There are few like Ratan Tata, whose lives can be described by the adage: “A life not lived for others is not a life.” Ratan lived for others. I had the privilege of knowing, working and interacting with him over decades. My last meeting with him was on March 27 at his Mumbai residence. We talked about many things including my autobiography, a copy of which I presented to him. He had generously written a rather complimentary endorsement for it.
When I asked him about his autobiography, Ratan replied with characteristic humility. He said he had not written one, but a biography had been compiled which he had thrown out of the window, adding that it was meaningless to add to the gossip and anecdotes of Mumbai’s Willingdon Club. He then asked me what his autobiography might say and if it would serve any public purpose. I responded that he had seen pre-independent India, a newly independent India with its struggles for food and foreign exchange in an over-regulated economy, and was part of the country’s subsequent growth story, which is now unfolding into a quest to become a developed economy by 2047.
Ratan felt this was, indeed, a worthwhile endeavour and wanted to discuss more. We planned to meet again either in Delhi or Mumbai. Alas, that chance eluded us.
Ratan’s name inspires respect, admiration and awe in people from different fields. As a philanthropist, he inspired adulation, even veneration. As a respecter of institutions and their autonomy, he had few parallels. Building institutions is less difficult than sustaining them. Delegation of authority and decision-making to senior management does not come naturally in the ethos of several cultures, much less our own. That was where Ratan left his mark. As he once said, “Leadership is not about being in charge, it is about taking care of those in your charge.”
As a youngster, I was often asked: If the IAS was not attractive, would I consider the Tata Administrative Service, which was equally competitive but also inspired people with talent, helped them nurture domain skills and provided them with a sense of identity in being part of the Tata management culture?
I had the privilege of working closely with him in several of my postings. Once, he recalled a visit to Japan and spoke with respect about Japanese work culture — one of trust, unflinching loyalty to the company and a mutuality of respect. On a visit to Patna, he mentioned Tata’s contributions towards the building of Jamshedpur. He lamented that, despite being blessed with human resources, Bihar did not give emphasis to health and education and had missed the industrialisation bus. The state’s poverty at that time moved him. Citing the example of Jamshedpur, he felt that excessive controls on factors of production like land and labour laws, as well as the prevalent milieu, hindered private investment.
Later, as a permanent invitee to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Economic Advisory Council, he selected a niche area of public-private partnerships and sustainable development. When I worked in the Planning Commission, he chose to head a task force on hydrogen. This was long before renewable energy and green hydrogen had become fashionable. In more ways than one, he was a visionary.
The multiple institutes nurtured by him include the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Tata Innovations Centres, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. They have all added great value to India’s development journey. Ratan Tata invested these institutions with resources, talent, and above all, autonomy, which enabled them to flower.
In promoting centres of excellence, he was conscious that India needed to be part of the world. He promoted enterprises with international footprints through the TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Jaguar, Land Rover, and other overseas investments. He was a keen traveller with a constant quest to assimilate the experiences of other places in the world for India’s development. He sought to enhance the reach and quality of India’s telecoms sector, realising that it could be a pioneer in enabling India to maximise the gains of information technology, including nascent artificial intelligence.
From 1962, when he joined the Tatas to the day he hung up his boots, Ratan’s endeavours helped raise Tata revenues over 40 times and its profits over 50 times. The conglomerate has operations in more than 100 countries and $165 billion in revenue.
He saw a symbiotic relationship between academic institutions and policymakers. He was happy to be a member of the India Advisory Board of the London School of Economics, co-chaired by Lord Nicholas Stern and myself. No other member showed more courtesy and interest in its board meetings. He attended all of them without fail. That was Ratan. The London School of Economics and Political Science conferred its prestigious Honorary Fellowship on him. In fact, on receiving the Honorary Fellowship of the London School of Economics, I was privileged to learn that its previous recipient was Ratan.
There was never a whiff of aggression in how Ratan made his point of view. He was self-effacing, yet decisive and never lacked conviction.
He remained optimistic about India and its people, and truly lived up to what Mark Twain had once said, “The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else.” One never left a meeting with Ratan without a sense of cheer and hope. Mahatma Gandhi once said that “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” He lived his life in the service of others.
The writer is President of the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG). He is a prominent Indian economist, academician, and policymaker
