The Tata Group is about to get its sixth chairman. The $67.4-billion group comprising 90 operating companies in seven business sectors across 80 countries with a market capitalisation of $104.21 billion has had only five chairmen in its 140-year history, a rare occurrence in corporate history. Four of them were Tatas and one was a close relative of the Tatas.
Tata Central Archives has captured all these interesting facts as well as trivia through ?Tata Visionaries ? Scripting The Future?, an exhibition that was opened in Pune on Saturday by Tata Services chairman FN Subedar.
The legend starts with Jamesetji N Tata at the helm in 1887, followed by Sir Dorabji Tata between 1904 and 1932 and then Nowroji Sakatwalla from 1932 to 1983. The longest stint was by JRD Tata from 1938 to 1991, with Ratan N Tata succeeding him in 1991. Apart from the chairmen, others ? Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and Naval Tata ? too feature in the show.
Saying that when chairmen do not last more than five years, TR Doongaji, former MD of Tata Services and Tata Metal and Strips, who is now looking after the Tata Archives, adds that having only five chairmen has given the Tata group continuity of thought management, values and philosophy.
One common thread that runs through the generations is that there a larger purpose for doing business and generating profits has never been the sole reason for existence. ?Each chairman added to the company’s material side, but they never wavered from the Tata path,? points out Doongaji. High ethical standards, integrity, commitment to nation building and doing business keeping in mind the larger purpose were the path the Tata visionaries never wavered from and even the people of India expect the Tatas to do just that, he adds.
Over 200 photographs, personal items and belongings are on view and capture the entire Tata Group journey. Rajendra Prasad Narla, assistant archivist with the Tata Central Archives, which is part of the Tata Services, says there has been interest even from scholars and academicians from overseas in the Tatas since it has gone global and they are surprised to see the amount of work the archives has done.
It was JRD Tata and R M Lalla, who were the inspiration behind the archives that is now preserving the history of the group even as it is being made. A sound and light show is also planned to show the rich repository of audio visual history of the Tatas.