Ratan Tata was a man determined to live below his means

 True gentleman

It took seven requests before I finally got my first interview with Ratan Tata in November 2006, thanks to Kamal Nath, then the minister for commerce and industry. The relaxed interview took place in the company headquarters in Bombay House. Dressed in an immaculately tailored grey suit with a dark blue tie, Tata resembled an old-school English gent, unflashy and understated. He explained why he wanted to build a small car in West Bengal and trusted its chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. He wanted to design a people’s car because he had seen a family perched precariously on a scooter on “a dark, rainy, slippery night”.

Tata came across as a man determined to live below his means. “I couldn’t say I’m wealthy but I am certainly well off enough and I have no desire to show off. I’ve always had a view that 90% of the people really respect the position you hold, and that can be intoxicating. The best way is to continue to be as ordinary a person as you can, wait in lines, drive your own car. I enjoy anonymity. When you’re in London, no one bothers you.” His one luxury weakness, Tata confided, was his Falcon jet: “My greatest indulgence outside work is flying. I love flying and I continue to be a certified pilot. I fly every chance I get.” Tata revealed that he loved one corner of England which was forever Parsi. “It’s really an eye opener to go to Brookwood cemetery (in Surrey) which is full of wealthy Parsis who are buried there, people you read about in books.” Journalistically, as always, I missed the real story — that he was planning to make bids for British Steel and Jaguar Land Rover.

Let there be light

In the run-up to Diwali, the artist, Chila Burman, lit up Leicester Square in London with eight of her neon installations that include depictions of Lakshmi, Ganesh and an Indian Barbie doll in a saree. Burman expressed delight that a statue of William Shakespeare, leaning against a pile of books, was looking down on her: “Shakespeare says [in Twelfth Night], ‘There is no darkness but ignorance.’ And my installation is called, There Is No Darkness In The Garden of Light. It’s visual poetry. It’s great honour to be here.”

Diwali is now very much part of British life. At Labour Indians’ Diwali party, held last week in the colourfully-decorated, Taj-owned St James’ Court Hotel in London, the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendal, used the occasion to emphasise the importance of the British Indian community and UK-India relations: “It was a very clear part of our manifesto that we want to build a new strategic relationship with India, India being the second largest investor in the UK.”

But the Diwali party with a difference was the one held by the global consultancy firm Grant Thornton in The Long Room at Lord’s cricket ground. As for Durga Puja, there are about a hundred celebrated across Britain. Attending the one organised by Prabashi in Hounslow Central in west London brought back childhood memories.

Mysterious universe

Last week, the physicist, Sir Tejinder Virdee, who was born into a Sikh family in Kenya and came to Britain at the age of 15, was given the Royal Medal, a high honour, by the Royal Society. It was “for extraordinary leadership and profound impact on all phases of the monumental CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, including the crucial discovery of the Higgs Boson through its decays to two photons”.The Higgs Boson takes its name from the British theoretical physicist, Peter Higgs, and the Indian legend, Satyendra Nath Bose, who had collaborated with Albert Einstein.

Virdee has lived in Geneva for over 30 years but remains a professor of physics at Imperial College London. He has been working on “the new physics”, which will take science beyond Newton and Einstein and perhaps give mankind a fuller understanding of how the universe was created billions of years ago.

Destination in demand

Other chief ministers should perhaps follow the example of Rajasthan’s Bhajanlal Sharma, who led a delegation to London last week to lobby for investment in his state and to invite British entrepreneurs to attend the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit in Jaipur in December. But he began on a lighter note by talking about destination weddings. He said someone in South Korea had told him there was now a three-year wait for suitable wedding locations in Rajasthan. He joked that as chief minister, he could “reduce the waiting time only to 18 months”.

When Gopi Hinduja’s eldest son, Sanjay, married Anusuya Mahtani in Udaipur in 2005, the likes of Jennifer Lopez performed on stage. And the actress, Elizabeth Hurley, sold the picture rights to Hello! magazine when she married the businessman, Arun Nayar, in Jodhpur Palace in 2007. Even Nayar’s father was ejected from the premises when he was spotted with a camera in case he spoilt her exclusive deal.

