There are 26 companies in his group, employing more than a million people in some 80 countries. A company that was worth just $4 billion when he took over, is now worth $400 billion. His group of companies is global in every sense – more than 65% of the revenues come from sales and operations from outside India.
Ratan Naval Tata (28 December 1937 – 9 October 2024) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He served as the chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons from 1991 to 2012 and held the position of interim chairman from October 2016 to February 2017.
Ratan Tata the Industrialist and Ratan Tata the Philanthropist co-existed harmoniously. Even in his industrial innovations, the spirit of philanthropy was predominant. On one hand he produced the Jaguar Land Rover that are in the reach of the upper tier only and on the other hand he created Tata Nano, the automobile that is within the buying power of the average Indian.
He spent more than $102 billion in humanitarian causes.
In this short eulogy, it is not possible to encompass the enormous contribution made by Ratan Tata through his philanthropic work. We will only summarize here some of his work related to the support of education and research:
University of New South Wales
Tata supported University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering to develop capacitive deionisation to provide improved water for challenged areas.
University of California
Tata Hall at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is a state-of-the-art research facility that was opened in November 2018. The building is named after the Tata Trusts, who donated $70 million to UC San Diego in 2016 to establish the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS), which is housed within the building. The Tata Institute for Genetics and Society at UC San Diego is a joint initiative between the Tata Trusts and UC San Diego. It aims to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as the spread of infectious diseases and the need for sustainable food sources. The research conducted at the institute focuses on a range of topics, including gene editing, stem cell therapy, and disease control. Tata Hall at the UC San Diego is a 4-storey building that is spread over 128,000 square feet and houses research facilities for the biological and physical sciences. The building has laboratories, offices, and meeting spaces that are designed to foster collaboration and innovation among researchers. It is a LEED-certified building; designed to be environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient.
Tata Education and Development Trust
Tata Education and Development Trust, a philanthropic affiliate of Tata Group, endowed a $28 million Tata Scholarship Fund that will allow Cornell University to provide financial aid to undergraduate students from India. The scholarship fund will support approximately 20 scholars at any given time and will ensure that the very best Indian students have access to Cornell, regardless of their financial circumstances. The scholarship will be awarded annually; recipients will receive it for the duration of their undergraduate study at Cornell.
Executive center at Harvard Business School
In 2010 Tata Group companies and Tata charities donated $50 million for the construction of an executive center at Harvard Business School (HBS). The executive center has been named Tata Hall, after Ratan Tata. The total construction costs have been estimated at $100 million. Tata Hall is located in the northeast corner of the HBS campus, and is devoted to the Harvard Business School’s mid-career executive education program. It is seven stories tall, and about 155,000 gross square feet. It houses approximately 180 bedrooms, in addition to academic and multi-purpose spaces.
Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech
The Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech is named after Ratan Tata, and mixes academics and industry in a building on the Roosevelt Island campus. The seven-floor structure is meant primarily as a business incubator for students, faculty, and staff, with 70% of the building being commercially leased and 30% devoted to academic space. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a tenant in the space.
Indian Institute of Technology
In 2014, Tata Group endowed the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay with ₹950 million and formed the Tata Centre for Technology and Design (TCTD) to develop design and engineering principles suited to the needs of people and communities with limited resources.
Indian Centre for Neuroscience
Tata Trusts under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata provided a grant of ₹750 million to the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science to study mechanisms underlying the cause of Alzheimer’s disease and to evolve methods for its early diagnosis and treatment. This grant was to be spread over 5 years starting in 2014.
MIT Tata Center of Technology and Design
Tata Group, under the leadership of Ratan Tata formed the MIT Tata Center of Technology and Design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a mission to address the challenges of resource-constrained communities, with an initial focus on India.
Cornell University
Ratan Tata was the highest international donor to the Cornell University. Cornell University paid tribute to its alumnus Ratan Tata, honouring his visionary leadership, philanthropy, and contributions to education and research, particularly through the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition.
The world recognized his contribution to industry, innovation, science and technology in addition to his philanthropic work.
He was the recipient of some of the highest awards of India. In addition, here is an incomplete list of awards and honours he received:
/// nCa, 18 October 2024