RATAN TATA : AS I SAW HIM

An enthusiastic young man of 24 years , trained as an architect at Cornell University, returned to India due to pleading of his grandmother . On his return, JRD invited him to join Tatas . In 1962, the young man wrote a letter to JRD where he said “ Words could never adequately express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for your decision—I shall attempt to express my thanks by serving the firm as best as I can, and to do all I can to make sure that you will not regret your decision.”

That enthusiastic young man will cross 86 years of age on 28-12-2023. He is still very active in the field of philanthropy and who “get enormous pleasure from seeing uplift of an underprivileged or poor person.I feel elated when I walk on the street and see someone who pushes a handcart talking on a cellphone. “ He is none other than Ratan Naval Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts and Conscience Keeper of our nation.

So many things written about him in the media during last so many years. I don’t want to repeat them. Through this writeup I want to share my thoughts on my God, who gave so much love and respect to this poor chap .

R M Lala shared the following unique conversation between him and JRD Tata in his book titled “ Beyond The Last Blue Mountain”about Ratan Tata -

?“ In November1987, he spoke to me of how after the abolition of the Managing Agency System, the other big industrial houses had either split or drifted apart and proudly added , But,we have not.”

“ So long as you are there, I observed. After you ?”

“Ratan is aware of that .”

Ratan Tata became the Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd on 25-03-1991, at the age of 54 years ( JRD was at the helm of affairs at the age of34 years!) and retired on 28-12-2012, after attaining 75 years of age. During his Chairmanship spanning over 21 years he put the group in solid foundation without “either split or drifted away” from the group, as envisaged by JRD.

During his 53 years tenure as the Chairman of Tata Group, JRD took its turnover to Rs.10,000 crore from Rs.17 crore in 1938. When Ratan Tata? retired in 2012, Tata Group’s turnover crossed USD100 billion.

Tatasaab’s 21 year Chairmanship of Tata Group, out of so many developments , four following pathbreaking steps will be remembered all the time-

Firstly, Tata Group started in?1996? the Tata Brand Equity and Business Promotion (TBEBP) scheme. As per the scheme, the group companies using the Tata brand have to pay 0.25 per cent of annual revenue or five per cent of the profit before tax (whichever is less), subsequently with a cap of Rs.75 crore.The year a company makes losses, it is not required to pay the fee.?

?So many questions were raised in the media as well as among shareholders and other Corporates . But, after some years, most leading Groups except Mahindra & Mahindra Group started following the footsteps of Ratan Tata by collecting amount mainly as “Royalty”. Some Holding Companies even charged 6-7% of Net Profit of the Group Company/ies as “Royalty”!!!

?Secondly, formation of world’s largest employee owned tea Company namely ‘Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Ltd’, during the year 2004-2005, transferring the then Tata Tea’s( Now Tata Global Beverages Ltd) holdings in the Kanan Devan Hills Village, as part of a restructuring.

Tata Tea remained a minority shareholder in it holding above 20% of the Paid up Equity Capital of the new Company and remaining distributed among employees of the said Company. Tata Group gave loans to its employees for purchasing shares through an unique model.

Late. Mr. T.V. Alexander was its Founding Managing Director and this erstwhile loss making unit of the then Tata Tea, booked profit in its first year of operation and declared Dividend to its Shareholders!!!

Thirdly, despite opposition from inside as well as outside, Ratan Tata strongly advocated for retirement age of both executive and non executive directors and introduced it in Tata Group. To set an example, Ratan Tata,himself also retired during 2012 after attaining the age of 75 years. The age limit now restricted to 70 years.

Following the footsteps of Tata Group, the SEBI later came out with ?(Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 for the listed companies, fixing ?the minimum age to get appointed as an independent director is?21 years?and the maximum age is 70 years.

In case of a public company, appointment of directors beyond a prescribed age say?70 years, should be subject to a special resolution by the shareholders which should also prescribe his term. Continuation of a director above the age of 70 years, beyond such term, should be subject to a fresh resolution.

?Fourthly ,Ratan Tata advocated for payment for use of Spectrum separately by the telecom companies. Earlier, a mobile network operator that was awarded a licence to operate in any of the ?telecom circles in India was allocated frequencies in that circle for a fixed time period.

?Most of the telecom operators vehemently objected to Mr.Tata’s proposal and the Chairman of one leading telecom Company sarcastically said “ If Ratan Tata has enough cash then he may give it to the Relief Fund of the Govt. “

?But, in 2011,A new telecom policy announced by the government , delinked spectrum from licences. As a result, when an operator renews its licence it must also pay separately for spectrum!!!