Amit Roy

Source: The Telegraph; 26/10/24

Tata to head MU’s advisory council

Industrialist Ratan Tata has been appointed as the chairman of the advisory council of Mumbai University. Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of Universities in the state Bhagat Singh Koshyari nominated Tata for his vast experience in education, entrepreneurship and employment creation. “As the head of Tata Group, Tata has navigated the companies to greater heights in India and globally while retaining the Tata ethos and values. The university is privileged to have a person of his stature, vision and humility,” a press release said. The Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016 provides for the appointment of any eminent industrialist to the council as the chancellor’s nominees. This is the first time the Act makes a provision for advisory council. Similar councils will be formed in all universities across the state. The council advises the vicechancellor on reports and action plans academics, research and development, administration and generation of financial resources and can devise a mechanism for overall monitoring of the university. Renowned scientist Dr Anil Kakodkar and Sujata Saunik, additional chief secretary, Maharashtra government, have been nominated as members.

Source: Mumbai Mirror, 26/02/2020

NGOs Bat for Tata Trusts

Suman Layak

Mumbai:





A clutch of non-governmental organisations appealed to the boards of six Tata Group companies that are set to hold shareholder meetings in the next few days to take steps to protect the philanthropic activities of Tata Trusts.Several of these NGOs work with Tata Trusts. The letter has been addressed to boards of TCS, Indian Hotels Co, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals and Tata Power Co and comprises the names of NGOs including the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, Pradan, Srijan, Action for Social Advancement, Seva Mandir and Foundation for Ecological Security.
Manas K Satpathy, executive director of Pradan who has signed the letter, said NGOs had met in Pune in November for an initiative on Transforming Rural India and decided to support of Tata Trusts. He said, “Hearing all the controversy around Tata Trusts, we felt disturbed and thought we should do something to let others know about the work of Tata Trusts.“





Source: Economic Times, 13-12-2016

When an icon falls

Issue is not just the fate of Tatas. A letter like Mistry’s could deepen the credibility crisis of Indian capitalism.

The crisis in the Tata group, now made public by the letter of ousted chairman, Cyrus Mistry, is yet another depressing moment in Indian capitalism’s struggle for social legitimacy. The Tatas have been, in many ways, an iconic group desperately clinging onto the few shards of legitimacy that Indian companies can muster these days. Cynics, particularly after the Radia tapes, have been calling into question the credibility the Tatas had built over the years. It was, they argued, in the final analysis, cut of the same cloth as much of Indian capitalism, a fact largely disguised by a combination of historical legacy, philanthropy, and that ultimate tool of modernity: Tremendous public relations.

Whether or not this charge is true, some future historian of Indian capitalism can decide. But the cynics now have all the ammunition they need. Indian capitalism has always been short of icons. Another icon has decisively fallen, and with it the promise that a more enlightened and better capitalism might at least be possible.

Mistry’s letter is written in self-defence. It will need to be interpreted in that context. Its factual claims will also have to be adjudicated. But its defensive, matter of fact style cannot disguise the sheer enormity of what is at stake. The letter does beg for a semiotic reading of Indian capitalism. Mistry has thrown back every charge that he possibly could at the company that has ousted him.

The letter alleges deep procedural improprieties. It raises ethical concerns about the conduct of the company. It portrays a picture of internal promises frequently broken. It accuses the company of skirting around regulatory improprieties. It raises questions about the valuation of the companies. It seems to suggest that corporate governance accountability is not worth the paper it is written on, with senior independent members of the board seemingly taking instructions rather than exercising judgment. The letter is a profound indictment of the judgment and risk evaluation capabilities of the Tata leadership.

Admittedly, some business decisions are subject to unexpected setbacks or miscalculation of risks. But this letter seems to hint at almost systematic misjudgement and incapacity to account for risk. And to top it all, it is tinged with personal drama of the kind we are more used to in politics: A titanic figure seemingly giving up control of an empire, but not really giving it up. Projects were undertaken not with a view to the long term health of the company but due to egos writ large. Apart from the Tata group, and its practices, the letter is a no-holds-barred attack on Ratan Tata himself. It is a kind of takedown you are used to seeing more publicly aired in politics. After such allegations, what healing?

This is not the place to adjudicate the truth of Mistry’s indictment. Nor do we have the full facts. But whatever emerges in the future, the letter itself may turn out to be a remarkable document in the history of Indian capitalism. The outgoing chief of such a large conglomerate has, in his own defence, ended up indicting his own company, so thoroughly and in public. The issue is not just the fate of the Tatas. The issue is that in the short run, a letter like this will only deepen the credibility crisis of Indian capitalism.

