RATAN TATA

 Born on dec 28, 1937 to Soonoo& Naval tata  Brought up by grand mother  Engineering degree from cornell university and management programme from harvard in  Turned down job in IBM to join his own business.

Was given 2 sick units Nelco, Central India Textiles. In 1991, he took over as group Chairman from the legendary J.R.D. Tata, pushing out the old guard and ushering in youthful managers. Since then, he has been instrumental in reshaping the fortunes of the most respected conglomerate of India.NelcoCentral India Textiles1991J.R.D. Tata

 Tata sons were honest and solid but risk-averse  Tata understanding India is changing has followed acquisitions to expand its horizons.  In 2000 he shelled out $435 million for Tetley Tea, making Tata the world's No. 2 tea company.  Two years later he paid $530 million for a 46% stake in VSNL, India's state-owned international telecom carrier.  He bought Daewoo Motor Co.'s truck unit, Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co., for $120 million.  In July, the company will make another splash: the initial public offering of Tata Consultancy Services, expected to raise $1.1 billion

Under him Tata Consultancy Services went public and Tata Motors was listed in the New York Stock ExchangeTata Consultancy Services Tata MotorsNew York Stock Exchange His dream is to manufacture a car costing Rs 1 lakh. In 1998, Tata Motors introduced his brainchild, the Tata Indica.1998 Tata Indica Ratan retired from his executive post in 2003 after turning 65, as per the rules he set.2003

 Down-to-earth, witty and startlingly straightforward, Tata upholds the group's traditions and refuses to pay bribes to get a job done.  His commitment to ethics and values has permeated through the organization. In India's corporate circles he is known for his credible business practices. The price of integrity has been high.  Even his critics accept that Tata is a determined and persistent manager. It was his determination that gave him an upper hand in his fight with Russi Mody and his persistence that saw the successful creation of the Indica.  Talk cars to Ratan Tata and his face lights up immediately. He has an undying passion for automobiles. "I like a car with a lot of power and torque

 Tata is his company's biggest critic. He knows exactly where his strengths lie and where they don't. As a result, he has no qualms in seeking outside help in key areas if it improves his products, even at the risk of ruffling feathers in his management.  Ratan Tata established himself to be the right leader who could help the company sail through the turbulent waters and reach the desired lands. These targets never existed or were thought not feasible by the company earlier. Prior to his handling the mantle, these were hard even for conceiving. When Ratan Tata became the Chairman of century old, well respected Indian business group, Tata, it was a conservative company, dominated by the paradigm of manufacturing. It was deriving dominant share of revenues from the domestic market when domestic market itself was marked by two important trends. First, it was making shift towards services and secondly was moving towards opening up.

 Realizing that when the economy as whole is shifting to more of services, the future belongs to the one that belongs to that segment and the need for globalization is important when your domestic economy itself is opening up, he initiated right moves. To be there when it happens, he had to lead the company from over-dominantly manufacturing paradigm to services based one and from domestic focused to the one with global mindset. This was not to be achieved by compromising on the existing focus or by resorting to hasty retreat from the areas of operation. It was to be accomplished while with continuity (may be diluting/withdrawing from some) but more through furthering towards new areas.  Human resource is another issue. That Tata has personally led the company for almost 15 years and set up the Tata Business Excellence Model to trade best practices, hasn't improved his reputation.

"Our aim is to make Tata an international company with a global workforce and global delivery," says Tata "We should become a younger organization, an organization of our time, more risk-taking, less risk averse."