

Ratan Tata, Head of $100B Tata & Sons, Retires - azifali
http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/ratan-tata-toast-of-india-inc-bids-adieu/article4248705.ece

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jacquesm
If there is one guy on the planet that has absolutely deserved to rest on his
laurels for a bit it is Ratan Tata. I've been reading quite a bit about him in
the last few weeks and compared to most western CEOs that I'm familiar with
this guy is much more ethical and a fascinating person.

He reminds me of Ray Anderson
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Anderson_%28entrepreneur%29>).

They say that nice guys finish last, in a world where a saying like that gets
a lot of traction it is great to see a man like Ratan Tata prove that not only
can nice guys finish first, they can do so coming from a substantial
disadvantage. Imagine, Tata bought out Corus steel (which in turn had bought
out Hoogovens Steel), one the worlds largest steel factories.

Buying out a first world competitor is a pretty good move from a 3rd world
country.

If you feel like reading some interesting stuff you could do worse than typing
'Ratan Tata' into google and digging in, definitely recommended.

~~~
pavanky
> Buying out a first world competitor is a pretty good move from a 3rd world
> country

You just called India a 3rd world country ? _sigh_

~~~
SatvikBeri
The etymology of the phrase "3rd world country"[1] is interesting, and isn't
directly related to economic strength. According to the original definition,
India is indeed a 3rd world country.

A second definition of 3rd world is "developing countries" [2]. India still
falls into this definition, but it's rapidly approaching "developed country"
status.

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World#Third_Worldism>

[2]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_Countries>

~~~
pavanky
I have read these articles before. But these definitions are from a different
time and have an unnecessary stigma attached to them (How did non aligned
countries end up meaning poor ?).

I don't think India is a developed (what does this even mean anymore) country,
nor will it be one in the near future. But I think calling one of the largest
economies (4th in PPP, 9th in nominal gdp) as third world a bit simplistic..

~~~
nodemaker
Thats funny because there are so many third world countries, with higher per
capita incomes, better infrastructure and far better legal systems than India.

~~~
pavanky
By the same measure, there are may be a dozen countries ahead of USA. So what
is your point ?

~~~
nodemaker
My point is that there are third world countries (and they are universally
regarded so) which are better than India in a lot of respects. I am indian, I
have travelled to some of the other third world countries and have seen it
myself.

So basically, India is not even the better one among third world countries.

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madmax108
For those who do not know about him, Ratan Tata is a role model for many
entrepreneurs in his homecountry (India). He is renowned for his practicality
and down-to-earth attitude, despite being the head of a multi billion $
conglomerate.

Infact he spent his last day on the shop floor of Tata Motors rather than at
some lavish retirement party (as most CEOs today do)[1]

Massive respect for the man who's led the conglomerate for decades and brought
it to the forefront in multiple sectors, and all this while keeping values and
morality at the core of his business logic.

Wish him all the very best for all of his future endeavours!

[1] <https://twitter.com/RNTata2000/status/284648010657456128>

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kamaal
For those who don't know why this is important or a big thing.

1\. He/His family is a very big role model for every aspiring entrepreneur in
India.

2\. They have a history of over a 150 years of building not just hundreds of
billion dollar business but also contributing a lot back to the society.

3\. They have built numerous hospitals across India, which often come across
as life savers for many middle class/poor people. Especially cancer cure
hospitals.

4\. They also built one of the premiere science institutes in India. In
Bangalore.

5\. They more or less built and entire city called Jamshedpur, in the process
of setting up their business providing lively hood several thousands of
people.

6\. They were phenomenal in pioneering the national airline of India.

7\. They set up many high ethical standards regarding treating workers well.
Infact getting 8 hour work day, health care etc were all their standards now
common in government offices in India.

And I can just go on.

Once in generation leaders have been produced by their family. Which are not
just changing the face of India but that of the world now.

For those who want to know what contributions they have towards software. They
were one of the earliest software services companies in India named Tata
consultancy services. To know why that is so important. Together with Infosys
and Wipro they defined and shaped the entire software scene in India.

Today youngsters troll on these large Mega corps. But those three companies
did much of bulk of Indian software work throughout 80's and 90's. They built
bulk of the infrastructure. They built training facilities, trained people and
built a lot of confidence that Indians have it in them to compete at the
global stage. They even shaped the government policy to a large extent.

Without all that, much of what is possible in Indian IT and pursued with
confidence not just in services, but also products couldn't have even been
remotely possible.

You could almost say Narayana Murthy, Ratan Tata and Azim Premji could take
the all the accolades for building such a bold platform for Indian software
engineers to deliver at a global level now.

~~~
iwwr
What would you say about the criticism that people like Tata, Mittal or Ambani
can get ahead by virtue of being powerful enough to evade the crippling permit
and protectionism imposed by the Indian state. Such people have an interest
not to open up India to competition too quickly as to jeopardize their
businesses. In other words, they are part of the power structure that's
preventing or retarding reforms.

Eventually, they will want to open up the local markets and reform the
bureaucracy, but at a slow enough pace as not to interfere with their quasi-
monopoly position. Slow growth or stagnation is producing a net "rent" for the
powerful few, while prolonging misery for the rest.

~~~
easternmonk
We can hardly put the blame in on large corporations for halting reforms. The
only commitment that Tatas and Ambanis have is to maximize the share holder
value and if they have a monopoly in the market they can do it much more
easily. As long as these companies do not cross the line where they can get
implicated by court (such as bribing ministers) I think they are okay.