?My journey as a shareholder attending meetings of different Companies all over India and taking part in deliberations ,started during nineties.During this long period ,I have attended thousands of such meetings, met so many corporate stalwarts and at the end they became my well-wishers which includes Ratan Tata also.

?Ratan Tata used to Chair most of the listed Tata Group Companies at its Annual General Meetings (AGM). After noting down queries raised by shareholders, he used to reply one by one mentioning the name of the shareholder. Sometimes his reply elicited laughter from the whole meeting hall. Once in reply to a question from a lady shareholder “ Why Taj Group Hotels are not going for profitable marriage parties,in a big way?” Mr.Tata replied “ I don’t have any experience in this regard, will tell Bickson? ( the then CEO of Taj Group Hotels) to look into it!!!”

?An unruly shareholder at the Tata Power AGM was using the word “ Shame Shame” loudly all the time if any shareholder said any bad thing about the Company.? Mobile phone in his shirt pocket was blinking and he was talking to somebody all the time, giving him the commentary of the meeting. Mr.Tata also noticed that and when name of the said shareholder was announced as a Speaker, he ?told the shareholder “take instruction from your mentor and then ask questions!”Everybody present at the meeting looked at the shareholder and unable to give any appropriate reply, he sat down without raising any point!!!

?One Shareholder at the Tata Motors AGM started talking about negative side of Tata Cars. Mr.Tata repeatedly told him that if you have any point about accounts, you may ask. As regards technicalities of cars are concerned, after the meeting , our senior executives will meet you and clarify our position. But he was adamant and continued with bad comments about cars produced by the Company. Then Mr.Tata asked him “ which car you drive ?” After some persuasion he disclosed ‘Mercedes E-class.’ Hearing this he said “ So,you are comparing our cars with Mercedes E-class!!!” The shareholder was not ready for the said reply, lost his word and sat down.

?TATA MOTORS took control of British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) from Ford for USD2.3 billion during 2008, the year of the global financial crisis. At the AGM I became very critical of the said takeover and asked Tatasaab ,whether it will be a burden for TATA MOTORS in the long run due to slowdown noticed in the luxury car market during the period. At the time of replying he became philosophical and said ‘ Tamal, one day or one year is not everything in the life of a man or a company. There will always be light at the end of the tunnel. Please keep faith on us and we will deliver.” And then it was history. TATA MOTORS turned it around and it is being treated as a prized possession of the group.

?Tata Steel started developing Dhamra Port jointly with Larsen &Toubro. It was a 50:50 Joint venture. Then environmentalists started raising points about protection of Olive Ridley Turtles, there. Many of them including renowned personality like Admiral Ramdas ( Retd) attended a Tata Steel AGM and most of them started raising queries about steps taken for protection of Olive Ridley Turtles. Noticing the pandemonium Mr.Tata stood up and addressing Admiral L Ramdas said “ We don’t want to hide anything. We are also concerned about Olive Ridley Turtles and appointed? ‘International Union For Conservation Of Nature(IUCN)’ to look out into the issue. We are ready to share every information in this respect and am inviting you and other shareholders to be there to look into the issue. Our CEO Muthuraman will be there to help all of you to quell the issue.” Hearing the strong ?reply, those environmentalists became silent, started giving their names to volunteers for visit to Dhamra and the question- answer session about accounts started peacefully.

?Later in 2014, IUCN in their report titled “Protecting the Olive Riddle Turtle – The Story of Dhamra Port “ mentioned the following --

“In many ways, the work to save turtles at Dhamra Port could not have happened without the strong support of Ratan Tata, then Chairman of the Tata Group, and B. Muthuraman, Vice Chairman of Tata Steel. They initiated the effort to ensure the port would not harm the turtles and together they led from above to ensure corporate support was there throughout the process.”

During 2014, Adani Group took control of Dhamra Port after buying stakes from Tata Steel and? Larsen & Toubro.

During the Singur imbroglio, shareholders at the Tata Motors AGM were very critical about his decision to start? Nano plant at Singur, West Bengal. One shareholder after another started raising nasty queries about the proposed plant and toxic? industrial environment in West Bengal. When my turn came ,I said ‘ Politicians may come and go and they may say anything, but, the people of West Bengal treats you as an icon and will do so in future also.’ For the first time I noted in his face some positive change.

Now, I want to share the love, affection and respect showered on a small person like me by the legend. I regularly attended meetings either in Kolkata or Mumbai, chaired by him and took part in the deliberations. Initially he used to address me as Mr.Majumder which after passing of time became Tamal .

