Tata Sons Limited:: Firm Characteristics Expressed Under Competition

Journal of Case Research vol:1 issue: i
Tata Sons Limited:

Firm Characteristics expressed under Competition
Amar K.J.R Nayak1
Abstract
The mainstream literature on strategy relating to firm performance is heavily

oriented towards the managerial competence and the way they make use of the internal
resources and capacities. While normal growth could be explained through the literature
of strategy and performance using the two factors viz., the environmental deterministic
approach and the employed managerial talent of the firms, the explosive growth of firms
in India and other developing countries does not appear to fit the explanation. This
compels us to examine if the approach of large firms have been positivist and that they
extensively influence and shape the larger environment including policies, regulation, and
socio-cultural behaviour of people. Further, it is important to examine the significant role
of other external actor-network of large owners/proprietors of the firms with reference to
the explosive growth of firms in India during the last about two decades. The case of
Tata Sons raises some important theoretical question on the basis of firm growth and
especially the explosive growth of relatively large business houses in the fast changing
regulatory and institutionally deficient but large developing countries.
1 Amar K.J.R.Nayak, Ph.D., Strategic Management, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.
1
Tata Sons Limited

Firm Characteristics expressed under Competition
The Tata way of doing business has remained to be the role model of doing business for
many in India and outside India. The Tatas have been reported to be one of the most
respectable business houses in the world. John Canning in his book 100 Great Modern
Lives had observed the same sentiment long before in the following words.
‘Probably no other family has ever contributed as much in the way of wise
guidance, economic development and advancing philanthropy, to any country
as the Tatas have to India, both before and since Independence’
The story of the Tatas and their business endeavours goes back to Jamshetji Nusserwanji,
who about 140 years back started a private trading firm in 1868 that laid the foundation
of today’s Tata Group of companies. Set up in 1917-18, Tata Sons Limited after 72 years
of operation, in 1990 had a total income of INR 98.35 crores, and profit after tax of INR
8.92 crores with total net asset of INR 84.92 crores only. Its income consisted of
commission, dividends and interest, income from services, rents and other incomes1. Tata
Sons has been the owner of the Tata name and the Tata trademark, which are registered
in India and several other countries. Apart from lending its brand name to group
companies as per the Brand Equity and Business Promotion Agreement, Tata Sons
activities has been to; to maintain shareholding in main operating companies, to invest in
operating companies to facilitate growth, and to promote the group's entry into new
businesses.2
Following the liberalization process in India begun by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 and then
with the watershed of liberalization in 1991, the company has had an explosive growth.
In about the last 18 years, Tata Sons has increased its income from INR 98.35 crores to
INR 4476.67 crores. It increased its profit after tax from INR 8.92 crores to INR 3379.80
crores. During the same period, Tata Sons increased its assets from INR 84.92 crores to
1
Tata Sons Limited, 72nd Annual Report, 1990.
2
http://www.tata.com/company/profile.aspx?sectid=DpOT+Lbrdvg= <accessed May 9, 2009>
2
INR 27093.49 crores3. See Exhibit 1 for growth of Tata Sons on key financial indicators4
for the period 1991-2008.
While the power of control of the Tata family through the two Managing Agents viz.,
Tata Sons and Tata Industries were clipped by the Government of India on April 2, 1970;
the house of the Tatas, have bounced back during the last 18 years of liberalization in
India to emerge as the leading business conglomerate of India. In 2008, Tata Sons
Limited along with Tata Industries, have financial holdings in 114 companies (see
Exhibit 2), whose operation spans across the world. Tata Sons Limited has not only
intensified its growth machine in India but has also expanded deeply to countries and
markets outside India, both in the industrially advanced countries and the developing
countries.
Comparative financial position on sales, PAT and total Assets of most of the Tata Sons
companies during the period 1990 to 2008 have shown remarkable growth. The financial
trends of 78 companies for three years viz., 1990, 2000, and 2008 are shown in Exhibit 3.
Individual companies where the Tata Sons have high stakes and strategic interest have
been performing superbly in the last about 20 years. The case of Tata Steel is a point in
case. Established in 1907, Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tata Steel) in 1931 had a profit
of only INR 0.19 crores and with total assets of INR 23.41 crores. After 50 years, in
1981, it had a profit of a 26.46 crores and assets of INR 550.48 crores. Ten years down
the line in 1991, that is after 85 years of operations, the company had a profit of INR
160.13 crores and assets of INR 2703.29 crores. Within the last 18 years, however, with
the onslaught of industrial and economic liberalization, Tata Steel has soared high with a
profit reaching INR 4687.03 crores and enhancing its asset base to INR 20,746.57 crores.
For details on growth in financial indicators of Tata Steel for the period 1931-2008, see
Exhibit 4. Many of its holding companies like TCS have surged in their performance in
the last about 10 years. The financial figures of sales, assets, PAT, PBDIT, investments,
investment abroad, foreign exchange earned, number of shares, and market capitalization
3
Tata Sons Limited, Annual Report, 2008
4
Please note that CMIE data may slightly vary from the data in the Company Annual Reports because of
data standardization / normalization followed by CMIE.
3
of the 13 large companies of Tata Sons for the period 1991-2008 are provided in Exhibit
5 -14.
It is quite mesmerizing to observe the performance of Tata Sons in the last 18 years.
What did the company do to achieve tremendous growth in a period of liberalization,
market uncertainties, imperfections in the intermediate markets and the regulatory
framework, and a poor image of Indian companies in foreign markets? How has the focus
of the Tata Sons and their Trusts changed over the years? How did the company leverage
the brand of the Tatas, goodwill created by the Tata Trusts and their social contribution,
bureaucrats-regulators-policy makers-legislators-business leaders’ network for achieving
growth? How was the house of the Tata companies reorganized and disciplined to
achieve the performance? Did the company have to breach the trust on its Trusts to
achieve some of its growth and profit objectives? How much did the stiff competition in
the industry and economy shape its methods, processes and style of management?
Trusts and Development activities of the Tatas

