Indian Tycoon Ratan Tata has died aged 86, at Mumbai hospital. He led the conglomerate Tata Group, for more than two decades. Tata one of India’s most internationally recognised business leaders with annual revenues in excess of $100bn ( £76.5 bn). Current chairman of Tata Sons Natarajan Chandrasekaran  added “ On behalf of the entire Tata family, I extend out deepest condolences to his loved ones. His legacy will continue to inspire us as we strive to uphold the principles he so passionately championed”.

During his tenure as Chairman of Tata Group, the conglomerate made several high-profile acquisitions, including the takeover of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, UK-based car brands Jaguar, Land Rover, and Tetley, the world’s second-largest tea company.

In 2012, he retired as chairman of the group and was appointed chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company.

On February 6, 2018, Prince Charles wanted to give Ratan Tata the Lifetime Achievement award for Philanthropy at Buckingham Palace under the auspicious of British Asian Trust. Mr. Tata did not come saying his Tango and Tito his dogs one of them had fell terribly ill. He says I can’t leave them and come. Prince Charles said that is the man Ratan is. That is why the house of Tata what it is and that is why it is on stable course.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Tata as a “visionary business leader, a compassionate soul and an extraordinary human being”.

Paying tribute  on X (Twitter), Modi said “ countless interactions” with Tata and said he was “extremely pained” by his death.

Ratan Tata born in a traditional Parsi family in 1937, and studied architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University in the US. In 1962, he joined Tata Industries – the promoter company of the group – as an assistant  and spent six months training at a company plant in Jamshedpur. Then he went to work at the Tata Iron and Steel Company ( now Tata Steel), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and National Radio and Electronics ( NELCO).

In 1991, JRD Tata, who led the group for over half a century, appointed Ratan Tata as his successor. “JRD was my great mentor… he was like a father and a brother to me- and not enough has been said about that”. Tata said to a reporter recently.

The business tycoon passionately  loved fast cars and planes, also a lover of dogs.

He was praised for his simplicity, in 2022,  when was travelling in a Nano car- one of the world’s cheapest cars, now mostly remembered as one of Tata’s failed dreams –the video went viral on social media.