J.R.D. Tata

J.R.D. Tatawas an Indian businessman and aviation pioneer who created India’s first airline and oversaw the dramatic expansion of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial empire.

Tata was born into one of India’s wealthiest families, but his mother was French, and he spent much of his childhood in France. As a result, French was his first language. It was while on a summer vacation that he first met aviation pioneer Louis Blériot, and the encounter kindled an interest in aircraft that eventually became a lifelong passion. After studying in France, Japan, and England, Tata served in the French army for a year. He had planned to study engineering at the University of Cambridge but was compelled to return to India to assume his role in the Tata family business in 1925. Established in 1868 by Tata’s great-grandfather, the Tata Group was one of India’s largest business conglomerates.

Within a year his father had died, and Tata took his place as director of Tata Sons, the group’s flagship company. Tata surrendered his French citizenship in 1929, and that same year he became one of the first Indians to gain a commercial pilot’s license. In 1932 Tata established Tata Air Mail, a courier service connecting Karachi, Ahmadabad, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Madras (now Chennai). In 1938, when Tata took charge as chairman of the Tata Group, he was, at age 34, the youngest member of the Tata Sons board. He rebranded his airmail service as Tata Airlines, making it India’s first domestic carrier, and in 1946 he changed the rapidly growing company’s name to Air India. Over the next half-century Tata strengthened existing businesses such as steel, power, and hotels and drove the group to diversify its interests to include chemicals, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and information technology. When Air India was nationalized in 1953, Tata was retained as chairman, a position that he held until 1978. In 1991 he stepped down from Tata Sons at age 87; the more than 80 companies that constituted the Tata Group empire generated approximately $4 billion annually.

Under his guidance, several institutions were established to promote scientific, medical, and artistic endeavours in India. These included the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, the National Institute of Advanced Sciences, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. He was an early advocate of family planning (politically an often unpopular position), and in 1971 he created the Family Planning Foundation. Tata received a number of awards, including the Padma Vibhushan (1957), the Daniel Guggenheim Medal for aviation (1988), and the United Nations Population Award (1992). In 1992 he received India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.