The Tatas have set up several trusts in India. In their philanthropic efforts, Jamsetji
Nussewanji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group of companies started the JN Tata
endowment scheme in 1892. This scheme was provided loan scholarship for higher
education. Of the 37 beneficiaries of this scheme, 15 joined the India Civil Services
during the British rule in India. Tata Group report that by 1924, a third of the ICS officers
in India were Tata scholars. In September 1898, Jamshetji pledged to offer about half his
personal wealth that is INR 30 lakhs (then 2 lakh pounds) to set up an institute of
research. After 13 years of this, with the generous donation of 300 acres of land from the
Maharaja of Mysore, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was established5.
The sons of Jamshetji followed the father on his philanthropic endeavours. Both his sons,
Sir Dorabji Tata and Sir Ratan Tata donated large amounts of their personal wealth to
form trusts for various public services in India. The Sir Ratan Tata Trust was established
in 1919, a year after the untimely death of the second son of Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata.
Later in 1932, Sir Dorabji Tata, the eldest son of Jamshetji Tata founded the Sir Dorabji
5
http://www.tata.com/ourcommitment/index.aspx?sectid=ei6stgDjpgA= <accessed May 10, 2009>
4
Tata Trust. Of the many trusts of the Tatas, these two have remained to be the most
prominent ones.
Through these trusts, the Tatas have been able to initiate several well known research
institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1911), Tata Institute of
Social Studies, Mumbai (1936), Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai (1941), Tata Institute
of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (1945), and International Institute of Population
Studies, Mumbai (1956). In the recent years, the Tatas have also set up the JRD Tata
Ecotechnology Centre, Chennai (1996) and plans to commission the Tata Medical
Centre, Kolkata by 20096. For details on the various activities and contributions of the
Tatas, see Exhibit 15-16. A number of Tata trusts were formed before the sixties. They
were not so active in the seventies and have begun new development initiatives in the
nineties. While most of the national institutions that were partially started by the Tata
trusts before the nineties were based in and around Mumbai, the new institutions
supported by the Tatas have now begun to spread to other parts of the country where their
business activities have increased substantially. These institutions have served the Tata
Sons as well as India in different ways.
As in 2008, while the Tata Sons controls about 114 companies, about 66 % of its equity
capital are held by the various trusts of Tata Sons like Sir Dorabji Tata, Sir Ratan Tata
and the members of the Tata family. For shareholders of Tata Sons Limited, see Exhibit
17 for the detailed break-up of shareholding of Tata Sons Limited (TSL).
Industrial Pioneers and Building of Goodwill

Being in trade and industry since 1868, the Tatas have had the business knowledge,
experience, and the power to influence on the industrial policy in India. Being the
pioneers in several industries, the Tatas were the natural choice of the bureaucrats and
policy makers of the country for consultation. Being a leading industrial house since the
early 20th century, the Tatas have commanded respect among the other business houses
and industry associations in the country.
6
http://www.tata.com/ourcommitment/articles/inside.aspx?artid=mDZESzKS/54= < accessed May 10,
2009>
5
The experience of the two world wars probably shaped the investment decision of the
Tatas to invest in two of the strategic sectors, viz., Airlines and Atomic energy. In 1932,
the Tatas started Tata Airlines that was later nationalized by the Government of India in
1953. Tata Airlines was renamed as Indian Airlines but the Government of India could
not find a better person than JRD Tata, who had deep interest and commitment in the
Airlines operations, to be the Chairman of Indian Airlines. Similarly, just before the first
atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima in 1945, the Tatas had approved to invest in Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research that was to research in mathematics and physics. Later
in 1957, over 60 scientists of TIFR were taken in by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre of
the Government of India.
The Tata Sons Limited has had illustrious Chairmen. The family tree of the Tatas and the
chairmen during the last 140 years of its existence is shown in Exhibit 18. In addition to
the past Chairmen, JRD Tata and Ratan Tata in the last 70 years of Indian industry have
served as role models through their achievements and contributions to industry and
society. JRD Tata had many accolades to his credit. From being the first registered pilot
from India, he went on to win the Bharat Ratna, the first ever businessmen to have won
this highest civilian award in India. Ratan Tata has already been showered Padma Bhusan
and Padma Vibhusan awards of India. A list of the various awards and recognition of
JRD Tata and Ratan Tata are listed in Exhibit 19. All these public recognitions from
India and outside India indeed go into making of a great brand of Tata Sons in the India
and outside.
Being in the business for about 140 years and being the pioneers in several industries in
India, the companies of Tata Sons have introduced several notable management practices
in their respective companies which later became standard in the Indian industry. The
eight hour working per day policy introduced in 1912 was enforced as a law in 1938 as
per the Indian Factories Act. Similarly, its policies on free medical aid, employee
welfare, maternity benefits, retiring gratuity, etc subsequently became norms in the
Indian industry. See Exhibit 20 for the employee welfare / schemes introduced by Tata
Sons and later adopted as standards in India. Tata Trusts of the first two generation of the
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Tatas and the leading role played by the holding companies of Tata Sons have been very
well knit to build and portray the brand of Tata Group.
Tata Sons shaping the Industrial Policies in India

The Tatas had laid a strong business foundation in India by 1930 with its main business
being in trading, textiles, spinning and weaving. It had also entered the business of steel,
hydro-electric power, oil & soap, and insurance. See Exhibit 21-22 for the business
ventures and the major milestones of Tata Sons. Operated by the various managing
Agents of Britain and several business houses like the Tatas, and the Birlas, the Indian
textile industry was a major force in global textile industry during the inter-war periods.
During the World War-I, shortage of supplies from the British mills, many Indian textile
companies made fabulous profits through exports. Through this exposure, the Indian
business houses also realized the significance of investing in research and technology
development.7 For example the Indian textile industry had been the major supplier of
textiles to Japanese mills during 1920-1935.8
JRD Tata, the then Chairman of the Tata Sons and four other key industrialists of India
like G.D. Birla, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, the textile mill owner of Ahmedabad, Sir
Purushotamdas Thakurdas from Bombay and Sir Shri Ram from Delhi published a
document titled “A Plan of Economic Development for India” in January 1944. The
technocrats, viz., Sir Ardeshir Dalal, A.D. Shroff, and Dr. John Matthai who developed
this plan were all from the Tatas. This plan came to be known as the Bombay Plan or the
Tata-Birla Plan. This plan proposed a fifteen year period plan with a total investment of
100,000 million with massive investments in power, mining, roads, railways. Almost 50
% of the plan was slated for industrial development, 25% for housing and only 10% was
planned for agriculture.
As the war in Europe came to an end, the Government of India under the British rule, on
October 1944, invited a group of Indian industrialists and businessmen to visit England
and America to visit industrial establishments and to contact leaders of industry and
7
Bagchi, A.K. (1972) The Private Investment in India 1900-1939, Cambridge University Press: New York
8
All Japan Cotton Spinners Association (1949), Cotton Statistics of Japan, 1903-1944, Osaka, Japan
7
prominent businessmen in Britain and the Untied States. Prior to this announcement of
the British Government, JRD Tata was aware of this and had communicated about it to
close industrial colleagues, G.D. Birla vide letter dated 28 September, 1944. See Exhibit
23 for the content of the letter.
While the noted Indian industrialists and businessmen were to visit the west during the
wartime, the war with Germany ended just before the scheduled date of departure. During
this time, several leaders of the Indian freedom movement including Mahatma Gandhi
and Jawaharlal Nehru were languishing in jails. On the eve of their departure, viz., May
7, 1945 Mahatma Gandhi sent a public notice to these industrialists that appeared in ‘The
Bombay Chronicle’ that said9:
“All the big interests proclaim with one voice that India wants nothing less
than her own elected National Government to shape her own destiny free of
all control, British or other. This independence will not come for the asking.
It will come only when the interests, big or small, are prepared to forgo the
crumbs that fall to them from partnership with the British in the loot which
British rule takes from India. Verbal protests will count for nothing so long
as the partnership continues unchecked.”
“The so-called unofficial deputation which will go to England and America