The immediate danger, of course, is that it strengthens the hand of all those state institutions that operate on the idea that the presumptive distrust of Indian companies’ practices should be even higher. The door has been opened for more intense regulatory scrutiny of Tata companies. The insinuations now come in writing from the CEO himself.

The second issue that will emerge is how much the authority of individual capitalists is able to override internal and external scrutiny. Perhaps he did not mean to. But the sum total of Mistry’s charge seems to be that there was little countervailing force against Ratan Tata’s business decisions, whether it be Nano or airlines. For anthropologists of capital, this is an interesting moment: A portrayal of capital, not operating on the cold logic of calculation, but on the basis of personality. Charisma and authority, even here, seem to silence rationality.

The third issue is that Indian companies, despite corporate governance reform, are analytically quite opaque — even the best of them. It is not exactly a secret that Indian companies are the hardest entities to write about analytically in the public domain. This is not just true of “investigative” cases where some wrongdoing is alleged and where journalists risk defamation suits. It is also true of bread and butter analytics of companies and business plans. Of course, even the best laid business plans can go wrong, circumstances can change, risk assessments can involve honest mistakes. But Indian companies are rarely held up to solid analytical scrutiny.

What is striking about Mistry’s letter is the way it punctures holes in the assumptions about one business model after the other, in ways you think an informed media might have done. In principle, this should not matter, since you assume investors, creditors and so forth are doing their due diligence. But in business, as in politics, reputations can have their own self-fulfilling effects. And this is exactly what Mistry suggests.

To Indians cynically suspicious of capital this story has all the elements of schadenfreude. The idea that any company can institutionalise processes that reflect integrity is chimera. The only difference is between companies which manage to successfully draw a veil over the inner working and ones that don’t. For those who take the view that India needs a more mature capitalism that with all its faults can unleash some productive energy in Indian society, this is a depressing story. The social legitimacy of any institution is in the final analysis, not a function of ideology or beliefs. It is a function of credibility, which is often judged through icons.

Indian capitalism, with rare exceptions, has been lacking those icons. That the Tata controversy has felled one more is an indication that the social legitimacy of Indian capital will erode even more. The issue is not the competing world views of Mistry or Tata. It is the long shadow of suspicion this controversy will cast over Indian capital.

The writer is president, CPR Delhi and contributing editor, ‘Indian Express’

Source: Indian Express, 28-10-2016

The Tata Social Internship 2016 hosts 19 international students in India

Mumbai: The Tata Social Internship programme provides a unique learning experience to students from some of the world’s best universities in the areas of community development and sustainability.

 

The 2016 edition of the Tata Social Internship culminated with a contingent of 19 international students – three from the University of California, Berkeley, USA; one from the University of California, Davis, USA; nine from the London School of Economics & Political Science, UK; and six from the University of Cambridge, UK – completing their two-month experiential internship in the on-going sustainability projects of the Tata companies in India.

 

The batch of 2016, worked hands-on on the community initiatives of the Tata companies and entities like Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Taj, Tata Business Excellence Group, Tata Medical Center and the Tata Trusts for a period of two months. The areas of their projects ranged from the impact assessment of sustainability programmes at Tata companies to studies about health economics of infection management at hospitals, women literacy initiatives, tackling malnutrition, agriculture and non-agriculture-based livelihoods for rural hinterlands and improving education through technology, assessing student performance parameters, promoting traditional handicrafts, and skill development.

 

The programme structure of Tata Social Internship 2016 provided the interns with grass-root level exposure to India and at the same time brought international perspectives and practices to these projects at Tata companies, promoting international understanding.

 

The visiting interns, selected by their educational institutions along with Tata representatives, came from diverse academic backgrounds such as developmental studies, social anthropology, public policy, neurobiology, economics, gender studies, philosophy and engineering. The first phase of the internship programme kicked off on May 30, 2016 with the University of California, Berkeley students. The second phase for the interns from the University of California, Davis, Cambridge and the London School of Economics commenced on July 4, 2016.

