Ratan Naval Tata

Ratan Naval Tata, KBE, is an Indian businessman who became chairman of the Tata Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate. He is a member of the prominent Tata family of Indian industrialists and philanthropists.
Born: December 28, 1937 (age 75), Mumbai
Nationality: Indian
Education: Harvard Business School, Cornell University, Harvard University, More
Awards: Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan
Siblings: Noel Tata

Ratan Tata is set to retire on Friday after 21 years as the group Chairman of the diversified conglomerate Tata Group. He has been responsible for making Tata Group a $ 100 billion empire. When he took over in 1991, the group had a revenue of about Rs 14,000 crore.
In March 1991, JRD Tata, an icon of the Indian industry, stepped down as the Tata Group Chairman to make way for a 54-year-old handsome, tall, over 6 feet, Cornell architecture graduate with the same illustrious surname, Tata.
Ratan Tata had left India at the age of 15 and returned 10 years later in 1962 to join the Tata group - working in the group's ailing textile mills, in the furnaces of Jamshedpur, reviving Nelco and 29 years later taking over as chairman.
Former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie says, "I remember that 20 to 25 years ago the Tatas were a collection of fiefdoms. These were very good people, but they were powers in their own right. Mr Darbari Seth was a formidable figure. Mr Rusi Modi, Mr Nani Pankhiwalia, these were wonderful people, but this was not a group. Ratan Tata slowly changed that or rather rapidly changed that nature of the group by bringing in persons of his own age group."
Those who know him describe him as a pioneer, a visionary and a leader passionate about technology. Ratan Tata proved that when he introduced the first 'made by India' car - the Indica and 11 years later the people's car - the Rs 1 lakh Nano.
But the fear of failure has never stopped Tata from giving his best. In an interview in 2007 he said, "I'm the one who took the big risks. You have to have a belief and see it to the end."