dare not proceed, whether for inspection or for entering into a shameful
deal, so long as the moving spirits of the Congress Working Committee are
being detained without any trial for the sole crime of sincerely striving for
India’s independence without shedding a drop of blood save their own.”
The mission however left within a week of the surrender of Germany and after a brief
exchange of letters between G.D. Birla, J.R.D. Tata and Mahatma Gandhi. The final
group for the visit included J.R.D. Tata, G.D. Birla and five others. They were
accompanied by nine technical advisors with as many as three advisors from the Tata
Group of companies viz., Sir Jehagir Ghandy of Tata Steel, Sumant Moolgaonkar of
Associated Cement Companies, and B.W. Figgins of Flying School for Tatas.
When India became independent, the leading industrial houses that of the Tatas, the
Birlas and others wanted to lead the industrial development in the country as per the
Bombay Plan (Tata-Birla Plan). However, given the socio-economic and demographic
9
Lala, R.M. (1992), Beyond the Blue Mountain, A Life of JRD Tata, Viking, Penguin Books (India) Ltd.
8
position of the country, the political leaders who took charge of the nation took a
different view from that of the Indian industrialists. India focussed more on development
of agricultural production contrary to the Tata-Birla Plan. India also adopted a socialist
approach than the capitalist approach of the Tata-Birla Plan.
The shift in the direction of development of India after Independence was a huge set back
to the Tata Sons and JRD Tata in particular. Nationalization of strategic industries like
the Airlines and Insurance hurt the Tatas the most. JRD Tata had taken great interest to
invest and develop the Tata Airways since 1932. While Tata Airways was nationalized in
1953, he continued to be chairman of the company until 1973. The biggest setback to the
Tatas was the termination of the Managing Agency System on April 2, 1970. With this
change, Tata Sons Limited and Tata Industries, both Managing Agents of the Tata
companies had to shed their management control to individual companies.
Despite the differences between JRD Tata’s approach to India’s development and that of
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and many others, after India got independence, JRD
was consulted by the Government of India on several matters of national policy and
industrial development. Many political leaders and bureaucrats often confided with him
on several issues which he would then carry them over to the Prime Ministers viz.,
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. JRD would often come to know
about the Government policies ahead of others. Given his own network, credibility,
power and influence could organize the Indian industrialists to effectively lobby with the
Government whenever required. JRD’s letter dated 14 November, 1947 to G.D. Birla is a
case in point. See Exhibit 24 for the letter.
Not only did JRD Tata have easy access to several leaders of India viz., Gandhi, Nehru,
Vallabhai Patel, J.P. Narayan, Morarji Desai and many others but also the directors of the
Tata Sons have been highly networked with the policy makers and bureaucrats all
through the history of independent India. The Chairmen and the Directors of Tata Sons
have shaped several policies of the country by being part of various committees and
panels formed by the Government. The association of current board of directors of Tata
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Sons viz., Ratan Tata, J.J. Irani Syamal Gupta, Ishant Hussain and Arun Kumar with
several key panels and committees of the Government suggest the power of influence that
the Tatas on the policy making in India.
The Chairmen and Directors of the Tata Group of companies have always been part of
key institutions, committees, and panels of the Government of India that carve out key
policies for Indian industry, commerce and trade. Today, Ratan Tata is the Chairman of
the Government of India’s Investment Commission and Member of Prime Minister’s
Council on Trade and Industry among many other associations with the policy makers.
J.J. Irani has been the Chairman of the expert committee set up by the Government of
India to draft the new Companies Act, was nominated on the expert committee set up by
the Government for recommending a roadmap for the coal sector in India, and has been a
member of Working Groups for the sixth, seventh and eighth national Five Year Plans of
India among holding other influential positions. See Exhibit 25 for details association of
the current directors of Tata Sons.
Several Tata employees have served the Government, the public sector enterprises, and
the politicians over the years since Independence. In the early years of Independence,
JRD was requested to be the Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited that he politely
declined. JRD nevertheless served in the board of several government institutions like
Indian Airlines, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, etc. In 1950, Harekrishna Mahtab,
Union Minister of Industry requested JRD to spare some of his professionals to manage
the public sector enterprises. In 1971, N.A. Palkhivala, Legal Advisor and senior director
of the Tatas served as the lawyer of Indira Gandhi to present her case of election to the
Lower House in the Supreme Court. Though in 1975, after Indira Gandhi declared
emergency, he refused to take up the case. In 1981, Indira Gandhi appointed Sumant
Mulgaonkar from TELCO (now Tata Motors) as the Managing Director of Maruti Udyog
Limited that successfully produced the low cost peoples’ car in India fulfilling the dream
of Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi. In June 2003, P. Chidambaram, who earlier
served as the Finance Minister and then served as the Finance Minster and Home Minster
in the Government of India during 2004-09, was the lawyer to represent the case of a
10
Tata Teleservices company in the court of law.10 A glimpse of major policies relating to
the various industries of Tata Sons is given Exhibit 26. Given the traditional stronghold
of the Tatas with the government, legislators, policy makers, bureaucrats, lawyers, and
industry bigwigs, how much would the Tata Sons have influenced and shaped these
policies and regulations?
The power of the Tatas in shaping the policies of the country have often kept the Tatas in
the good books of the policy makers and bureaucrats and have given them easy access to
them all through the post independent period. In the 1945, T.T. Krishnamachari, the
Minister of Industries quickly approved the Tatas proposal to enter into road transport
and ensured that the secretaries do everything available to the Tatas. Similarly, in 1948,
the Tatas got very quick approval for Air India International. In the eighties with Rajiv
Gandhi as the Prime Minister, the Tatas got approvals for many of its proposals. In 1990,
Tata Chemical got a contract of INR 3000 crores petrochemical project.11
Building the Tata Brand

