An Indian Giant
Tea, cars, steel, IT… Tata, the headiest brew in the world
India’s extraordinary conglomerate has found unique solutions to many of its problems. But it’s still unclear what will happen when the boss retires
The favourite boast of executives of the Tata Group is that it accompanies the average Indian throughout the day. They wake to the alarm of its Titan clocks, drink its tea or coffee for breakfast, wear clothes bought from its Westside shopping centres, take a Tata car or bus to work on a computer set up by Tata Consultancy Services, lunch in a Tata hotel, arrange their evening appointments on a Tata mobile phone and use Tata power to light their homes.
These days, the influence of the Indian conglomerate is spreading beyond its home country. Back in 2000, it made the first major acquisition by an Indian group when it acquired the Tetley tea company; last year, that was trumped when it bought steelmaker Corus for £6.2bn, while in March it was confirmed as the purchaser of British icons Jaguar and Land-Rover from Ford. Next month, it will make its first foray into UK financial services when New Star launches an Indian investment fund that will be managed by Tata Asset Management.
That spending spree, together with less high profile acquisitions like chemicals company Brunner Mond, US business General Chemical Industrial Products and the truck-making business of South Korea’s Daewoo, means that India now represents just a quarter of the group’s interests, a smaller proportion than the UK; and it means that Tata can count itself among the world leaders in industries as various as tea, steel, consultancy services and soda ash, the key ingredient in washing soda.
Much of the credit for the transformation goes to the reclusive Ratan Tata, who has chaired the group since 1991. While he does not even get a walk-on part in Keepers of the Flame, the film that reverently charts the group’s 140-year history, when the history of his chairmanship is finally written, he will be credited as being at least as influential as group pioneers such as founder Jamsetji Tata or JRD Tata, Ratan’s predecessor who led the group for a marathon 51 years.
