Ratan Tata birthday 2022: 5 lesser-known facts as he turns 85 today

Ratan Tata birthday 2022: Industrialist and philanthropist, Ratan Tata, celebrates his 85th birthday today (December 28). He is the recipient of two of India's highest civilian awards -- Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.

Tata Sons is a large shareholder in a string of listed Tata Group companies - a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover cars and steel mills to aviation and salt pans.

International revenues make up close to 70 percent of Tata Group’s total turnover, and the majority of its capital spending has been overseas in the last three years. The group’s cash cows are Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors, together generating half the total annual revenue of $103.5 billion.

His father was adopted

Born in Bombay on 28 December 1937, he is the son of Naval Tata, who was born in Surat and later adopted into the Tata family. He was raised by Navajbai Tata, his grandmother.

First job 

He joined Tata in 1961, where he worked on the shop floor of Tata Steel. He later succeeded J. R. D. Tata as chairman of Tata Sons upon the latter's retirement in 1991.

Turned Tata into a global business 

Under his tenure the Tata Group acquired Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus, in an attempt to turn Tata from a largely India-centric group into a global business. Tata is also one of the largest philanthropists in the world, having donated around 60-65% of his income to charity.

Philanthropy

Ratan Tata was recently named as one of the new trustees of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES). Tata is a supporter of education, medicine and rural development, and considered a leading philanthropist in India. 

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.

Skilled Pilot

Ratan Tata holds a pilot's licence. In fact, the Tatas are not new to aviation. Tata Group founder JRD Tata had originally launched the airline in 1932 as the nation’s first carrier, flying mail between Karachi in then-undivided, British-ruled India and Bombay. It was nationalised in 1953.

Nearly seven decades after it lost control, Tatas regained ownership of Air India and promised to turn the loss-making carrier into a world-class airline.

(Reuters Inputs) 

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