Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (29 July 1904 – 29 November 1993) was a French born Indian industrialist, philanthropist, aviator and former chairman of

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

. Born into the

Tata family The Tata family is an Indian business family, based in Mumbai, India. The parent company is Tata Sons, which is the main holding company of the Tata Group. About 65% of the stock in these companies is owned by various Tata family charitable trust ...

of India, he was the son of noted businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his wife

Suzanne Brière Suzanne RD Tata (nee Brière, 1880–1923), also known as Sooni Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, was the French wife of Indian businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata. She is known for being the first woman in India to drive a car, in 1905. Life and backgroun ...

. He is best known for being the founder of several industries under the Tata Group, including

Tata Consultancy Services Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in information technology services and consulting. Headquartered in Mumbai, it is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 ...

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, cars, trucks, vans, and busses, buses. T ...

, Titan Industries, Tata Salt,

Voltas Voltas Limited is an Indian multinational home appliances company, headquartered in Mumbai. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells products including air conditioners, air coolers, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, micro ...

and

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

. In 1982, he was awarded the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and in 1955 and 1992, he received two of India's highest civilian awards: the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons w ...

and the

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ) is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distin ...

. These honours were bestowed on him for his contributions to Indian industry.

Early life

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was born on 29 July 1904 to an Indian

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

family in Paris, France. He was the second child of businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife, Suzanne "Sooni" Brière. His father was the first cousin of

Jamsetji Tata Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate. He established the city of Jamshedpur. Born into a Zoroastrian Parsi family in ...

, a pioneer industrialist in India. He had one elder sister Sylla, a younger sister Rodabeh and two younger brothers Darab and Jamshed (called Jimmy) Tata. His sister, Sylla, was married to

Dinshaw Maneckji Petit Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, 1st Baronet (30 June 18235 May 1901) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist who founded the first textile mills in India. He was part of the Petit family and became the first Petit baronet. He founded the "P ...

, the third baronet of Petits. As his mother was French, he spent much of his childhood in France and as a result, French was his first language. He attended the Lycée ''Janson-de-Sailly'' in Paris; one of the teachers at that school mistook him for being Egyptian and used to call him ''L'Égyptien''. Tata's family also purchased a house on the beach in

Neufchâtel-Hardelot Neufchâtel-Hardelot (; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France about south of Boulogne. The commune's western border is the English Channel. History Harriet Quimby, the first woman to fly acros ...

where the family would sometimes live until 1917. Tata was also neighbors with

Louis Bleriot Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

. Tata attended the

Cathedral and John Connon School The Cathedral and John Connon School is a co-educational private school founded in 1860 and located in Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra.Mumbai, Bombay. In 1917 he and his family moved to

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and lived there for two years while he attended an American school. When his father joined the Tata company he moved the whole family to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. During this time, J. R. D.'s mother died at the age of 43 while his father was in India and his family was in France. After his mother's death, Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata decided to move his family to India and sent J. R. D. back to England for higher studies in October 1923. He attended a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

, and later enrolled at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and was interested in studying Engineering. However, as a citizen of France J. R. D. had to enlist in the

French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

for at least a year. In between grammar school and his time in the army, he spent a brief spell at home in Bombay. After joining the French Army he was posted into a regiment of spahis. Upon discovering Tata could not only read and write French and English, but could type as well, a colonel had him assigned as a secretary in his office. After his time in the French Army, Tata planned to return to Cambridge and complete his studies, but his father decided to bring him back to India and he joined the Tata Company. In 1929, Tata renounced his French citizenship and became an Indian citizen. In 1930 Tata married Thelma Vicaji, the niece of Jack Vicaji, a colourful lawyer whom he hired to defend him on a charge of driving his

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

too fast along Bombay's main promenade, Marine Drive. Previously he had been engaged to Dinbai Mehta, the future mother of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' editor Shapur Kharegat. While he was born to a Parsi father, and his French mother converted to

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

, J. R. D. was

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

. He found some Parsi religious customs like their funeral rites and their exclusiveness irksome. He adhered to the three basic tenets of Zoroastrianism, which were good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, but he did not profess belief or disbelief in God.

Career

When Tata was in tour, he was inspired by his friend's father, aviation pioneer

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...

, the first man to fly across the English Channel, and took to flying. On 10 February 1929, Tata obtained the first license issued in India. He later came to be known as the "Father of Indian

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, which can be both private and commercial. Most countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and ...

". He founded India's first commercial airline, Tata Airlines in 1932, which became

in 1946, now India's national airline. He and

Nevill Vintcent Nevill Vintcent OBE DFC (1902 – 29 January 1942) was a South African aviator and airline founder. He was the son of Charles Vintcent, a South African cricketer. Early life Nevill Vintcent, a South African, born in 1902, entered Osborne ...

worked together in building

Tata Airlines Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, al ...

. They were also good friends. In 1929, J. R. D. became one of the first Indians to be granted a commercial's license. In 1932 Tata Aviation Service, the forerunner to Tata Airline and Air India, took to the skies. That same year he flew the first commercial mail flight to Juhu, in a

de Havilland Puss Moth The de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth is a British three-seater high-wing monoplane aeroplane designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company between 1929 and 1933. It flew at a speed approaching 124 mph (200 km/h), making it ...