 

Mr. Elias Mead, a BSc Philosophy student from the London School of Economics, who interned with The Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces in Mumbai, worked towards developing a project plan for Taj’s CSR programme for promoting traditional arts, crafts and handicrafts of India. Elaborating on his experience, Elias said “I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to intern with the Tata Social Internship because I got to work on issues in a new country, particularly one that is developing so fast and is becoming a leading superpower. I feel like I have grown more as a person and professionally in the past 8 weeks than I have in the two years that I was at a good university. Being exposed to a whole new culture where things are increasingly international and in a different economy where things are changing. It was so valuable to be able to experience and be a part of that change.”

 

Ms. Aleksandra Szypowska who is completing her BA Classics at the University of Cambridge interned at Tata Chemicals in Mithapur, where her project was based on understanding women’s collectives and its impact on their interactions in public and private spaces. “My time in India at the Tata Social Internship was a memorable time, full of amazing meetings with wonderful, inspiring people. I wish it could have lasted longer, for I feel like I have only scratched the surface. The journey has just begun - and I am sure I'll return to India to continue it. My experience with Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development in Mithapur has challenged many of my world views and expanded my horizons. I learned a lot about empowerment - that it expands into amazing directions I never knew before. I want to take what I've learned here and share it with the women in Europe, because, funnily enough, it seems we have more to learn from Indian women than I ever thought.”  said Aleksandra.

 

As part of the programme, an interactive seminar took place in Mumbai on 2 September 2016, with the students from LSE, Cambridge and UC Davis, and students from the Centre for the Development of Corporate Citizenship at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, to share experiences in the area of community development and sustainability.

 

Prof. Ruth Kattumuri, Co-Director, India Observatory & Asia Research Centre of the London School of Economics said, ”The Tata Social Internship has become prominently engrained into the summer internship calendar of students at LSE and Cambridge in the UK, and students from various Universities in the United States of America. Tata group has now become a household name globally. The interest in India, more so among young people from around the world, is growing exponentially. Tata Social Internship provides an excellent opportunity for international students to spend two months working on a myriad of Tata projects and getting to know India better. The students contribute their insights to the projects from their diverse learnings and backgrounds. Most of the students in turn imbibe the love-of-India-bug and go on to pursue careers that are in some way associated with India”

 

Mr. Atul Agrawal, Senior Vice President-Corporate Affairs, Tata Services, said, “Tata Social Internship serves the dual purpose of allowing us to provide international students with grass-root level exposure to India and developing our social sustainability outreach through knowledge sharing. With a diverse range of community projects on which the students have engaged, this platform reiterates the Tata group’s ethos of giving back to society while also helping to build international understanding.

 

The students during their internship also participated in an online essay competition on their experience in India (essays can be accessed at http://www.tatasocial-in.com/tata-ises-experience ). A distinctive corporate sustainability internship programme, Tata Social Internship was launched in 2008.

	Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 9-06-2016

PERSON OF THE WEEK





At 76 most would be looking at a quiet retirement. Not Ratan Tata. He has been actively encouraging entrepreneurs. Last week he was in Bengaluru where he promised to advise VC fund Kalaari Capital's portfolio of companies. Every few weeks, he can be seen with founders of ventures he personally has invested in. Earlier this month, news came of his investment in auto classifieds portal Cardekho. That may have been driven by his long time interest in cars -­ under him, Tata Motors introduced the Nano and acquired Jaguar and Land Rover.Tata's startup investments have otherwise mostly been focused on ecommerce ventures ­ Snapdeal, which deals in a range of products; Bluestone, a jewellery etailer; and Urban Ladder, a furniture etailer. The chairman-emeritus of Tata Sons recently said: “If entrepreneurs make the difference in the marketplace through their hard work, ingenuity, and innovation rather than in the dark corridors of power to try and clip the wings of their competitors, then, I think, India has a great future.“

Aug 20 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Tatas give IIT Bombay Rs.`95 cr for design centre

Manash.Gohain @timesgroup.com

New Delhi





The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has received Rs 95 crore, the largest donation in its history, to set up a centre to develop hi-tech products and solutions for consumers and industry that lie at the bottom of the economic pyramid.On the lines of the Tata Center for Technology and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US, the Tata group has granted Rs 95 crore to IIT-Bombay for a period of five years to develop design and engineering principles suited to the needs of people and communities with limited resources. An MoU has been signed by both the parties, and the centre at IIT-Bombay , also called Tata Center for Technology and Design (TCTD), has started functioning from July .
On August 20 and 21, fellows from MIT and IIT-Bombay will come together for a brainstorming session under the aegis of the centre.
Speaking to the TOI, Prof Devang V Khakhar, director, IIT-Bombay , said the centre would focus on “frugal engineering“. “What we are going to do here is to come up with products which are high in technology but affordable. Students and faculties from all departments can participate as this is a virtual centre,“ he said. “The centre will support research work for postgraduate and PhD scholars, although there is no bar for undergraduate students,“ added Khakhar.
Tata fellows for the centre have been appointed. The centre plans to design items not only for consumers belonging to the low income group, but products like medical devices too. The institute has singed an MoU with MIT to work on some projects.





