Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, 71, Chairperson of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group a multi-billion dollar conglomerate is back in the news again. This time he is back in the news for a different reason. This time he is in news for giving $50 million to his alma mater Cornell University  in New York. The $50 million is split in two parts: $25 million will go towards establishing a scholarship for Indian students to study at Cornell and the other $25 million is towards the Tata-Cornell initiative in Agriculture and Nutrition. You can read more about this at Sajaforum.2008 will go down as a memorable year for Ratan Tata and he has been in the limelight for various reasons. First, it was the introduction of Nano car, the world’s cheapest car in January of this year. Second there was their decision to establish Nano’s manufacturing plant in West Bengal and the ensuing brouhaha  that followed. And finally Tata pulled out of West Bengal and took his business to a different state: Gujarat. And then there is Tata’s open letter to the people of West Bengal. Tata’s pulling out of West Bengal did not go unnoticed by western media. Robyn Meredith of Forbes dubbed Tata’s debacle in West Bengal as India taking two steps backward and the Financial Times dubbed this episode as a Pyrrhic victory for Indians. It has not been an easy ride for Mr. Tata as many business writers have pointed out in various profiles about him.  It was not until he was in his late 50s that he got a chance to demonstrate his business acumen and creative approach to solving problems. He studied Architecture at Cornell University and returned to India in 1962 to work for the steel mills that the Tatas owned. In an interview with Charlie Rose Mr. Tata pointed out that his training as an architect helped him solve problems in a creative manner. An early and firm believer of opening up Indian economy Mr. Tata was often criticized for his point of view on how India should progress. He became chairperson of Tata Sons in 1991 around the time that India liberalized its economy.  He admits in this Charlie Rose interview that many of his friends started distancing themselves from once again when he announced his plan to introduce the Nano because of their fear of failure. Nobody wants to be associated with failure was the point he was making in that segment of the interview.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California, as well as the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS and the Program Board of the Gates Foundation’s India AIDS Initiative. Mr. Tata is a member of the Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange and the International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, and of the advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, JP Morgan Chase and Rolls Royce. Mr. Tata serves as President of the Court of the Indian Institute of Science and Chairman of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.  Mr. Tata is a bachelor and lives in Mumbai, India.