan 11th 2007
From The Economist print edition

Ratan Tata has transformed India's biggest company, and done it alone

CASTING about for someone to run a big family firm when a successful tyrant is due to retire is usually a troublesome business. When the firm is still controlled by the same family that founded it back when John D. Rockefeller was gobbling up refineries in Cleveland, it becomes still more daunting. Add the fact that the ruling family are Parsees, a small Zoroastrian sect who have been intermarrying in India for over a thousand years, and the odds of finding someone who is up to the job lengthen again.

Yet after indifferent early reviews, Ratan Tata has transformed the Tata group, of which he is chairman. When he took over from his uncle, J.R.D. Tata, it was a cumbersome conglomerate with stakes in a huge collection of companies that seemed likely to wither in the face of foreign competition. Now it makes foreign acquisitions and ventures into unfamiliar markets. Tata Steel's bidding war with CSN, a Brazilian firm, over Corus, an Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, is just one example of the once-staid group's new boldness. Mr Tata was recently voted Indian of the year by viewers of an Indian television channel, beating both Sachin Tendulkar, India's greatest cricketer, and Aishwarya Rai, the country's most famous screen goddess. And he has succeeded partly because he is what his friends call an individualist, and others might call a loner.

Mr Tata does not like publicity and avoids the platforms and applause of conferences. He lives frugally, does not drink or smoke and seems baffled by the idea of time spent not working. Asked what he would do with it, he usually replies that he would walk his dog along the beach near Mumbai. He does not seem to be motivated by money, and talks constantly about fairness and doing the right thing. “I want to be able to go to bed at night and say that I haven't hurt anybody,” Mr Tata says twice in the course of an interview at a hotel in New Delhi owned by the sprawling group.

Mr Tata became chairman in 1991, just as India's economy was opening up. His uncle, who had run Tata for more than 50 years, had started Tata Airlines (which became Air India) and was to India what Gianni Agnelli of Fiat was to Italy. He was a good-looking philanthropist with a French wife and held the first pilot's licence to be issued in India. His shy and unglamorous nephew, in contrast, trained as an architect at Cornell University, slipped quietly into the family firm and was not marked out for the succession even when his uncle was due to bow out.

Despite all the glory that surrounded J.R.D., when he retired in 1991, Tata was a group of companies ill-equipped to deal with the changes about to sweep through India. It earned most of its money in old-fashioned industries that had grown fat during the centrally planned “licence raj”, when the government set limits on how much firms were allowed to produce and protected them from foreign competitors. The stakes held by the family in many of the 300-odd companies in the group were tiny, and the main Tata businesses were run as independent fiefs by men much older than Mr Tata.

They might have expected Mr Tata, who had never held an executive position, to leave them alone. Instead, he retired them, improving their pensions to soften the blow. He sold stakes in some companies and used cash from the sales and revenue from Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT firm, to shore up control of those that remained. There are now a mere 96 companies in the group, and Tata Sons now owns at least 26% of each of them. That has made the portfolio a little easier to manage, but it leaves Mr Tata more isolated at the top.

Shortly after he became group chairman, Mr Tata also decided that Tata Motors would make its own cars, even though a joint venture with a foreign firm would have been easier. Critics grumbled that a good truck business was about to be destroyed for the sake of an ill-conceived vanity project. But after a difficult start, Tata Motors is now India's second-biggest carmaker by sales. “If he had listened to what everyone told him, he would never have done it,” notes one of Mr Tata's friends.

First, do no harm

Although he has made Tata's big businesses more competitive and more inclined to look beyond India's borders—Corus would be just the latest in a series of foreign acquisitions—Mr Tata has also run it in keeping with Tata's public-spirited tradition. Two-thirds of Tata Sons is owned by charitable trusts that do good works in India, and the firm is known for refusing to pay bribes and for treating workers well. (The children of Tata's steelworkers were given free education back in 1917.) Foreign investors sometimes wonder if this is good for business. “At first I didn't have an answer,” Mr Tata says. “But then I asked myself: am I competitive? Yes. And this is the way companies are moving.”