Jun 09 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

Mr Tata's Class act





It was in December last year that the prestigious Tata Hall, named after and funded by Ratan Tata, was inaugurated at Harvard Business School. The arc-shaped, seven-storey, glass and brick building includes residential space, classrooms, and common areas for Executive Education participants and has been designed by William Rawn Associates.But it was only last week that one had a virtual tour of the 100-crore project, thanks to Nisha Jamvwal, who was invited for lunch there and made copious notes of the architectural masterpiece that it is. The building reflects Mr Tata’s distinctive aesthetic sense —
minimalistic, detailed and elegant.Class rooms and conference halls overlook the river, while abstract Indian art adorn the walls. We are told the art is from Mr Tata’s personal collection, as he was closely involved in the planning of the centre of learning for world leaders. The other striking feature of the hall are the two long sculptural benches facing each other created by Matthias Pliessnig and the three open gardens flanking the hall.
“I think it should make every Indian proud, it did make my chest swell with pride because its an Indian landmark on the banks of the Charles River...” says Nisha. Indeed.

Ratan Tata gets top UK award

Kounteya Sinha TNN

London: Ratan Tata on Monday became the first Indian to be awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) since India became a republic in 1950. British high commissioner to India James Bevan conducted the ceremony. He presented Ratan Tata with the GBE on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
    Speaking at the ceremony, Bevan said, “Ratan Tata’s leadership, vision and integrity will remain the gold standard for generations of aspirational British and Indian business people. His contribution to the deep ties that exist between the UK and India has been invaluable.”
    Tata said, “I am deeply touched and feel honoured to receive the recognition so graciously bestowed on me by Her Majesty. It has been a privilege to have our enterprises contribute to the growth of the UK. I am deeply appreciative of the support we have received personally from David Cameron and his government. through good and bad times. This support and faith have been of immeasurable value.” 

 

 

 

 Source:http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2014/05/07&EntityId=Ar01807&AppName=1&ViewMode=HTML

 

How brain injury turned man into a maths genius

Subodh Varma TIMESINSIGHTGROUP

New Delhi: Scientists have made some progress in figuring out how a man who received severe brain injuries suddenly became a mathematical genius. They say that an area behind the crown of the head, known as the parietal cortex, appears to have become more active, according to a report in Live Science. This region is known to combine information from different senses.
    Jason Padgett was an ordinary furniture salesman in Tacoma, Washington, US. In 2002, he was assaulted by two men outside a karaoke bar resulting in severe concussion and an injured kidney. As Padgett recovered, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. As he progressed, Padgett realized that he was seeing the world differently — everything looked like it was made up of geometrical shapes. He saw a circle as made up of overlapping triangles. He could draw complex geometric shapes. He saw shapes when shown mathematical equations.
    One day a physicist saw him making these shapes in a mall and was struck by Padgett’s abilities. He persuaded Padgett to join college, where he is studying number theory.
    As his abilities and how he acquired them got known, brain scientists got interested in finding out what had happened in his brain.
    Berit Brogaard, a philosophy professor now at the University of Miami and her colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study Padgett’s brain. The scans showed that the left parietal cortex lit up the most, while areas involved with visual memory, sensory processing and planning also showed activity.
    Using transcranial magnetic stimulation the scientists zapped specific areas with a magnetic pulse which either activates or inhibits the area. When the parietal cortex was thus zapped, the synesthesia faded. According to Live Science, Brogaard has earlier shown that when brain cells die, they release chemicals to increase activity in surrounding areas. This may have happened in Padgett’s case. It appears that abilities like Padgett’s may be dormant in every brain and they got released after the injury.

Source:http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2014/05/07&EntityId=Ar01701&AppName=1&ViewMode=HTML