Tata Group’s – The History
There are numerous renowned and respected global conglomerate holding companies around the world, but the Tata Group comes to mind first, especially when we consider the Indian setting. The Tata Group of Companies is an Indian multinational holding company with its main office in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The organisation, which operates under the slogan “Leadership with Trust,” is committed to the long-term creation of value for all of its global stakeholders. The Tata brand has been branded for several things, including a strong emphasis on quality, innovation, sustainable practises, and corporate evolution.
“Business, as I have experienced it, lays one enormous demand on you: it demands you to self-impose an ethics, values, fairness, and objectivity framework on yourself at all times.” — Ratan N. Tata (2006).
The company’s main goal is to improve community quality of life while generating long-term value for its stakeholders, which it does worldwide.
In this blog, we’ll give you a quick overview of the origins and evolution of the Tata group of companies as well as the changes that have taken place inside those activities throughout time to create the company’s current situation.
The Timeline
Jamsetji Unscrewing Tata, a businessman and philanthropist, established the Tata Group as a private trade company in 1868. The business grew in 1902 to create Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), which helped the Taj Mahal Palace—the country’s first opulent hotel—open its doors to guests in 1903.
Jamsetji Tata passed away in 1904, and his son Sir Dorab Tata succeeded him as the group’s chairman. The organisation quickly grew and entered many industrial areas under Dorab’s leadership, including aviation (1917), steel (1907), electricity (1910), education (1911), and consumer products (1911). (1932).
Sir Nowroji Saklatwala succeeded Sir Dorab when the latter passed away in 1932. Jahangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was appointed group chairman following a six-year tenure. He provided the corporation a new direction as it entered new markets such as chemicals (1939), cosmetics (1952), marketing, tea (1962), and software services (1968).
By founding the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, or Tata Motors in 2003, the Tata Group gained yet another feather to their cap in 1945. The development of engineering and locomotive products is the main emphasis of this company.
Ratan Tata, JRD Tata’s nephew, succeeded his uncle as group chairman in the year 1991. He made an effort to strengthen the firm and progressively concentrated on expanding it internationally. Under his direction, the company bought the London-based Tetley Tea company in 2000, and in 2004 it also acquired Daewoo Motors’ truck manufacturing business in South Korea. To create the insurance firm Tata-AIG in 2001, the group teamed up with American International Group, Inc.
The greatest corporate acquisition by an Indian company was completed in 2007 when Tata Group acquired the Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel maker. The Tata Group entered the automobile industry starting in 2008. Early in January 2008, Tata Motors launched Nano, a small, rare engine, a pod-shaped vehicle that would eventually join the roads in mid-July 2009. This was yet another milestone. The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Group from Ford Motor Company was another significant accomplishment in 2008. Ratan Tata announced his retirement in 2012, and Cyrus Mistry assumed control of the company. Mistry was fired as chairman in 2016 due to differences of opinion, and Natarajan Chandrasekaran is currently running for the job.
The Tata Group announced in September 2017 that it would unite with German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp and its European steelmaking businesses. The agreement was completed in 2018. However, it was abandoned due to the European Commission’s concerns. About a year after they were halted, discussions for a potential merger between Tata Steel Europe and Germany’s Thyssenkrupp have again been reopened.
Mistry was reinstated as Tata Sons’ executive chairman by NCLAT in December 2019, but its execution was delayed for four weeks to give the Tata family time to file an appeal. Tata Sons then appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court in 2020. Currently, on March 26, 2021, the Supreme Court issued its decision, accepting Tata Group’s appeal and overturning the NCLAT judgement, reinstalling Mistry as the Group’s executive chairman.
JRD Tata and Air India
The relationship between JRD Tata, the previous chairman of the Tata Group, and the airline Air India is long-standing and well-anchored. Even before India gained its independence, the story of Air India had a lengthy history. Tata Air Services was the name of the airline founded in 1932 by Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, an Indian pilot as well as a business magnate.