Before meeting him ,I heard so many stories about him like ‘He gave 2-3 minutes time most of the cases and it ends by shaking hands and saying hello.’ ‘He don’t like criticism!’ ‘Getting an appointment is really impossible’ etc. Despite hearing all those things, I sent him a mail seeking an appointment. To my utter surprise, within an week I got a call from his Secretariat confirming the appointment with him on a specific date at 3.30 PM . Its my habit of asking the duration of an? appointment, so that I may prepare myself accordingly. So, I asked her about the duration of the proposed meeting. ’30 minutes,she promptly replied’.? I thought I may have heard 3 minutes as 30 minutes! I again asked her about the duration and she ?replied ‘its 30 minutes.’ She also requested me not to share the information with anybody, I immediately agreed to that.

One day before the proposed appointment , I went to Mumbai. On the proposed date I reached the old Bombay House much early at around 2.30 PM and went to the lady at the Reception counter, who used to issue slip/s for entering the Office. I was in queue and when my turn came I told her ‘ madam, I have an appointment with Ratan Tata at 3.30 PM. I reached a bit early and waiting at the Lounge. Please inform his Secretariat in this respect.’ Noticing my dress and a plastic bag in hand , she became very surprise and in disbelief arrogantly asked me ‘ you have an appointment with Mr.Tata?’ I said ‘yes madam.’ Then she said ‘let me check’. I heard whispering and laugh behind me among persons in the queue. But the attitude of the lady changed quickly when she got confirmation from the Chairman’s Office and told me politely ‘Sir,please wait at the Lounge, one staff is coming from the Secretariat to receive you.’

Within some minutes, one staff came to take me to the Chairman’s office. At the entrance Mr.R Venkataramanan, Executive Assistant to Mr.Tata received me and said ‘boss will be here shortly to receive you’. At around 3.25 PM , in quite disbelief I noticed that the legend is coming slowly to receive me. After shaking my hand he asked me about my health and other general matters and we started walking towards the meeting room.? Mr.Venkataramanan also accompanied us. After we entered the room, one of his personal staff came with a tray with tea, cakes and other food items. I just took the tea cup from the tray. Looking at it Mr.Tata told his staff ‘saab to doodh nahi diya, black tea diya.’ I immediately responded saying ‘Sir, I asked for the black tea.’ ?

Then we started talking. It crossed 30 minutes time schedule and at around 40 minutes, he said ‘Tamal, I want to continue it for more time but, I have an appointment ‘ So, after conclusion of the meeting he accompanied me upto the ?Reception and told me ‘ From today Venkat will be in touch with you. We are ready to share all available informations with you. In case of non receipt of any information/report, please contact Venkat and he will do the needful.’ From that day, my journey started with the legend mainly through mails and visits . And Mr.Venkataramanan or Venkatsaab to me became my wellwisher and it is still continuing despite his change of Profile and Group.

After the meeting , I was in cloud nine and the first call I made to my beloved nephew Susnata whom I told him about the meeting. Later, I used to send Tatasaab a mail for a meeting during my visit to Mumbai and most of the time it was gladly accepted and all the time a time limit of 30 minutes were given to me. So, many sweet memories are there.

During March,2015 I requested Tatasaab to wish my son Diptodeep on his Sacred thread ceremony. One day before the ceremony, Diptodeep got a letter from Tatasaab where he wrote “...Hope that you really shine in your academic career and then in whatever field you decide to go into following the completion of your education. India will need people like you and I hope you will make your contribution to the country in a way that makes us all very proud.” ?

Once I complained about high handed attitude of a Company Secretary of the Group who put my questions raised at the meeting Chaired by him in the name of another person in the minutes of the AGM. His secretariat instructed him to apologise to me in writing and send a copy of the mail to them.

In every meeting chaired by him, after calling my name as a Speaker he used to ask me ‘ how many questions Tamal,100 ?’ and my immediate reply was‘ yes Tatasaab, but will ask 7-8 questions at the meeting and will send the remaining to your office through mail for reply.’

For every meeting, I used to prepare a detailed note, asked some questions at the meeting and send the note to his office through mail. Venkatsaab used to monitor, so that I may receive detailed reply from the Company management shortly. I never shared those replies with anybody and it remained with me only.

After his announcement of proposed retirement, I was feeling sad. So, before his retirement at the 73rd AGM of Tata Chemicals held on 22-08-2012, last AGM chaired by him in Mumbai, after asking some questions , I became sentimental and said ‘ Tatasaab, during my journey with the group, I have asked thousands of queries at those meetings Chaired by you, but believe me there was no malice in asking those queries. Despite that if any question/s ever hurt you then I am seeking unconditional apology today.’