Traditionally, the key function of Tata Sons Limited has been to retain the trade name
and build the Tata brand that could be used by all the companies in the group. Tata Sons
has indeed developed a great brand over the years. Once Ratan Tata took over the
chairmanship of the Tata Sons, he undertook a massive Brand building exercise of the
Tata Group of companies; the cost of the exercise was however raised from the different
companies of the group. Contributions varied from 0.10% to 0.25% of net income of each
of the group companies of Tata Sons.
The Tata brand has been built over hundred years. The first two generations lead by
Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata and his two sons Sir Dorabji Tata and Sir Ratan Tata set up
trusts for various development causes. Although most of their donations and
contributions went towards building institutions in Bombay and Pune, they did
nevertheless contribute to the society at large. Subsequently, JRD Tata served as the
10
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2003/06/19/stories/2003061902540300.htm <accessed May
8, 2009>
11
11
Chairman of Tata Sons for over five decades. Being a leading industrial house of the
country, the Tatas played their role in the struggle for independence and in the planning
and development of the Indian economy. As JRD Tata continued as the Chairman of Tata
Sons under the leadership of about five different Prime Minister, their ministers and
bureaucrats of the country and was well networked with them, he could wield a strong
influence on the key decision makers of the country.
The management practices and the employee welfare practices that Tata Sons introduced
in their group companies over the years further increased the visibility of the Tatas and
the created a strong goodwill among its employees and the public at large. Ratan Tata,
the current chairman of Tata Sons under the pressure of competition and fear of losing
control of individual companies in the group undertook a massive advertisement of the
group and restructured the management and ownership of group companies to give a new
lease of life to the Tata Brand.
By virtue of their being in trade, commerce and industry in India and their being the first
in most business ventures since 1868 give the Tatas a positive image of a company
synonymous with nation building. The work of the charitable trusts of the Tatas,
contributions of chairmen and directors of Tata Sons towards the industrial development
of the nation, goodwill of the employees and the general public over the years, aided with
extensive advertisement of the Tatas has lead to the creation of a very high brand value of
the Tatas. The positive image, trust and goodwill of the company make the Tata brand
very powerful.
Further, the complex shareholding patterns of Tata sons, management reporting

mechanisms, and strong business-industry-government network with a well managed
corporate image of the Tatas make it difficult to understand the strategy of the Tata Sons.
Would it therefore be wise to un-bundle the many aspects of brand building, shareholding
structure and its networks to understand the mechanics of Tata Sons in achieving the
gigantic growth and profit in the post liberalization period of India?
12
With the opening up of the economy, rise of other business houses and intense
competition in the economy and the market have lead Ratan Tata to adopt certain
practices that might not gel with the image of the group that people in general carried
about the Tatas. However, with the large scale campaign for Tata Brand that Ratan Tata
conceived around 1985, the brand image of the Tatas has been bolstered to envelop the
good image of the Tatas around every company in the group irrespective of the way they
operate. The figure below provides a pictorial representation of how the image of
individual company is portrayed through the traditional image of the Tatas.
J.N. Tata Trust, Dorabji

Tata Trust, & Ratan Tata
Trust
BRAND OF TATA SONS

TCS
Tata Tea
Tata Motors
TCL
Tata Steel
TTLS
Process and Methods of Growth in a Fast Changing Environment

The case of Tata Sons presents an intriguing story of the management processes and
methods that Tata Sons adopted to grow in a fast changing socio-economic-political-
cultural environment of a developing country. This section shall discuss issues of
corporate and management restructuring, financial restructuring and resource
reallocation, and raising capital, resources and capabilities.
13
Corporate and Management Restructuring

The Tatas have been the pioneers in India on policies of labour management. While the
paternalistic approach the Tata companies were in vogue in the Japanese textile mills in
the early twentieth century, the Tatas have been the most innovative in India industry
with regard to labour management. The wide international exposure that the Tatas have
had by virtue of being in business since 1868 gave them the opportunity to adopt the best
labour management practices in India.
As early as 1949, the Tatas invited the Society of Jesus to establish the Xavier Labour
Relation Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur to train professionals on labour relations. The
American Jesuits set up the management school as there was no such management school
in India. XLRI has been the top business school in India on industrial relations and
personal management. Tata were the first to introduce several labour welfare schemes
that later became standards in the Indian industry. Exhibit 20 provides a list of labour
welfare schemes introduced by the Tatas. As a result of these innovative practices, the
labour force in the group companies of the Tatas have been the most loyal of all labour
groups and they contributed well to the efficiency and growth of their respective
companies.
With the removal of the Managing Agency System in 1970, individual companies got the
legal right to operate more freely and some of the Managing Directors who were
encouraged to operate freely under JRD Tata began to exercise their control on the
companies. Probably, the labour had also begun to be more independent and was
influenced by outside labour unions. Under the changed circumstances, the labour also
associated more with their respective Managing Directors than with the Directors of Tata
Sons. However, the way Ratan Tata, the newly appointed Chairman of Telco (now, Tata
Motors) dealt with Krishnan Pushparajan Nair, general secretary of the Telco Kamgar
Sanghatana (TKS) showed the hard hitting nature behind the soft exterior of Ratan Tata.
It also showed the power of the Tatas to silence erring labour leaders and solve major
labour problems.
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Nair, the son of trade union leader, after working in Philips for some time, had joined
Telco as a miller in September 1976. In March 1988, he was suspended for alleged
threatening to murder a security guard and sacked a few months later. On being sacked,
Nair used the unresolved wage agreement to organize the labour in Telco, Pune factory to
go on tool down strike. As the local authorities took Nair into preventive custody, the
second shift workers hijacked buses which were to take them to the plant at Pimpri, Pune.
The Chief Minister of Maharastra, Sharad Pawar was brought in to mediate with Nair and
his supporters. However, the fight between Telco management and its labour belonging
to TKS intensified. On the one hand, Ratan Tata went to the local people and the media
to create a public opinion and also signed a three year retrospective agreement with
TKS’s rival, the Telco Employees Union (TEC), offering a wage hike of INR 585 and
lumpsum arrears of INR 7000. On the other hand, Nair announced indefinite fast at the
Shaniwarwada fort. Dutta Samant, the well known labour leader rushed to Pune to
express his support to the TKS members. The Janata Dal leaders, Sambhajirao Kakade,
George Fernandes and Madhu Dandavate also showed their support to Nair. Meanwhile,
Sharad Pawar, the Chief Minister of Maharastra was increasingly worried about the
strike’s political repercussion.
On September 29, 1988, 2.30 AM, the State Reserve Police and Pune city police
launched Operation Crackdown. Eighty buses with police force stopped outside the
Shaniwarwada fort’s quadrangle and cordoned off the fort, stormed inside and rounded
up the striking workers. The workers were evacuated from the fort and taken to different
jails. Nair was charged with attempting to commit suicide and defying prohibitory orders
and was released on bail the next day and the strike had come to an end12.
JRD conceived and instituted the Tata Administrative Service in the 1950s to groom the
top management of the various group companies of the Tatas. Indeed, JRD was very
successful in attracting and retaining the best people through this process. JRD would
spot the talent, especially among the senior executives and let them operate freely.
12
Piramal, Gita. 1996. Business Maharajas, Penguin Books India (P) Ltd. Pg. 380-386
15
Indeed, Tatas had the advantage of having several industry luminaries during the
chairmanship of JRD. Tata directors such as Ardeshir Dalal, Sir Homi Modi, FE
Dinshaw, AD Shroff and John Mathai were business legends. This set of directors made
way to another powerful group comprising of Sumant Moolgaonkar, Russi Mody,
Darbari Seth, Nani Palkhivala, FC Kohli and Ajit Kerkar.
Restructuring of top management began with Ratan Tata taking over the Chairmanship of
Tata Industries Limited from JRD Tata in October 1981. It was a small company but was
one of the two holding companies of the Tatas along with the Tata Sons Limited. While
taking care of his ailing mother in New York, Ratan Tata wrote out a new agenda called
the ‘1983 Tata Strategic Plan,’ for the group companies. The proposed plan of Ratan Tata
was not accepted well by some of the senior influential directors who had built their
respective empires since the scrapping of Managing Agency System in 1970 and each
company had more independence.
Ratan Tata was appointed the Deputy Chairman of Telco on January 31, 1985 and on
March 19, 1991, JRD indicated to Ratan Tata to take over the reins of control of the Tata
Group of companies. On March 25, 1991, the board of Tata Sons Limited appointed
Ratan Tata as the Chairman of Tata Sons Limited. Ratan systematically brought in the
changes that he had planned out in his ‘1983 Tata Strategic Plan’ document. It appears
that with the change of guard at the top, several changes in the top management of the
group companies were brought about to be able to execute the growth plans of Ratan
Tata.
Ratan Tata followed up with the issue of Tisco’s (now Tata Steel) acceptance of the Tata
Sons retirement policy. Under this policy, the top management had to retire. Mody
crossed seventy five on January 17, 1993 and Ratan prepared enough support of the
Board of Tata Sons to adopt the retirement plan on March 11, 1993. Subsequently, the
board approved removing Russy Modi from the position of Managing Director of Tisco
16
on April 11, 199313. With this the illustrious career of Russi Mody, once a blue eyed boy
of JRD came to an end.
In 1997, Ajit Kerkar, a legend in the Indian hotel industry and who turned a single loss
making property, the Taj Mahal Hotel to a respected international chain was removed
from office after levelling serious charges of misdemeanour and irregularities of violating
the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. He was charged for parking USD 4.91
million paid by Singapore Airlines in the Taj group’s Hong Kong subsidiary for three
years instead of immediately repatriating to India. The members of Board of Directors
including Ratan Tata claimed to have no knowledge about this issue and hence Kerkar
was held solely responsible for this offence by the Tatas. While RBI seemed to agree
with the version of Ratan Tata but the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was not
convinced that the Board of Directors of Indian Hotels were not aware of this at all,
especially, since Indian Hotels was greatly expanding to foreign markets during this
period and the board must have been actively involved in the operations of Indian Hotels
during this time14.
The most recent firing of top management from the company of the Tata Sons has been
Dilip Pendse, Managing Director of Tata Finance Limited (TFL). Pendse another stalwart
of the Tata companies was accused of running losses to the tune of nearly INR 500
crores. The entire blame for TFL losses was on Pendse and he was charged with several
cases by the Tatas. The Board of Directors of TFL again claimed that they were not
aware of the developments in TFL. This argument that the Board of TFL was unaware
seemed improbable to many because by this time one of the directors of Tatas, J E
Talaulicer was under investigation for insider trading. Further, when the A. F. Fergusson
report did not endorse either the innocence or ignorance of other Tata directors, the Tatas
rejected the report of A F Fergusson who it had employed to audit the matter.
Surprisingly, A F Fergusson sacked its senior partner Y M Kale15 following the rejection
of the report by the Tatas. Has there been more such throw outs of the key professionals
13
Piramal, Gita. 1996. Business Maharajas, Penguin Books India (P) Ltd. Pg. 386-392
14
http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/20010203/sucheta.htm <accessed May 9, 2009>
15
http://www.rediff.com/money/2002/aug/21dalal.htm <accessed May 9, 2009>
17
who had immensely contributed to the growth of Tata Sons. From the above cases of
accusation and firing of senior directors, how do we explain the age old great
management practices of Tata Sons in its pursuit of control of group companies and their
management?
Financial Restructuring & Resource Reallocation