JRD established the airline in 1932 after obtaining the Imperial Airways contract to distribute mail and receiving the commercial licence in 1929. After this, Tata expanded the organization’s aviation division and acquired two de Havilland Puss Moth monoplanes. On October 15 of the same year, Tata used a single-engine aircraft to transport one of the Puss Moths with an airmail consignment from Karachi to Mumbai (Bombay) and then from Mumbai to Chennai (Madras).
The airline’s primary use during its early years of operation was to transport weekly mail between Karachi and Chennai via Ahmedabad and Mumbai. As Tata Air Services’ first commercial flight from Mumbai to Trivandrum took off, the company was eventually renamed Tata Airlines.
Throughout World War Two, the Airlines also helped the Royal Air Force with the transport of troops, the delivery of supplies, and the rescue of refugees. Tata Airlines internalised, went public, and changed its name to Air India in the year 1946. The Indian government acquired a 49% share in the airline following India’s independence (GOI).
When the Indian government applied for the Air Companies Act and bought the bulk of the airline from the Tata Group in 1953, internalising Air India, the nationalisation of the carrier was completed. Yet the government nominated JRD Tata as the company’s chairman as a homage to his work and dedication to the carrier.
JRD remained in charge of Air India till his removal in 1977. As its debts increase, the airline is currently experiencing a tremendous deal of turmoil. According to Times Now, the government decided to privatise the airline through an auction, with the Tata company being the only bidder.
Current Situation of the Businesses in the Tata Group
The Tata Group of Companies, which was founded in 1868, is still among the first corporate edifices in India. As of 2019–2020, the organisation has over 750,000 workers and operates in more than 100 countries across six continents. The Tata Group, which has its corporate office in Mumbai, operates several key business sectors, including chemicals, materials, consumer goods, energy information systems, etc., with Tata Sons being the company’s main investor.
The combined revenue of all Tata firms in 2019–20 was $106 billion (INR 7.5 trillion).
Each Tata company runs independently under the direction and supervision of its board of directors. There are 29 publicly traded Tata firms in all, and their combined market valuation has surpassed Rs 17 trillion.
Moreover, the trusts fund Organizations working in healthcare, livelihoods, education, and numerous social welfare projects.
TATA Group of Companies
The Tata Group’s holding company, Tata Sons, owns the bulk of the shares of the companies that comprise the Tata Group. The company also has global rights to the Tata name and trademark. Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Tata Advanced Systems, Indian Hotels, and Tata Communications are some of the significant businesses that fall within the Tata Group.
TATA Group’s Executive Team
The Tata Group’s current executive team is made up of the following people:
Ratan N. Tata: From 1991 until 2012, Ratan Tata served as the chairman of the Tata Group. In October 2016, he returned as acting chairman, serving until January 2017, when a new chairman was named. He has led several important Tata Group companies, including Tata Steel, TCS, Tata Motors, Indian Hotels, and others.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran: Natarajan Chandrasekaran is the current Chairman and an extra company director. He has been a member of the Tata Sons board since October 2016. Moreover, he serves as chairman of the boards of other group operational companies, such as Tata Steel, Indian Hotels Company Ltd, and others.
N Chandrasekaran, Farida Khambata, Venu Srinivasan, Ajay Piramal, Dr Ralf Speth, Bhaskar Bhat, Harish Manwani, and Saurabh Agarwal make up the majority of the company’s current board of directors’ Chandrasekaran, Saurabh Agarwal, Banmali Agarwala, Aarthi Subramanian, Shuva Mandal, Suprakash Mukhopadhyay, Roopa Purushothaman, Nupur Mallick, and Siddharth Sharma make up the management team.
Conclusion
The Tata group has undoubtedly paved the way for many ambitious young entrepreneurs who want to establish their companies in a prominent position by motivating them with its remarkable development and quick expansion over the years. The organisation continues to be a source of national pride and an inspiring example of potential success for new businesspeople and entrepreneurs.
