New Delhi/Mumbai: Ratan Naval Tata, the former Tata Group chairman whose charisma and business acumen transformed the staid group into India's largest and most influential conglomerate with a string of big deals, died at the age of 86 in Mumbai.
The hallmark of Tata, who was chairman of the salt to software group for more than two decades was making an Indian company made a renowned brand in foreign shores. He was undergoing treatment at south Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital where he died at 11.30 pm.
The Padma Vibhushan recipient was in intensive care at the hospital since Monday. A top official of the Mumbai police was the first to inform of his death, followed by a confirmation by Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran who called Tata "a truly uncommon leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation".
Educated at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, the veteran industrialist worked on the shop floor at the family-run group after returning to India in 1962. He gained experience in several Tata Group firms before being named director in charge of one of them, the National Radio and Electronics Co. in 1971.
He became chairman of Tata Industries a decade later and in 1991 took over as the chairman of the Tata Group from his uncle, JRD, who had been in charge for more than half a century. Under his stewardship, the conglomerate embarked on a massive expansion drive, snapping iconic British assets including steelmaker Corus and luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover.
Its two-and-half-dozen listed firms now make coffee and cars, salt and software, steel and power, run airlines and introduced India's first super app. It recently forayed into chip making and is planning an iPhone assembly plant. The conglomerate ended with USD 165 billion in revenue in the last fiscal.