Tata Group


Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Founded in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata, the company gained international recognition after purchasing several global companies. One of India's largest conglomerates, Tata Group is owned by Tata Sons. It is one of the biggest and oldest industrial groups in the country, founded 153 years back in 1868.
Each Tata company operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors and shareholders.
Significant Tata companies and subsidiaries include Tata Chemicals, Tata Communications, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Elxsi, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Voltas, Tata Cliq, Titan, Trent, Indian Hotels Company Limited, TajAir, TATA AutoComp systems Ltd, Vistara, Cromā and Indicash.

History

1868–1904

At the age of 29, Jamsetji Tata worked in his father's company. In 1870 with Rs.21,000 capital, he founded a trading company. Further he bought a bankrupt oil mill at Chinchpokli and converted it into a cotton mill, under the name Alexandra Mill which he sold for a profit after 2 years. In 1874, he set up another cotton mill at Nagpur named Empress Mill. He dreamed of achieving 4 goals, setting up an iron and steel company, a unique hotel, a world-class learning institution and a hydro-electric plant. During his lifetime, in 1903, the Taj Mahal Hotel at Colaba waterfront was opened making it the first hotel with electricity in India.

1904–1938

After Jamsetji's death, his older son Dorabji Tata became the chairman in 1904. Sir Dorabji established the Tata Iron and Steel company, now known as Tata Steel in 1907. Marking the group's global ambitions, Tata Limited opened its first overseas office in London. Following the founder's goals, Western India's first hydro plant was brought to life, giving birth to Tata Power. Yet another dream, Indian Institute of Science was established with the first batch admitted in 1911.

1938–1991

was made chairman of the Tata Group in 1938. Under his chairmanship, the assets of the Tata Group grew from US$101 million to over US$5 billion. Starting with 14 enterprises, upon his departure half a century later in 1988, Tata Sons had grown to a conglomerate of 95 enterprises. These enterprises consisted of ventures that the company had either started or in which they held controlling interest. New sectors such as chemicals, technology, cosmetics, marketing, engineering, and manufacturing, tea, and software services earned them recognition.
In 1952, JRD founded an airline, known as Tata Air Services. In 1953, the Government of India passed the Air Corporations Act and purchased a majority stake in the carrier from Tata Sons, though JRD Tata would continue as chairman till 1977.
In 1945, Tata Motors was founded, first focused on locomotives. In 1954, it entered the commercial vehicle market after forming a joint venture with Daimler-Benz. In 1968, Tata Consultancy Services was founded.

1991-present

In 1991, Ratan Tata became chairman of Tata Group. This was also the year of economic liberalization in India, opening up the market to foreign competitors. During this time, Tata Group began to acquire a number of companies, including Tetley, Corus Group, and Jaguar and Land Rover. In 2017, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was appointed chairman.

Chairman

The chairman of Tata Sons is usually the chairman of the Tata Group. As of 2020, there have been eight chairmen of Tata Group.
Tata Group of Companies has many subsidiaries. These subsidiaries function in almost all sectors. This section lists the Tata companies and details their business:

Chemicals

Tata Group has helped establish and finance numerous research, educational and cultural institutes in India, and received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. Some of the institutes established by the Tata Group are:
In 2008, Tata Group donated US$50 million to Cornell University for "agricultural and nutrition programs in India and for the education of Indian students at Cornell."
In 2010, Tata Group donated 2.20 billion to the Harvard Business School to build an academic and a residential building for executive education programmes on the institute's campus in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, now known as Tata Hall, is the largest endowment received by Harvard Business School from an international donor.
In 2017, Tata Consultancy Services donated an unprecedented $35 million grant to Carnegie Mellon University, the largest ever industry donation to the university, to collaborate on promoting next-generation technologies that will drive the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles.
, the former chairman of Tata Group|alt=Ratan-Tata
In 2017, the Tata Football Academy won the bid to form the Jamshedpur FC, a football club based on Jamshedpur of Jharkhand in the 4th edition of the Indian Super League.
In 2020, Tata Group has donated 1500 crores to PM Cares Fund to fight against COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Controversies and criticisms

The Tata Group has also attracted some controversy during its more than 150 years in operation, notably:

Munnar, Kerala

The Kerala Government filed an affidavit in the high court alleging that Tata Tea had "grabbed" forest land of at Munnar. The Tatas provided that they possessed of land, which they are allowed to retain under the Kannan Devan Hill Act, 1971, and there was a shortage of in that. The Chief Minister of Kerala V.S. Achuthanandan, who vowed to evict all on government land in Munnar, formed a special squad for the Munnar land takeover mission and started acquiring back properties. However, the mission was aborted due to both influential land-holders and opposition from Achuthanandan's own party.