Mr Tata's latest car project—producing a vehicle that will sell for under $3,000—combines two of the things that keep him from those walks along the beach: securing the fortunes of the family group and pleasing a highly developed sense of fairness. The factory will be in communist-run West Bengal, a state chosen partly because it is in need of industrial development. West Bengal's government is eager for the investment, but Tata Motors has faced protesting farmers, a politician on hunger strike and, Mr Tata thinks, commercial rivals trying to prevent the birth of a more affordable car. Tata Motors is sticking it out, and expects to secure the land to build its new plant at the end of the month.

Mr Tata, who has no children, is due to retire in December 2012, when he reaches 75. That will leave the group with a familiar succession problem. Meanwhile, he is heading the government's investment commission, which works to increase foreign investment. And he may be about to create one of the largest steelmakers in the world. Not bad for a shy architect.

“I want to be able to go to bed at night and say that I haven't hurt anybody”

exactly my philosophy! i dunno about my success rate though :-)

“If he had listened to what everyone told him, he would never have done it”

i share the same view. :p...not that i am boasting here to become next Ratan Tata ni pheri, but if you truly and deeply feel what you're doing is right, then just go for it.


talking of steel tycoons, another name that pops up in my head is LaxmiMittal , the richest person in europe and third richest in the world. i saw his interview few months back in a TV show. got quite impressed by how he struggled as a simple buisinessman-next-door in his early years and how he later transformed into one of the most powerful personalities. it's truly inspiring and breathtaking.

thanks for sharing captain, my pal:)

LooTe

Well, Sorry to butt in here. Tatas, Biralas , Ambanis(relatively new), Bajajs, these are the Indian Bussiness houses which are worth saluting, specially the pioneers of these houses .
Laxmi Mittal, we should admire him for what he is now. But my admiration for him slowly faded away after his daughter's extravagant marriage ceremony which took place in one of the palaces of Paris. The money spent on this senseless spectacle might have saved the lives of millions, but this man of Indian Origin chose to flaunt his wealth in that blatant manner..Not only this , several of his actions gives the impression that he still has that one of the typical working class Indian Mentality .

These people are not just an entrepreneurs but they are the social entrepreneurs as well.They could easily set an example in the society,act as a change agents of the society in order to improve systems, but here he set a totally different example for his Fellow Indians who are already living in the society effected by dowry and other stuffs.

Of course he can easily justify the wedding and the amount spent on it like Clinton in his memoirs by saying ,' I DID IT JUST BECAUSE I COULD'
Shame on such Entrepreneurs!

Mittal sure can learn a bit to learn from Tata it seems :)

You got some strong feelings there,eh, Cleo?

I do agree with cleopatra. I did watch that wedding clips sometime back and I was saying the same as you have said. Well....I guess this is what I say God balances in all aspect of life. After having everything he never thought about this issue. He somehow seems weak in his walk of life to do the right thing in the nick of time. Other wise he seems very gentle person. I hope in the future when the time comes he will do the right thing so that he can say “I want to be able to go to bed at night and say that I haven't hurt anybody” as Ratan TATA. One of my great men, of 21 century.

I dunno much about Tatas, however my economics teacher was full of stories about Senior Bajaj.I grew up admiring that personality who was in fact the perfect social entreprenur or in better words ,he was a person the industy labors could look up to , he was the boss worth working for.
To ride on one of those Bajaj scooter owned by Suddies was my wildest dream & I did fulfill it. It was the most wonderful joyride I ever had till date.I am thankful to all those Bajaj Fans which helped me to survive the Indian Heat.Haha!

With Ambanis, my admiration dropped to negative when the brothers put up a show by fighting with each other rite after the death of their father.I hated the headlines their daughter in laws are making in the socialites circle of India with their Flamboyant life style, the same applies to Biralas & Godrejs.

