Ratan Tata, the Indian tycoon who built the global Tata Group, has died at the age of 86

Ratan Tata, the former chairman of India’s Tata Sons conglomerate, died in a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday night. He was 86 years old.

Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran confirmed Tata’s death and described him in a statement as a “friend, mentor and mentor.” He did not give a cause of death.

Tata was admitted this week to Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai, the city where he lives. Having just been hospitalized, Tata issued a statement on Monday saying that there was no reason to worry about his health and that he would be tested for age-related health problems.

Tata built his conglomerate into a conglomerate of nearly 100 companies, including India’s largest automobile company, a major private steel company and a leading service provider. The companies employ more than 350,000 people worldwide. In June 2008, Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3 billion.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Tata as a visionary leader, and a compassionate and wonderful person.

“He has provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most respected business houses. At the same time, his contribution has extended beyond the realms of residence,” Modi said on social media platform X.

“Tata has endeared himself to many people, because of his humility, kindness and unwavering commitment to the betterment of our society,” Modi said, referring to Tata’s philanthropic work.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Tata left behind an extraordinary business and philanthropic legacy, and was instrumental in mentoring and developing modern business leadership in India.

“My last meeting with Ratan Tata at Google, we talked about Waymo’s progress and his perspective was encouraging to hear,” Photosi told X.

“He really cared about making India better,” he said.

Tata companies include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power and information technology company Tata Consultancy Services.

Tata pioneered commercial aviation in India when it launched the airline in 1932 which later became Air India. The government took it later.

Tata Group bought state-owned Air India in 2021. It also started a full-service carrier, Vistara, with Singapore Airlines, but recently merged it with Air India.

In 2009, the company surprised the automotive industry launched the Tata Nano, a small car with a rear engine costing about 100,000 rupees (at that time it was $2,000). Advertised as a “people’s car,” it can seat five adults. Ratan Tata said it will provide a “safe, affordable, all-weather mode of transportation” to India’s millions of low-income and low-income consumers.

However, due to low sales of the small car, the company stopped its production in 2018.

Ratan Tata graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He joined the Tata Group in 1961 and succeeded JRD Tata as chairman of Tata Sons after his retirement in 1991.

In December 2012, Tata retired as chairman of Tata Sons. He served briefly as interim chairman from October 2016, following the ouster of Cyrus Mistry. He came out of retirement in 2017 when Chandrasekaran was appointed chairman.