Why is Ratan Tata the global business leader I adore most ..

Global business has icons like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Elon musk and so on, there are very few globally respectable personalities and Ratan Tata is one of them.

Indian billionaire industrialist Ratan Tata (Harvard 1995, Cornell 1959) was heading the Tata Sons business empire from 1991 to 2012 for 21 years. During his time Tata Sons revenues crossed $100 billion for the first time. For a period of less than a year around 2016-17, he was again the Chairman when Cyrus Mistry let down the Tata shareholders and was removed from the post.

I had the good opportunity of meeting him while at a felicitation given by Tata Sons in Mumbai city to Nobel Laurete Amartya Sen in 2001. On his 84th birthday, he spent a silent birthday with just a cupcake and two candles. How simple is this man !!

As my colleague Adv. Mohandas was mentioning, Ratan Tata is now at the self-realisation stage. 

What makes Padma Vibhushan (2008) Ratan Tata special to Indians ? During Ratan Tata's time Tata Sons grew fast to become the first indian company to cross the $100 billion revenues mark.

More than the revenues Tata Sons brings, it is the respect it commands, the legacy they are really proud of.

When Indian telecom space opened up, Reliance telecom, Anil Ambani's co. bribed their way through the inefficient, corrupt, tough Indian bureaucracy and made telephony affordable for the masses. As they say, anything that is earned illegitimately has to go waste, so did Anil Ambani and his telecom business. Within a span of ten years, what was born in corruption, just vanished into thin air. Reliance Jio telecom now in the country belongs to the elder brother Mukesh. 

Ratan Tata did not want to engage in bribing the very pliable and corrupt Indian bureaucracy and waited for 2 years more to release Tata Telecom, which also was wound up in due course. Telecom industry in India is not for the faint hearted, Vodafone learnt a hard lesson in India. Airtel is the only respectable player in India, though Reliance Jio is the market leader. Of late we find Tata Motors having overtaken Hyundai to become India's second largest automobile manufacturer, just behind Maruti Suzuki.

Recently when Ratan Tata celebrated his 84th birthday on December 30, 2021, he did not have a grand celebration, instead called his personal assistant, Shanthanu Naidu and together they had a silent birthday, with just a cup cake and two candles. Even though Ratan Tata wanted to make it a simple event, the social media world gave it enough global publicity and made it memorable for all Indians around the world. His simple spartan lifestyle is a role model for the youngsters of the world.

When Mukesh Ambani was busy buying castles in Great Britain last Diwali, spending almost Rs 600 crores ($100 million), Ratan Tata was busy helping build five cancer care hospitals around the country spending almost Rs 1000 crores ($150 million).

The other day, about six months back, national news reporters gathered around a middle class locality in Pune, for a reason. The locality had a Padma Vibhushan personality visiting. It was none other than Ratanji visiting his former ailing driver for many years in his Pune home. Ratan made it a point to visit the driver in Pune before he passed away. This is the extent to which Ratanji values relationships and associations. He is not a person who would get swayed by wealth, power, influence, pomp or splendour, he values relationships, friendships, corner stones of the rich Indian culture.

In an event in Mumbai organised by the Indian industry about a year back to felicitate Ratanji, the other billionaire, Narayana Murthy of Infosys after conferring Ratanji the honour, touched his feet, seeking his blessings. Though it speaks highly of the superior culture and upbringing NarayanaMurthy inherits, it was again a deep reminder on how much the  Indian industry respects the Tata industrial legacy and the role it played in building a modern India.

The world bows in front of this great man with much respect and adoration. I am sure the only other country civilian honour, Bharat Ratna is also on the way ..

George.