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Ratan Tata gets candid on nerves, rivals and Jeh
The venerable Tata Group Chairman admitting to being confused? Ratan Tata turned rarely candid at a conclave of entrepreneurs on Monday as he recounted his early days at the helm of the salt-to-software empire.
The venerable Tata Group Chairman admitting to being confused?
Ratan Tata turned rarely candid at a conclave of entrepreneurs on Monday as he recounted his early days at the helm of the salt-to-software empire.
In a candid admission, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata said that he was greatly confused when he took the mantle from the towering J.R.D. Tata in 1991.
“The feeling was of great confusion. What should I be to fit into the big mighty shoes?” the younger Tata said in response to a question by N. R. Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of software leader of Infosys Technologies, at the inauguration of the The Ind-US Entrepreneurs (TiE) summit.
Tata recounted the early days when he was being groomed to eventually take over the salt-to-software empire.
“Jeh never left the office (when I was there). He was beside me. For two years he was my wonderful mentor. My confusion was: how will I operate with Jeh?”
“Very often Jeh would sit on the chairman’s chair at board meetings and after five minutes he would realise it and vacate the seat (for me). Then the musical chair would go on. For me, there was always a public confusion, ” he said.
Ratan Tata also showed that he shared JRD’s impatient push for free-market policies, and underlined that some opposing it were, in fact, industrialists.
“We are still over-controlling the country (economy). We have a very strong vested interest group working against the interest of the country and unfortunately many of them are from the private sector,” Tata said without naming anyone.
The soft-spoken Ratan said JRD, known to be a no-nonsense leader, supported his successor on decisions. “He supported all my decisions including the controversial retirement age issue at Tata companies,” he said.
Ratan Tata had systematically cleaned up a sagging industrial satrapy by bringing in retirement and empowerment rules.
In the early days, Tata as chairman had to fight bitter boardroom battles with several top guns at Bombay House on the
retirement age issue and finally Tatas’ manager-veterans like Russy Mody, Darbari Seth and Ajit Kerkar had to go. And now Tata himself is set to retire under rules that he set himself.
Tata said he was a great admirer of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “If he had come back to power, it could have been an interesting phase,” he added.
Murthy said his wife, a former employee of the Tatas, was greatly relieved to see the elevation of Ratan Tata to fill JRD’s shoes.
“As an extremely diehard official at the Tatas she was greatly relieved when Ratan was named to continue the legacy of Tatas,” Murthy said.