Well ,it will be out of context to say this but the one another Indian Personality I admire who was in fact the daughter of Nepal was Late Rajmata of Gwalior (Our very own Devyani's maternal Grandmother). She was THE WOMAN, in every reason,the woman who was elegant yet simple. She defined her own class.

cleo,
i agree. but one act alone cannot make a person- who literally started from scratch, struggled and reached to the stauture where he actually is- shameful, haina ra?

just look at the number of people being able to earn their living from mittal & mittal - it's in millions! that alone is a great service to the society a person can cater.

just a thought. i know you are quite strong with your opinion :P
LooTe

Cleo! this time you really got me with that eloquent discourse.
Hi5 to you. BTW, what your email address? ;P

I heard Shah Rukh Khan, the awkward suparistar was paid to be a nautanki dancer for that wedding and mind you he will be immortalized in the house of wax at Madame Tussauds soon (It's official). What a shame?? I can't believe Shah Rukh Khan looks even uglier than me but hey I don't grace the silver screen therefore.

Lootu,
The service you are talking about comes from Default, he is because they are,if you look at it from the other side. They are working for HIM, and millions of Indian eyes are on him. So when you reach certain point you should be more careful with your actions because it not just effects ones life but millions of others are indirectly being influenced by the action.
So being Sajha Celebrity you should take this in account too.:P
Personal Note: Maiyya haru ko dialogue khana pugyo, lunch time ma lunch nakhayera

well,
i do understand what you're saying. for sure, i did not admire laxmi mittal for the colossal amount he could spend for one of the most lavish marriages in the history of mankind, he conducted of his daughter. i look up to him for the simple reasons: his hard-work, patience, dogged-determination and shrewdness.

it's easy to critique people for their wrongdoings, especially when they stand as high as mittal does. why blame him alone? if you really delve into our culture even a normal family end up spending more than they can actually afford to, in their marriages. mittal's daughter marriage made a huge fuss coz he was 'mittal'. it's inherent in our society and he is a part of it. i am sorry to see that even a person of his caliber and stature could not get out of it, let alone being able to discourage it.

BUT,

one cannot take anything away from him, what and how he did by himself, to stand where he is today. i admire mittal for that!

LooTe

AbsolutelyObsolete,
Thanks!
I have very very strong opinion for these so called artists.That is why I am not a diehard fan of any of them.Art is something which money should not be able to buy.But all these so called actors, actresses they are ready to sell their art for the sake of money, they are ready to dance even for Underworld Dons.I am giving the instance of the audiences who do not know how to appreciate it.
But here I don't deny the fact that they have some talent.Yeah, some of them are good with that.So, go enjoy the movie, let them entertain you and come back home of course without the poster of them to be put on walls of your room.Don't bring them in your house , let alone your life.USE AND THROW.

If ever got a chance I will scrap 90% of the collection of Tussad's.Overtime, it has turned into a junkyard.

Art comes from the free mind, mind which is free of desires(materialistic).It is a sheer work of passion.No wonder, most of the real artists starve to death .

But M.F.Hussein is one lucky chap. The interesting fact about him is that he never wears shoes or slippers, he loves to walk around bare feet.Haha!

View/Share this post only

Hmmm..
Rich and famous people talking about rich and famous people!! Quite interesting!! But I ain't no one to comment on them, as I don't know them at all!! Media portraits things differently when it comes to verry verry rich people!!
Well Money I hate that thing; cause I ain't got any..:(
Just what I think is: Who would you call rich when you don't have money with you!!!
Just some of my two paisa!!..:)
Now as I lost my remaining two paisa here, it seems I am bankrupt now!!..:(
Uthale re ba ba utahle!! Mujhko nahin, mero dui paisa line walo ko!!...:p

Lootu,
Now, I doubt in the latest technology.The news of Uk does not reach US at all or wat , or you forgot to use the sexy google search? Okay , here I go. This is only nth action in the row.Even nat Brits were shocked when he bought his new home quite close to the palace, and there are many more other examples. I am not criticizing about his personal skills. It takes a lot to reach where he is now.But with obligation comes the responsibility, but his social decisions other than the one taken inside his boardroom simply say that, he is just another Indian Money Making Machine with the same damn mentality.With years may be he learnt the tricks to spin pounds, but not his social obligations.