With the abolition of the Managing Agency system on April 2, 1970, a great phase of
nearly 100 years was over for the Tata. Nationalization of key industries that the Tatas
had pioneered, development focussed on agriculture and state run enterprises contrary to
the proposed Tata-Birla (Bombay) plan demoralized Tata Sons Chairman, JRD Tata. The
group slowly became mere confederation with loose control from the Tatas. JRD’s
persuasive skills and a paternalistic attitude kept the group together despite dissent from
some quarters of the group. As against the approach of Jawaharlal Nehru, JRD spoke
vociferously for free enterprise; some of his lieutenants like A.D. Shroff also spoke
strongly in favour of free economy. Shroff also set up the Forum for Free Enterprise, as
voice of the private sector against Nehruvian socialism.
When Ratan Tata was appointed as the Chairman of Tata Industries Limited (TIL), he
found himself handicapped to even propose a group plan and group strategy as many of
the larger companies of the group seemed to be independent of the Tata Sons and Tata
Industries, the two holding companies in the group. The holding companies had very
little shareholding in the group companies and rightly so, the individual companies like
Tisco (now Tata Steel) and Telco (now Tata Motors) could afford to disagree or disobey
the norms proposed by the Tata Sons. Ratan Tata did feel that the Tata Sons cannot
impose on the group companies without significant financial shareholdings in them.
The winds of liberalization had begun to blow around 1978 and did speed up after 1985
by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister. Ratan Tata took opportunity of the changed
circumstances to begin the financial restructuring process. He began by seeking royalty
commission to the tune of INR 300 million from the group companies that used the Tata
name. He subsequently raised INR 3000 million for Tata Sons by asking the group
18
companies to subscribe to the rights issue of Tata Sons. In effect, this move increased the
shareholding of Tata Sons in the group companies. Tata Sons then used this capital to
invest in some group companies for expansion or acquisition or to invest in some high
technology industries, like TCS, Tata Communication, Tata Teleservices. Tata Sons sold
some shares of TCS that is largely held by the Tatas to raise capital for Tata Steel and in
the process further raised its shareholding in Tata Steel.
The rights issue of Tata Sons crystallized the consolidation process started by Ratan Tata.
After the rights issue, Tata Sons Limited (TSL) share in Tisco (Tata Steel) increased from
2.5% in 1995 to 8.5% in 1996 and then by 2005, it increased to 19.8%. In Tata Motors,
TSL’s share increased from 1.8% in 1995 to 2.7% in 1996 and then by 2008, it increased
to 21.9%. In the same manner, TSL’s share price increased from 5.6% in 1995 to 6.3% in
1996 and then increased to 28.7% in 2008.
Before 1995, the holding companies of the Tata, viz., Tata Sons Limited (TSL) and Tata
Industries Limited (TIL) has small shareholding in the group companies ranging from
0.01% to 15%. However, a substantial financial restructuring of the group companies
took place after 1995. By the year 2000, TSL had 14.17% share in Tata Motors and
19.86% share in Tata Steel. Similarly, TIL had also increased its share in the financial
companies it held. By the year 2008, TSL increased its share in Tata Motors to 22.36%
and in Tata Steel to 19.8%. The Tatas tried to hold most of their group companies
through TSL. The shareholding structure of TSL and TIL and the crossholding of the
listed group companies for the year 2000 and for the year 2005 are shown in Exhibit 27 -
16
28. TSL has also increased its shareholding in its subsidiary companies around the
world. See Exhibit 29-30 for the extent of Tata Son’s interest in the subsidiaries and its
quoted and unquoted investments in the stock market.
Raising Capital, Resources & Capabilities

