How Ratan Tata wanted the world to remember him. ‘As somebody who’d never…’

Ratan Tata, the chairman emeritus of India's biggest conglomerate, Tata Group, passed away on Wednesday, October 9. He was 86.

Tata had been admitted to Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital for age-related ailments earlier this week and shifted to the ICU later. Amid reports of his ailing health, the business tycoon had said he was undergoing routine medical investigations due to age and related medical conditions.

Tata took over as chairman of the Tata Group in 1991, overseeing the vast conglomerate founded by his great-grandfather a little about a century ago. He was not anymore involved in the daily operations of the group, but the leadership would often seek his counsel on major decisions.

Work to the best interest of business

In interviews and interactions, Tata would say that he wanted to be remembered as someone who worked for the best interest of business and was able to make a change. 

"I would like to be remembered as somebody who had never hurt others and done work to the best interest of business," Tata said in 2014 at an interaction organised by Ladies Study Group of Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata.

Revered for his humility, Tata was also known for his philanthropy efforts apart from being widely respected for his business acumen and visionary leadership, as per his profile on the Tata Sons website

“I would like to be remembered as a person who made a difference. Not anything more not anything less,” Tata is heard telling Suhel Seth in in interview on CNBC in February, 2018

Tata was active on social media - X and Instagram. He had nearly 10.3 million followers on Instagram, where he followed only two accounts: the Small Animal Hospital, Mumbai, and Tata Trusts. On X he had 13.3 million followers while he following 7 people which include Anand Mahindra, PM Modi, Barrack Obama and Small Animal Hospital in Mumbai.

“…..As a person who is able to make a change, who is able be responsible for some change in the way we looked at things,” Tata said in another interview in May 2021.

Born on December 28, 1937, into the Tata family, Ratan N Tata studied architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University and later completed a management program at Harvard Business School.