. He piloted India’s first scheduled commercial air transport service in 1932. It lifted off from Drigh in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

with J. R. D. at the controls of a Puss on 15 October 1932. J. R. D. nourished and nurtured his airline baby through to 1953, when the government of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

nationalised Air India along with several other private Airlines and appointed JRD as its first Chairman. JRD continued as chairman for 25 years before being removed by Morarji Desai in 1978. He joined Tata Sons as an unpaid apprentice in 1925. In 1938, at the age of 34, Tata was elected Chairman of Tata Sons making him the head of the largest industrial group in India. He took over as Chairman of

Tata Sons Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. is the holding company of the Tata Group, headquartered in Mumbai. It owns the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants, and derives its reve ...

from his second cousin

Nowroji Saklatwala Sir Nowroji Saklatwala, (also spelt Saklatvala; 10 September 1875 – 21 July 1938) was an Indian businessman who was the third chairman of the Tata Group from 1932 till his sudden death in 1938. He was born in Bombay into a Parsi family, the ...

. For decades, he directed the huge Tata Group of companies, with major interests in steel, engineering, power, chemicals and hospitality. He was famous for succeeding in business while maintaining high

ethical standards Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied ethics ...

– refusing to bribe politicians or use the

black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...

. Under his chairmanship, the assets of the Tata Group grew from US$100 million to over US$5 billion. He started with 14 enterprises under his leadership and half a century later on 26 July 1988, when he left, Tata Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or in which they had controlling interest. He was the trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust from its inception in 1932 for over half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia's first cancer facility, the Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer, Research and Treatment, Bombay in 1941. He also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences ( TISS, 1936), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research ( TIFR, 1945), and the National Center for Performing Arts. In 1945, he founded

. In 1948, Tata launched Air India International as India's first international airline. In 1953, the Indian Government appointed Tata as Chairman of

and a director on the Board of

Indian Airlines Indian Airlines was a state-owned airline in India that later became a division of Air India Limited before ultimately ceasing operations. It was based in Delhi and focused primarily on domestic routes, along with several international servic ...

– a position he retained for 25 years. For his crowning achievements in aviation, he was bestowed with the title of Honorary Air Commodore of India. Tata cared greatly for his workers. In 1956, he initiated a programme of closer 'employee association with management' to give workers a stronger voice in the affairs of the company. He firmly believed in employee welfare and espoused the principles of an eight-hour working day, free medical aid, workers' provident scheme, and workmen's accident compensation schemes, which were later, adopted as statutory requirements in India. He was also a founding member of the first Governing Body of NCAER, the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956. In 1968, he founded

as Tata Computer Centre. In 1979,

Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with its primary operations based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel ...

instituted a new practice: a worker being deemed to be "at work" from the moment he leaves home for work until he returns home from work. This made the company financially liable to the worker for any mishap on the way to and from work. In 1987, he founded Titan Industries.

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

was also selected as a UN Global Compact City because of the quality of life, conditions of sanitation, roads and welfare that were offered by Tata Steel.

Support of emergency powers in 1975

Tata was also supportive of the declaration of emergency powers by Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

, in 1975. He is quoted to have told a reporter of the Times, "things had gone too far. You can't imagine what we've been through here—strikes, boycotts, demonstrations. Why, there were days I couldn't walk out of my house into the streets. The parliamentary system is not suited to our needs."

Awards and honours

Tata received a number of awards. He was conferred the honorary rank of

group captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

by the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

in 1948, was promoted to the

Air Commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

rank (equivalent to

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

in the army) on 4 October 1966, and was further promoted on 1 April 1974 to the

Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...

rank. Several international awards for aviation were given to him – the Tony Jannus Award in March 1979, the Gold Air Medal of the in 1985, the Edward Warner Award of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Canada in 1986 and the

Daniel Guggenheim Medal The Daniel Guggenheim Medal is an American engineering award, established by Daniel and Harry Guggenheim. The medal is considered to be one of the greatest honors that can be presented for a lifetime of work in aeronautics. Its first recipien ...

in 1988. He received the

in 1955. The French

was bestowed on him in 1983. In 1992, because of his selfless humanitarian endeavours, Tata was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the

. In his memory, the Government of Maharashtra named its first double-decker bridge the ''Bharatratna JRD Tata Overbridge'' at Nasik Phata, Pimpri Chinchwad. Following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 1975-1977 Emergency, in which she controversially pursued forced sterilizations as a form of

population control Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...

, Tata built on these efforts by ordering Tata Steel to open nine

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

centers in 1984. Employees and their non-employee partners were compensated for undergoing sterilization, and factory plant departments were awarded for achieving the lowest fertility rate. While such incentives arguably violated the

medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...

principle of personal bodily autonomy, Tata was awarded the 1992 United Nations Population Award for his efforts.

Death

Tata died in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland of a kidney infection on 29 November 1993, at the age of 89. He said a few days before his death: ''"Comme c'est doux de mourir"'' ("How gentle it is to die"). Upon his death, the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

was adjourned in his memory, an honour not usually given to persons who are not members of parliament. He was buried at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

in Paris. In 2012, Tata was ranked the sixth " The Greatest Indian" in an '' Outlook magazine'' poll, "conducted in conjunction with CNN-IBN and History18 Channels with BBC."

References

Bibliography

External links

Tata Family Tree

Brief Lifestory of JRD Tata
* *

Biography at tata.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tata, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy 1904 births 1993 deaths Aviation history of India Aviation pioneers Indian people of French descent Indian aviators Indian chief executives Parsi people from Mumbai Businesspeople from Mumbai Indian agnostics Recipients of the Bharat Ratna Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in trade & industry Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Businesspeople in steel Businesspeople in information technology Businesspeople in coffee Chief executives in the automobile industry Indian founders of automobile manufacturers Bessemer Gold Medal Tata Group people Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Businesspeople from Paris Cathedral and John Connon School alumni Indian Freemasons Naturalised citizens of India Indian aviation businesspeople