Ratan Tata led the team of Tata Sons to undertake the crucial part of raising capital,
resources and capabilities for the holding company and the group companies. There were
16
Kakani, Ram Kumar & Joshi, Tejas. 2006. Cross holding strategy to increase control: case of the Tata
Group, Working paper, 06-03, XLRI Jamshedpur.
19
three ways of generating capital and assets, viz., internal sources that is from the group
companies, the capital market or from the public and purchase of valuable public assets
and capabilities from the Government of India at throw away price. Tata Sons adopted all
the three methods to acquire capital, resources, and capabilities in the fast changing
developing economy with several institutional deficiencies.
From Group Companies

As per the mandate of Tata Sons, it were to retain the trade mark of the Tatas and get
license fees from the group companies to use the brand name of the Tatas. The
commissions that Tata Sons received prior to 1995 was a small amount and hence it did
very little reserves to engage in large brand building exercise and to give all the group
companies a group identity that had faded over the years with the abolition of the
Managing Agency system in 1970. Tata Sons estimated that it would need about INR 300
million per annum for publicizing the Tata Brand. Ratan Tata sought 0.10% to 0.25% of
net income of each group company for the Tata Brand Equity scheme17. Despite
resentment from various quarters, the board of directors from various group companies
passed a resolution to contribute to the Tata Brand Equity scheme. Many argued if Tata
Sons was asserting more than that of an ordinary shareholder.
From seeking contributions from the group companies for a massive advertisement
campaign for the group companies of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata went on to ask the group
companies to subscribe to the rights issues and preference shares of Tata Sons Ltd. On
September 1995, Tata Sons Ltd invited subscriptions to INR 300 crores (3000 million)
rights issue from the group companies at a premium. The various charitable trusts of the
Tata Sons Ltd were to sell their rights to the group companies18. There were several
objectionable remarks to both these means of capital generation. Through this process,
the Tata Sons not only raised substantial amount of capital but also set in motion to raise
its own shareholding in the group companies such that it could legally assert itself on the
17
Fee Structure of scheme: right to use the Tata name in both company banner and products: 0.25%, right
to use the Tata name in either the company banner or products - 0.15%, right to be perceived as a Tata
company: 0.10%
18
As per Charitable Trust Act and Income tax Act, charitable trusts were not permitted to invest in shares
of private companies, http://www.capindia.org/helpguide_1.htm. <accessed May 14, 2009>
20
group companies. This policy of Tata Sons was strongly resented by many; as the
individual companies had to divert their valuable cash to buy the rights issues of Tata
Sons that was a small company with ordinary shares of the group companies. It was also
argued that the shares were overvalued and that the shareholders of Tata Sons gained at
the expense of the shareholders of the group companies19.
From Individuals and Institutions through the Stock Market

With the onset of economic liberalization, the general public especially the small retail
investors have been encouraged to invest in the stock market. The fourteen group
companies of the Tata Sons Ltd. have had a market capitalization (number of share*share
price) of INR 211907 crores in 2008 and has been the third largest group after the PSU of
Government of India, Reliance Industries Limited. Among the group companies of Tata
Sons, TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Tata Motors, Tata Teleservices, Tata Tea, and Tata
Investment Corporation have amassed the maximum capital from the general public and
the public and private institutions. In 2008, the market capitalization of a few group
companies is shown in brackets: TCS (INR 80239 crores), Tata Steel (INR 47175 crores),
Tata Power (INR 23096 crores) and Tata Motors (INR 15769 crores). The details of
market capitalization of different group companies are shown in Exhibits 5-14
The financial handling of ACC is yet another episode of how Tata Sons used the stock
market to generate capital from a business that it wanted to divest. In her news report
Sucheta Dalal20 writes ‘In 1995 the Tatas with 11 per cent in ACC allowed it to be called
a professional-run company. It then issues rights shares at a whooping INR 3900
premium –ACC's face value was then Rs 100 per share -- which devolved largely on
financial institutions. In 1998 they had increased their holding by two per cent, called it a
Tata company and attempted to give themselves preferential shares at a discount to the
market price so as to raise the Tata holding to 17.8 per cent.’ The financial institutions
refused to accept this. Subsequently, the Tatas sold 7.2 % of its holding to Gujurat
Ambuja at INR 390 per share as compared to INR 110 per share, the price at which they
19
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fe/daily/19970716/19755013.html <accessed May 14, 2009>,
20
http://www.suchetadalal.com/?id=cb2f642a-6e5d-cc68-
492e8249d8cc&base=sub_sections_content&f&t=Is+the+sun+setting+over+the+Tata+Empire%3F
<accessed May 9, 2009>
21
wanted the FIIs to issue preference share to them. Although, SEBI, backed by the
Attorney General ruled that the acquisition of Tata stake in ACC was not a case of
takeover21, it was a breach of trust with the retail investors as the stakes were sold
without it being offered in the open market.
Acquisition of Public Assets and Capabilities at cheap price