Oops My question went wrong there!!
Read this Who would you call rich when you don't have money with you!!!
as
Who would you call rich when there isn't any money in the world!!!..
Thank you..:)

hahaha cleo,
you seem to have been a victim of his stinginess :P, ho? get me my AK47 and i will go shoot him hehe....

well, as per my knowledge, mittal has not donated any significant amount to the charities as of now other than the 2 million dollars (?) for the tsunami victims..but he is still young and has plenty of time to make major contributions to the charities and other social services if he keeps the intent to, which i believe he does.

i agree that he may not have lived up to the expectations of many for not making genuine contribution to the charities yet, even after being one of the richest persons in the world, but one cannot force someone to be generous and i don't think social work should be burdened to one's shoulder as responsibilty. moreover, as i said, he may do it in the future. it's too early to conclude about his intent and generosity. as of now, his empire alone have served so many people around the globe and helped them to earn and make their own living.

LooTe

Mittal is donating millions to the labor party this time though in england!!! Good way to take favor from government. Or mittal is coming as a saviour for the sinking labor party or vice versa..

From Ratan Tata to Laxmi Mittal - quite a twist here :)

As for social responsibility, sure it is desired, and something to be commended, but at the same time it is also discretionary - as opposed to mandatory - otherwise it would prolly have been incorporated into the law!

Just a thought.

Laxmi Mittal doesn't have to donate anything if he does not want to. He earned the money and it is up to him to spend in anyway that pleases him. If he does donate the money to charities it should be commended as Captain said but if he decides not to then it should not be a big deal. Besides the government is taxing him to spend the money on social causes. Regarding him spending millions for his daughter's wedding, I'd love to do that for my daughter if I have that kind of money.

Money and wealth are relative terms. For a person that is living in a hut in Siraha will think that an average house with running water is like living in a palace. Similarly for the person who has a house will have a different defination when you say palace.

How many of us are willing to skip a meal per week so that we can buy some homeless a meal? I have never done it. It is always easier to say how the rich should spend their money but we have no right to that money. Similarly, if someone poorer than us comes and tells us how we need to spend our money and who we need it give it to then we don't have to listen to them either.

it was their own hardwork which made them rich.i think mittal can spend his money in whatever he wants legally.and about charities he wight have done some anonymous charities.

and some of u didnt like bollywood actors performing in his daughters wedding,what the f is wrong with u guys,they r actors,they do movis,commercial,and stage shows,whats wrong with it.it was out of world wedding so i think they r proud to be part of that ceremony.

Hey Mr Nice? (how come you use the F-word) Guy:

Did you reply to my rhetoric when you were certain that I won't be online? ;P
Very smart on your part I must accept. Still I managed to scroll down and read what you wrote.

Mittal in his interview with Simi Garewal said that what he seeks in life most is happyness (new spelling). I am sure someday he will realize that the true meaning of life is to make the world better in one way or the other. American (and some European) billionaires probably are the ones who are the most generous philanthropists to date.

As far as the bollywood stars dancing,I am not the only one who think they seems to have lost their rhythm. Kylie Minogue performing at that wedding or Michael Jackson performing for a private concert in Brunei, I approve of those since performing or recording music is their bread and butter job. But Shah Rukh’s main occupation is to act in movies and not to make a fool of himself in front of a billion TV viewers or are you a firm-believer in the notion that there is monetary price on every service in this world and are you more of a material guy than a F-word-using nice-guy?

;P