Ratan Tata: Indian tycoon who took his empire global, dead at 86

New Delhi
CNN
 — 

Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Group, has died at the age of 86, according to a statement from the firm.

The industrialist rose to global prominence with a series of high-profile international deals. In 2008, he famously oversaw Tata Motors’ purchase of British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford (F).

“It is with a profound sense of loss that we bid farewell to Mr Ratan Naval Tata, a truly uncommon leader whose immeasurable contributions have shaped not only the Tata Group but also the very fabric of our nation,” said the statement issued Wednesday.

In a post on X, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted to Tata’s passing, calling him a “visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being.”

“He provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses,” he wrote.

Born in 1937 to a family of Parsis, an ethno-religious group of Persian descent in India who follow the Zoroastrian religion, Tata graduated from Cornell University where he studied architecture and structural engineering.

He returned to India in 1962 and joined the family firm, which was founded by his great grandfather in 1868. From those humble beginnings, Tata has been responsible for India’s first steel plant, its first luxury hotel and first domestic airline.

“I think the one thing the family has done is it created a lot of industries in the early days, prior to independence, which were national industries,” Tata told CNN’s Sara Sidner in a rare interview in 2011. “And then gave most of it away in philanthropic grants. And that’s been something that’s been carried on by their successors through the years.”

Tata took over as chairman in 1991, the same year India unleashed major economic reforms, including devaluing the rupee, to open its economy to the world. And as India looked increasingly outward, so did Tata.

In 2000, the group acquired British firm Tetley, owner of one of the largest global tea brands, for $432 million. Seven years later, Tata Steel prevailed in a $12.1 billion battle for control of Corus, a British steel company.

Tata retired as group chairman in 2012 and was chairman emeritus of holding company Tata Sons before his death. Since stepping down from day-to-day duties, the businessman had been throwing himself into improving the lot of India’s many stray animals.