The Hindu : National : Love in America: Ratan Tata looks back

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Sunday, Oct 17, 2004

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Love in America: Ratan Tata looks back

NEW DELHI, OCT. 16. The Tata Sons chairman, Ratan N. Tata, today spoke of having once found his love in the United States while he was studying to be an architect. ``Yes,'' he told the television channel CNN today when asked a personal question, whether he had found his love in the U.S.

Mr. Tata, a bachelor at 66, who succeeded J.R.D Tata to head India's largest industrial group for over a decade, said: ``Yes. At that time... But I had to come back to India. The inevitable did not happen, and so that ended there.'' Remembering his youth, Mr. Tata said that California holds a special interest in his life as that was where he found love during his student days. ``California has some very fond memories and one of them was the highly technical environment that existed in southern California,'' Mr. Tata said. The easy, warm and casual lifestyle of the place had fascinated him, he said.

Mr. Tata took a degree in architecture from Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York State, in 1962 when he was 25, and the same year joined the Tata Group and worked his way up the corporate ladder. Later he completed an advanced management programme from Harvard University in 1974-75. By then he was 38. He had left India when he was 15.

Frustration

Mr. Tata said in the same interview to the American channel that he feels ``frustrated'' about his inability to do enough for the uplift of the poor in the country. ``I am very much a nationalist. I am very proud of being an Indian. I feel very warmly to uplift the quality of life of the people of India. And that is why the frustration to do something more,'' he said.

While his firms produce cars and steel, among other things, Mr. Tata feels working for the rural poor was what he wanted to do. He said: ``You get involved in running a business and trying to be one of the better companies in producing cars or steel, or telecom or businesses of that nature. All of which hopefully we run in a way that is for the benefit of the country. But all you have to do is to go into the rural areas of India and ask yourself, `Am I really doing anything that makes something happen there? Can I bring drinking water to those areas? Can I do something in providing more productive food or raising the level of nutrition,' and you feel frustrated. You do not have the wherewithal or infrastructure yourself to do it.''

On life

Asked whether life is about making a difference or making profit, Mr. Tata said: ``It is about profit as I have a responsibility towards stakeholders but it goes beyond that.''

``Some of our companies operate for profit but they also exercise a strong sense of social responsibility. They have earmarked a part of their profit for these activities,'' he said. &

UNI, PTI

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