The policy of disinvestment of government owned public sector enterprises (PSE) has
been a good tool for private companies to acquire the public assets at very cheap price.
While the purpose of disinvestment was to revive and make the loss making PSE
efficient, the government undertook to sell some of the best placed profit making
companies like VSNL, IPCL, CMC, etc. The Tatas did not loose opportunity to get its
share of the public assets. It acquired 51 % of CMC and 45% of VSNL, a profit making,
Navratna PSE. JRD Tata would have been most happy to be at this moment as he had
faught tooth and nail about 50 years ago, when Tata Airlines was nationalized in 1953.
He had also accused the government for not having paid appropriate compensation for
Tata Airlines.
In December 2001, the Tatas took over 51% shareholdings of the Computer Maintenance
Corporation (CMC), a state run public sector enterprise (PSE) that enjoyed a dominant
position an IT infrastructure solutions provider. Tata Sons emerged as the sole bidder to
claim CMC and paid only INR 152 crores22 to acquire this strategic asset to strengthen its
own firm TCS. Through the backing of the Government, CMC had developed a strong
partnership with Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, HP, Sun Microsystems and Oracle. Again a state
run enterprise, CMC had a strong and large client base of the public sector enterprises
(PSEs) of the country that form the largest pool of companies in India. Indian Railways,
ONGC, GAIL, IOC were some of CMC’s long standing clients.23 Tata Sons soon
leveraged these capabilities to its IT firm, TCS, where Tata Sons alone has 74.81%
shareholding in 2008. Interestingly, the profit after tax of TCS has increased from INR
1.54 crores in 2001 to INR 4508 crores in 2008(see Exhibit 7).
21
http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/20010128/dalal.htm, <accessed May 9, 2009>
22
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/01oct16/busi.htm#1 <accessed May 14, 2009>
23
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2007/08/19/stories/2007081950451100.htm <accessed May 8,
2009>
22
Tata Sons acquired 25% of VSNL by offering only INR 1439 crores to the government.
Tata Sons acquired another 20% from the open market. In all, Tata Sons paid just about
INR 2500 crores to get a controlling stake of VSNL and its assets and cash reserves.
VSNL was a rich organization. Its monopoly in international long distance (ILD) voice
and internet was the biggest advantage to Tata Sons. VSNL possessed prime real estate
worth about INR 1200 crores. One of the major assets was a stockpile of INR 5182 crores
which was considerable even after disbursement of the special dividends. Further, the
Government of India made a provision that the government owned MTNL and BSNL
would have to use VSNL as their ILD carrier for two years after the disinvestment.
VSNL would also get a free license to provide NLD and a nationwide ISP license24.
Soon after the VSNL acquisition, Tata Sons ensured that VSNL invest INR 1200 crores
in Tata Teleservices Limited, new company floated by the Tata Sons where Tata group
were to put INR 2,552 crores. Many observers argued that this move of the Tatas was
clear stripping of cash reserves of the erstwhile profit making company25. Further, the
valuation of assets of the PSEs including CMC and VSNL that were divested is another
issue to understand how efficiency of private firms has been built. The controversies over
VSNL disinvestment died down with the interventions from Pramod Mahajan and L K
Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who was then in power at the centre but the issues
remain alive to see the process of growth of private firms. Indeed ever since, Tata Sons
acquired 45% of VSNL, the performance of VSNL has been going down. From profit
after tax of INR 1407 crores in 2001, the profit of VSNL (now Tata Communication) has
come down to INR 304 crores in 2008. While the assets of most firms have gone up, the
assets of VSNL has also come in post disinvestment period. See Exhibit 9 for the
financial figures of VSNL (now Tata Communication Ltd) before and after the
disinvestment. In the above context, how do we explain the argument of the Government
that disinvestment would improve efficiency of PSE?
24
Jain, Rekha & Venkataraman Krishnan. Privatization of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/ctps/pdf/VSNL%20Privatization%20Rekha%20Krishnan.pdf and Naib, Sudhir.
2004. Disinvestment in India, Policies, Procedures, Practices, Sage Publication. New Delhi.
25
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/06/11/stories/2002061101842000.htm <accessed May 7, 2009>,
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/06/01/stories/2002060101151700.htm <accessed May 14,
2009>, http://www.rediff.com/money/2002/jun/06vsnl1.htm <accessed May 7, 2009>
23
Arising out of these resource and capacity build up at home, Tata Sons Limited (TSL)
had a run on mergers and acquisition since 2001. See Exhibit 31 for a detailed list of its
mergers and acquisition. See also Exhibit 32 for the various international projects that it
has undertaken.
Has Growth been at the cost of Principles?

Tata Sons has remained to be a leading holding company in India. It has grown massively
during the last about 20 years and has emerged as the leading multinational from India
that many Indians have been proud about. The ideals of Tata Trust, involvement of the
Tatas in the industrial development and the promotion of a Tata brand of values, ethics
and excellence in business help the general observers to miss the various growth issues
and how the Tatas have ignored at different points of time in history that is possibly
against the principles of a Trust based organization. The most contentious of the issues is
the issue of land acquisition for industrial growth.
In the early years, the Tata Sons started the salt works in Mithapur in 1939, a business on
which Tata Chemicals was built. Tatas acquired land from the local Waghirs, which
probably was objected by some local people. The British Government then in power
stepped in and forcibly acquired land for the Tatas so that their salt works could be
established. Not able to fight the British Government, a local whose land had been
forcibly acquired and was paid some compensation, wanted the blood of the General
Manager of the Mithapur Works as revenge. The Tatas tactfully managed him by
recruiting him as the body guard of the General Manager26.
In recent years, the Tatas have been in the news for land acquisitions across Orissa, West
Bengal, and Jharkhand for their steel and car projects. B. Muthuraman, Managing
Director of Tata Steel signed an agreement with the Government of Orissa on November
17, 2004 to set up a 6 million ton per annum integrated steel plant in Orissa and it was
allotted 2000 acres of land in Kalinganagar, Jajpur district. Soon after signing the
Memorandum with the Government of Orissa, Tata Steel established the JN Tata
26
Pg. 253
24
Technical Education Centre at Gopalpur in 2005 to improve the employability of the