Kalinganagar, Orissa

On 2 January 2006, Kalinganagar, Tribal Orissa villagers protested the construction of a new steel plant for Tata Steel on land historically owned by them. Some of the villagers had been evicted without adequate relocation. Police retribution was brutal: 37 protesters were injured and 13 killed, including 3 women and a 13-year-old boy. One policeman was hacked to death by a mob, after police had opened fire on protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets. Family members of the deceased villagers later claimed that the bodies had been mutilated during post-mortem examination.

Supplies to Burma's military regime

In December 2006, Myanmar's chief of general staff, General Thura Shwe Mann, visited the Tata Motors plant in Pune. In 2009, TATA Motors announced that it would manufacture trucks in Myanmar. Tata Motors reported that these contracts to supply hardware and automobiles to Burma's military were subsequently criticised by human rights activists.

Singur land acquisition

The Singur controversy in West Bengal was a series of protests by locals and political parties over the forced acquisition, eviction, and inadequate compensation to those farmers displaced for the Tata Nano plant, during which Mamata Banerjee's party was widely criticised as acting for political gain. Despite the support of the Communist Party of India state government, Tata eventually pulled the project out of West Bengal, citing safety concerns. Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, made land available for the Nano project.
On Aug 31, 2016, in a historic judgement, the Honorable Supreme Court of India set aside the land acquisition by the West Bengal Government in 2006 that had facilitated Tata Motors' Nano plant, stating that the West Bengal government had not taken possession of the land legally, and were now required to repossess and return it to local farmers within 12 weeks without compensation.

Dhamra Port, Odisha

The Port of Dhamara has received significant coverage, sparking controversy in India, and in Tata's emerging global markets. The Dhamra port, an equal joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro, has been criticised for its proximity to the Gahirmatha Sanctuary and Bhitarkanika National Park by Indian and international organisations, including Greenpeace; Gahirmatha Beach is one of the world's largest mass nesting sites for the olive ridley turtle, and India's second largest mangrove forest, Bhitarkanika, is a designated Ramsar site, and critics claimed that the port could disrupt mass nesting at Gahirmtha beaches as well as the ecology of the Bitharkanika mangrove forest.
TATA Steel employed mitigation measures set by the project's official advisor, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the company pledging to "adopt all its recommendations without exception" when conservation organisations asserted that a thorough environmental impact analysis had not been done for the project, which had undergone changes in size and specifications since it was first proposed.

Proposed soda extraction plant in Tanzania

In 2007, Tata Group joined forces with a Tanzanian company to build a soda ash extraction plant in Tanzania. Environmental activists oppose the plant because it would be near Lake Natron, and it has a very high chance of affecting the lake's ecosystem and its neighbouring dwellers, jeopardising endangered lesser flamingo birds. Lake Natron is where two-thirds of lesser flamingos reproduce. Producing soda ash involves drawing out salt water from the lake, and then disposing the water back to the lake. This process could interrupt the chemical makeup of the lake. 22 African nations signed a petition to stop its construction.

Epic Systems trade-secret case judgement

In April 2016, a U.S. Federal Grand Jury awarded Epic Systems a $940 million judgement against Tata Consultancy Services and Tata America International Corp. Filed 31 October 2014; the suit charged that "6,477 unauthorized downloads could be used to enhance Tata's competing product, Med Mantra." In 2017, U.S. District Court Judge William Conley reduced the Award to $420 million; the company states that the judgement is also being appealed, as "not supported by evidence presented during the trial and a strong appeal can be made to superior court to fully set aside the jury verdict.”

2018 NCLT verdict

In July 2018, the National Company Law Tribunal, which "adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies," issued a verdict in the company's favor on charges of mismanagement leveled in 2016 by ousted chairman, Cyrus Mistry.