After I finished the speech he took the microphone and said “ Tamal , you never hurt me. You raised so many questions at those meetings which helped us. We learnt a lot from you.? I used to tell my directors , why don’t they read Balance Sheet like you! Despite my retirement, there will be no change in attitude of the group towards people like you in future.” I became spellbound hearing those kind words about me and started crying silently. Many people came to me at the hall and said ‘you got the best reward from the legend at the meeting itself.’

The legend also sent me a letter , a week before his retirement, reiterated that the group learnt a lot from me and also jokingly mentioned in the letter that due to my speed in raising one query after another, many times, he was not being able to note down all the questions raised by me at those meetings !!!

I want to share one incident which will show how he treated everybody. Once, I went to meet him at the Tata Trusts office at Horniman Circle, Mumbai. ?Here also his secretariat allotted 30 minutes time for the said meeting. Nearly 15 minutes after the meeting, his personal staff Pandurang Gurav, entered the room and gave him a slip. I thought that the meeting may be over as some bigwig must be waiting outside to meet him. I told him ‘Sir we may wrap up the meeting now.’ To my utter surprise, he advised me to sit and told Panduji in hindi “ unko bhaithao,chai pilao. Majumder saab se baat khatam hone ke baat unko milenge.”And started continuing the conversation. After completion of 35 minutes , I stood up and after opening the door , I noted that the Indian head of a global softdrink company was waiting to meet him. Accidentally I knew the head, long ago we were in friendly terms. This type of attitude towards small people like me, showed that Tatasaab treats all his guests in the same manner, which is unthinkable in this corporate world.

He is God to me. So, at the meetings called for the outster of Cyrus Mistry as the Chairman of the Group I said “ I have nothing personal against Mistrysaab. He was also nice to me . But,I strongly believe that the legend whose association with the Group is more than Mistrysaab’s age, should get due respect. My God can do no wrong.”

Tatasaab celebrated his Birthday on the date of his retirement? with the employees of ?Tata Motor’s Pune plant.

Just before his retirement Tatasaab lamented by saying “ I am an introvert , kind of a private person, and I tried to be remain that way. Some of the media glare I could not escape, so I faced up to it as part of the job. But, in every other way, may be to some extent to the detriment of the group and myself, I stayed away from the media unless I had to. I avoided being an easily accessible person and , as a consequence , the group has probably not had the visibility and public relations positives that it should have garnered.” But, I strongly believe that it worked in the opposite direction and everybody looked at the Group and the Chairman with great respect.

?He is a booklover and used to read a lot. I always, on the date of every meeting, used to present him a new book and noticed happiness in his face. During September,2018, I bought a book titled “The Wit & Wisdom Of RATAN TATA” and ?and requested him to write some words. He took his pen and wrote inside the book “To my friend Tamal. With best wishes – Ratan N Tata, Sept,28,2018.” I immediately reacted to it and said ‘ I don’t want to be your friend.’He quipped ‘why?’ I replied ‘ you are a globally respected towering personality and I have no capability to be your friend.’ He smiled and said ‘ I always treat you as my friend.’

After every meeting, I wanted to touch his feet but he vehemently reacted to it saying ‘ a friend should not touch another friend’s feet.’ But, I was adamant all the time and touched his feet at the end.

Before the launch of my book titled ‘The Undercover Monk : A Journey Into Corporate Accounting’ last year, I sent him a mail seeking his blessings and he replied on 27-05-2022 mentioning “…Let me however take this opportunity to convey my best wishes to you for the successful launch of the book.”

The Government of India honoured Tatasaab with its second-highest civilian award , the Padma Vibhushan,in 2008, but they have not considered him till date ?for the highest civilian award , the Bharatratna, despite his contribution to the society as a whole. Tatasaab ?don’t bother about all these awards and is doing his duty for the upliftment of the poor and contributing through Tata Trusts for establishment of cancer hospitals all over India and also in many other activities.

After retirement from the Chairmanship of Tata Group JRD Tata said “ The one thing that has made? life worthwhile? for me is the feeling of being esteemed. Being loved is a great feeling. He said that his few years that may remain “ would be devoted to basking in the glow of the affection and respect I have received.”

Ratan Tata was very close to JRD Tata. He will also remain in the hearts of millions of Indians and foreigners all through his life and like JRD, his remaining life also “ would be devoted to basking in the glow of the affection and respect he has (I have) received.”

(Source – Beyond The Last Blue Mountain – R M LALA, The Wit And Wisdom Of Ratan Tata, Media and other Reports)

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