To say that Ratan Tata leaves behind a huge legacy would be a gross understatement.
Ever since he took overas Chairman of the Tata Group in 1991, he worked in on converting the "the corporate commonwealth" of various companies in the fold into a single cohesive entity.
He has spearheaded the acquisition of overseas companies such as Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus, and has effectively transformed the group from an India-centric business conglomerate to a Rs 4,75,000 crore-plus multinational business enterprise that draws about 60 per cent of its revenues from abroad.
Ratan Tata also led the development of Indica, the country's first indigenously developed car, and the Nano, the first vehicle to earn the tag of the small car anywhere in the world.
We take you on a journey of the man's achievements, triumphs and trials between 1988 and 2012.
1988
- Becomes Chairman of Tata Motors
1991
- Appointed Chairman of Tata Sons
- Tata Motors Launches Siera, India’s first SUV
1992
- Retirement age fixed for group senior executives
1993
- Russi Mody, long-time chairman and MD of Tata Steel sacked
- Ratan Tata becomes chairman of Tata Steel
1994
- Sells Tata Oil Mills (Tomco) to Hindustan Unilever
- Signs JV with Diamler Benz to launch Mercedes cars in India.
- Tata Chemicals commissions urea plant, enter fertilizer business.
- Tata Motors launches Tata Sumo
1995
- Darbari Seth, long-time chairman or Tata Chemicals and Tata Tea (Now Tata Global Beverages) retires
1996
- Lakme and Hindustan Unilever forms 50:50 JV Lakme Lever
- Tata Teleservices is set-up for group foray into telecom services.
1997
- Lakme brand and assets acquired by Hindustan Unilever
- Ajit Kerkar, long-time chairman of Indian Hotels, forced out
- Ratan Tata becomes chairman of all key Group companies
1998
- Tata Indica, India's first indigenously-developed passenger car, launched
- A unified group logo launched and all group companies asked to pay royalty for using Tata name. Legal ownership of Tata name vested with Tata Sons
- Tatas acquires UK-based retailer and merges it with erstwhile Lakme and renames it Trent Ltd. Launches Westside, India first chain of department stores
- Tata Safari launched
- Merind, the group pharma company sold to Wockhardt
- Voltas demerges its white goods and domestic refrigerator into a JV controlled by Electrolux.
1999
- FIs block Tata Sons plans to raise stake in ACC through a preferential allotment.
- Tata group sells 7.2% of its stake in ACC to Ambuja Cement Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. (GACL)
2000
- Tata Group sells their remaining stake in ACC to the GACL group and exits cement business
- Tata Group and Aditya Birla merge their mobile telephony business, latter rebranded as Idea Cellular
- Tata Tea acquires Tetley Group, UK for $ 450 million, the biggest overseas acquisition by any Indian company till then.
- Three group power Cos are merged into to Tata Power
2001
- Forms Tata AIG — a JV with American International Group Inc (AIG) to enter insurance sector
2002
- Tata Sons acquires a controlling stake in VSNL (now known as Tata Communications), India's leading international telecommunications service provider
2003
- Tata Chemicals merged with Hind Lever Chemicals, becomes one of the biggest fertiliser and chemicals companies in India.
- Tata Teleservices launches Tata Indicom mobile service under CDMA platform
2004
- Tata motors acquires commercial vehicles unit of Daewoo Motors, South Korea
- TCS goes public in one of the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the Indian market, raising nearly $1.2 billlion for Tata Sons
- Indian Hotels unveils IndiOne (now known as Ginger hotels), a first-of-its-kind chain of no-frills budget business hotels
2005
- Tata Steel acquires Singapore-based NatSteel.
- VSNL (now known as Tata Communications) acquired Tyco Global Network, making it one of the world's largest providers of submarine cable bandwidth
- Tata existed Idea Cellular to focus on CDMA based mobile telephony business
- Tata Tea acquired Good Earth coffee brand in USA
- Indian Hotels (Taj group) takes over management of The Pierre, NY
- Trent acquired strategic interest in Landmark chain of bookstores
- Tata Motors pick-up strategic stake in Spanish bus/coach maker Hispano
2006
- Tata Sky satellite television service launched across the country
- Taj group acquires the Ritz-Carlton, Boston (now known as Taj Boston)
- Tata Motors signs JV with Fiat to manufacture cars & engines in India
- Tata Chemicals acquires controlling stake in Brunner Mond Group, UK (now known as Tata Chemicals Europe)
- Infiniti Retail launches Croma, India's first national chain of multi brand outlets for consumer electronics and durable products
- Tata Tea buys Eight o Clock Coffee US, follows up by smaller acquisition in Europe, and South Africa to become one of the world’s top tea and coffee company
2007
- Tata Steel acquires the Anglo-Dutch company Corus (now known as Tata Steel Europe), making it the world's fifth-largest steel producer
- Computational Research Laboratories, a division of Tata Sons, develops Eka, one of the fastest supercomputers in the world
- The Taj group acquires Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco (now known as Taj Campton Place)
- Tata Power wins 4000 MW ultra-mega power project at Mundra, Gujarat.
- Tata Capital established as a new Tata company in the financial sector
- Indian Hotels picks 11% stake in Orient Express Hotels become its second biggest shareholder
- Tata Motors signs 51:49 JV with Marcopolo SA, Brazil to manufacture buses in India.
2008
- Tata Motors unveils Tata Nano, world’s cheapest car
- Tata Motors acquires the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from the Ford Motor Company
- Mamata Banerjee forced Tata Motors to relocate Nano Plant from Singur.
- Tata Chemicals acquires General Chemical Industrial Products Inc (now Tata Chemicals North America)
2009
- Tata Teleservices announces pan-India GSM service with NTT DOCOMO
- TRF acquires Dutch Lanka Trailer Manufacturers (DLT), Sri Lanka, a world-class trailer manufacturing company
- Tata Chemicals launches Tata Swach — the world’s most cost-effective water purifier
- Hispano becomes 100% subsidiary of Tata Motors
2010
- TRF acquires UK-based Hewitt Robins International
- New plant for Tata Nano at Sanand inaugurated
- Advinus Therapeutics announces the discovery of a novel molecule — GKM-001 — for the treatment of type II diabetes
- Tata Tea announces joint venture with PepsiCo for health drinks
- Tata Tea rebrands itself as Tata Global Beverages, headquartered in London
- Tata Chemicals acquires 100-per-cent stake in leading vacuum salt producer British Salt, UK
- Tata Chemicals launches i-Shakti dals, enters in food and agri-segment
2011
- Tata BP Solar becomes wholly-owned Tata company (now known as Tata Power Solar Systems)
2012
- Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks form joint venture to open Starbucks cafés across India. First outlet launched in October in Mumbai
- Tata Communications completes world’s first wholly-owned cable network ring around the world
- India’s first iodine plus iron fortified salt launched by Tata Chemicals
- Indian Hotels offers to acquire Oriental Express Hotels for $1.2 billion