The responsibility to protect the interests of public is with the government
which is failing miserably at that task. The people of India too dont seem to
value freedom much. For example the anti-corruption movement in India supports
a larger government than a thinner one. They too are against reforms but want
more and more lokpals to supervise the existing failed structures.

When people are evading their responsibility to fight for their freedom
government will have no incentive it giving freedom to people. Corporations
never have that kind of obligation in any way. Name one large company in India
or elsewhere that has supported reforms that could lead to more competition in
their target markets ?

------
rgovind
Can someone explain, how in a country like India where corruption is
widespread, The Tatas built a $100B company without paying any bribes? Am I
missing something? I believe Govt officials in India are rapacious.

~~~
easternmonk
Powerful people are generally insulated from corruption unlike you and me.
They simple help each other out.

------
mandeepj
Now, we are talking about one legend here so it deserves the mentioning of
another great legend also as most of people here may not know about him -
Dhirubhai Ambani. The founder of another one of biggest conglomerates in India
- Reliance Industries. He achieved the same success, business penetration in
30 years that took tatas about 150 years. He recorded the fastest success ever
known in the business circles of India. Read more about him here -

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani>

~~~
factorialboy
The Ambani's are / were extremely corrupt. Hardly an inspiration to anyone.

~~~
arjn
thank you for saying that.

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mandeepj
Ratan Tata: Top 10 achievements under his leadership

[http://profit.ndtv.com/news/cheat-sheet/article-ratan-
tata-t...](http://profit.ndtv.com/news/cheat-sheet/article-ratan-tata-
top-10-achievements-under-his-leadership-315310)

------
monsterix
I would salute and remember Ratan Tata even for the last two years of his
work. He has achieved some of the most unthinkable awesome things as an
entrepreneur off India:

1\. Delivered Tata Nano, an awesome product built ground up that just works.

2\. The way they managed their injured employees, and even those not working
for them, after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Indian Government did not provide any support to the small tea-stall vendors,
beggars, railway employees and injured policemen. Ratan Tata did.

That is height of humanity shown by him, despite the urge to excel in
business. Amazing stuff.

~~~
gadders
What he did after the Mumbai terrorist attacks was amazing, and not widely
known outside of India (I only found out after an Indian colleague liked a
comment about it on facebook). You can see the full list here:
<http://rummuser.com/?p=3182> but a few examples:

The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs [One
lakh rupees translates to approx 2200 US $ ] in addition to the following
benefits:

a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents;

b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents anywhere in
the world.

c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their
lives.

Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation,
first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this
facility.

Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s
responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the
person required.

Relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway
station surroundings, just behind the Taj, including the “Pav- Bha jiâ” vendor
and the paan shop owners.

------
rikacomet
Tata was first of all a trading company only in 1898, now it is a diversified
business conglomerate, accusation of Corus Steel, Jaguar and Land Rover, and
recently a hostile big for a international hotel group are just how far
reaching the Tata has been.

The baton has been passed on to a new person now, lets see how it goes.
Mr.Mistry is like Mr.Cook of Apple, while Mr.RN Tata was like Mr.Steve Jobs of
Apple. Well thats the laymans perception of the new head.

~~~
FraaJad
you mean acquisition, not accusation.

~~~
rikacomet
haha, my bad :P thanks

~~~
jacquesm
And 'bid', not 'big'.

------
arjn
Apart from being a great business leader, Ratan is a good, decent person. I've
been told by someone very close to me who was a corporate pilot for him and
flew him around for several years.

------
garagemc2
I wish the best of luck to this man.

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raverbashing
His companies have advanced software development as much as CMMI

In short, absolutely nothing

~~~
deepuj
TCS (Tata's IT arm) has a revenue of $10 billion and employs 260000 people.
How can that amount to nothing? TCS builds software for a large number of
Fortune 500 companies. You would be surprised how much of software you use
daily is built in India.

~~~
mindjiver
It's getting better, but most of the code I see from TCS in our code base is
not very good. However I see lots of crappy code from all over the world so.

Main problem is that the best developers don't go to TCS or we just don't see
them.

~~~
kamaal
The main problem is the best developers go the highest bidders which are often
not Indian companies. Amazon, Google, Microsoft these are the ones offering
big bucks in India.

But they won't be able to hire anything more than a few tens of people every
year.

With several thousands of engineers coming out of colleges every years.
Without mass hiring firms like Wipro, Infosys and TCS we are screwed. Its a
fact nobody likes to admit.

Its also a myth that these companies don't have good work, I worked for one of
them. If you are genuinely passionate, you can do far better work than what is
portrayed.

And as I said, without these employers like these we would all be screwed.

Heck, without them doing all the work in the 80's and 90's we wouldn't
probably even stand a chance now.

~~~
ifmw
I personally saw a completely different reason for this, it wasn't that the
best developers didn't work for TCS or that the best developers worked for the
highest bidders.

For all the years we had TCS developers working with the team, our developers
stayed as developers and improved. Yet with TCS the status symbol there was to
be a manager. We had a lot of churn over the years as the more experienced
developers became with TCS, they stopped development and moved into a more
"prestigious" role as a manager and stopped coding.

~~~
kamaal
>>Yet with TCS the status symbol there was to be a manager.

That's because just like every where in the world. Power centers and money
paid is higher in the managerial levels than technical levels.