youth of Orissa27.
The local tribals whose land had been acquired by the Government had been opposed to
the land acquisition and the compensation thereof. Despite the prohibitory orders of the
district collector to Tata Steel to enter the tensed zone, reportedly a team of Tata agents,
who identified themselves from Eco-Design came to the site and started provocative
surveys in the area and commenced blasting activities on January 2, 2006. The local
inhabitants gushed to the site to resist the activities of the agents and fight between the
local people and the agents began. The police force soon joined the troubled area and the
fight resulted in killing of twelve protestors from among the local inhabitants28.
Subsequently, the Government of Orissa announced compensation to the twelve bereaved
families and the matter was closed. Tata Steel seemed to have begun its work in the
allotted area. Interestingly, the Land Acquisition Bill 2007 states ‘public purpose’ to
include several types of public facilities including mining.
The land acquisition row of the Tatas for its small car manufacturing facility in Singur,
Nandigram, West Bengal is another chapter of Tata Sons that reveals its modus operandi
of land acquisition, growth objectives and commitment to people. Tata Motors Vice
President (Finance), R.S. Thakur signed the agreement for 90 year land lease of 650 acres
(out of a total of 997 acres) with West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation,
Managing Director Debasis Som and West Bengal Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen.
The cost of lease was INR1000 crores for 997 acres, which was to be paid over a period
of 45 years. For the first 5 years, Tata Motors had to pay INR 1 crore per annum; in next
10 years, it had to pay INR 10 crores and in the next 30 years, it was to pay INR 20
crores per annum. Many questioned whether so much of land was required for the small
car plant project of the Tata. Some also questioned whether alternate location could be
provided instead of fertile land of Singur that produced three crops a year and sustained
27
http://www.tatasteel.com/company/investments_kalinganagar.asp <accessed May 7, 2009>
28
http://orissamatters.com/2007/01/18/tata-provokes-violence/ <accessed May 7, 2009>, Video Clipping:
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/amar.XIM.000/Desktop/Tata%20Sons/Breaching%20Trust%20u
nder%20Competiition/Tata%20Steel%20Bullet.htm <accessed May 7, 2009> and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4686638.stm <accessed May 7, 2009>
25
the livelihood of 10,000 people29. As the matter was taken to the Kolkata High Court; the
court’s verdict was that the land was acquired for ‘public purpose’ as per the Land
Acquisition Bill 2007.
Subsequently, the Tatas pulled out of West Bengal and bargained with other states for
land and incentives before finally choosing to set up the small car factory in Gujurat.
Here the question arises how the Tata Sons in both the states, Orissa and West Bengal
was successful in engaging the political parties and state machinery to deal with the
protestors of land acquisition and then quietly move on with its pursuits of business.
It is also interesting to see the timing of the Tata Trust to contribute to West Bengal.
During the Tata Sons engagement with West Bengal in the recent years for the small car
project and for real estate development by the Tata group associate Shapoorji, the Dorabji
Tata Trust committed to commission the Tata Medical Centre in Kolkata in 200930.
The agreement between the Government of Chhattisgarh and the Tatas in June 2005, for
setting up a steel plant in Bastar, atrocities against those who opposed the land
acquisition in Bastar have also been reported. Tata Steel is to acquire over 2000 acres of
tribal land belonging to 10 villages in Lohandiguda block near the Chitrakot waterfall on
Indravati river. Both local leaders and activists have been humiliated and threatened by
the local goons and the police. One non tribal activist was slapped, not allowed to stay in
any hotel and hounded out of Bastar when he came to speak on behalf of the protestors.
The collector of Dantewara district has even called a meeting of all political parties
except the CPI, journalist, business leaders and others to reiterate that opposition to the
Tata project will not be tolerated31. These cases of land acquisition where the Tatas have
used the official machinery to get past the resistance of the local people raise the issues of
the ethical nature of big businesses.
29
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article9170 <accessed may 7, 2009>, Video Clipping:
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/amar.XIM.000/Desktop/Tata%20Sons/Breaching%20Trust%20u
nder%20Competiition/Tata%20-%20Singur.htm
30
http://www.tata.com/ourcommitment/sub_index.aspx?sectid=Mw/mP8IlwTE= <accessed May 7, 2009>
31
http://aidindia.org/main/content/view/375/1/ <accessed may 7, 2009>
26
In 1997, the Tata Sons were suspected to be supporting the banned organization, United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in order to protect its tea gardens in Assam and help
the tea supplies to its group company, Tata Tea. Tata Tea’s involvement with the banned
outfit was revealed when police found a visiting card of a senior Tata executive from a
hardcore ULFA militant when arrested in Mumbai along with Pranati Deka, ULFA’s
cultural secretary. They were nabbed by police in the Mumbai Airport when the two were
returning to Kolkata with Pranti Deka’s newborn baby. Pranti Deka had gone to Mumbai
to dliver her baby in the upmarket Jaslok Hospital at the expense of the tea company. 32
Dogra, General Manager of the North Indian Plantation Division of Tata Tea was arrested
for aiding and abetting unlawful activities of the banned outfit, ULFA and knowingly
conniving with those waging war against the state. Another Tata executive Dr. Brajen
Gogoi, who was also reported to be personally involved in the entire process, was
charged for working with the terror group. As the news about the arrest broke out, senior
executives of the Tatas contacted the Home Minister, Government of India but since the
Home Ministry did not have the report, Ratan Tata sought appointment with the home
secretary, K Padmanabhaiah. The Home Secretary obliged and contacted the Director-
General of Police to ascertain details regarding the alleged funding. 33 Interestingly,
although Deka and her associate were arrested on August 23, 1997 and shifted to
Guwahati on August 31, the police did not submit any report to the Union Ministry
regarding Deka after her arrest.
Dr. Gogoi another accused in the case was an employee of Tata Tea since 1975 and was
well known to the ULFA chief Paresh Barua who considered Gogoi as his elder brother.
Gogoi arrived from a study trip to Harvard, USA on September 6 and checked into a
guest house. However, sensing the police interrogation, Gogoi disappeared. During the
meeting on September 15 of Ratan Tata with P. Mahanta, the then Chief Minister of
Assam, when the Chief Secretary, V.S. Jafa insisted that Gogoi was in Chicago, both had
no answer. Tata tea had also obtained anticipatory bail for Gogoi from the Mumbai High
32
http://www.rediff.com/money/sep/15tata.htm <accessed May 7, 2009>
33
http://www.rediff.com/money/sep/15tata1.htm <accessed may 7, 2009>
27
Court on September 16, 1997.34 From the above reports, it is rather difficult to assume
that Ratan Tata and the Tata Sons were not party to any unethical practices. From the
above dealings of the Tatas on land acquisition or involving with goons and terror
groups, how do we situate the ethical brand value of the Tata Sons as has been projected
and sold?
34
http://www.india-today.com/itoday/20101997/cov.html <accessed May 7, 2009>
28
Questions for discussion:
1. How did the company evolve through the Tata Trust and the Managing Agency
System?
2. How did the company influence and direct the economic policy and management
practices in India?
3. How has the brand of the Tatas been built?
4. How has the company/group performed in the domestic markets?
5. How has the company/group performed in the foreign markets?
6. Is there a necessity to de-link the Tata Brand from the business behaviour of the
Tata enterprises?
7. How did the company move from being a Managing Agent to corporate entity
with high share in its holding companies?
8. What has been the process of growth in Tata Sons?
9. How were the corporate and management restructuring carried out?
10. How has the group raised capital and resources in the home country?
11. How has the company restructured its finance and resource reallocation?
12. How have the group exploited the various factor endowments of business
operations in the home country to grow?
13. How has the characteristic of the domestic market supported the growth of the
firm?
14. How have the various industry policies and incentive structure (LPG policies) of
the Government of India been formulated that advance the growth objectives of
the group?
15. How did the group acquire state run public enterprises like VSNL and CMC from
the Government of India?
16. How has the group developed its large subsidiary and associate network and how
does it leverage on this network?
17. How has the company engaged in advancing the free market economy and
privatization policies in the country?
29
Exhibit 1
TATA SONS ( All figures are in INR crores)
Forex
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT earnings
1990 83.9 97.62 22.44 7.11 44.56
1991 88.27 127.22 24.13 8.93 49.43
1992 129.1 164.19 40.43 17.39 83.61
1993 183.06 233.72 59.01 27.19 181.54
1994 244.64 367.58 90.45 43.58 132.27
1995 392.06 622.68 159.12 92.6 0
1996 561.54 1316.5 241.95 124.56 0
1997 767.46 1559.11 305.15 141.85 614.2
1998 1139.81 1933.63 467.78 273.63 967.41
1999 1733.13 2713.87 863.15 553.21 1542.65
2000 2132.84 3680.41 982.7 662.54 1888.91
2001 3103.18 4912.25 1158.1 713.66 2914.02
2002 4152.26 7028.61 1429.59 863.29 3880.74
2003 4949.64 8808.65 1368.93 816.84 4569.18
2004 5912.08 10822.83 1870.18 1291.96 5547.74
2005 118.49 11209.66 3700.6 3273.61 9.54
2006 157.35 12385.36 1812.78 1612.31 9.26
2007 215.65 17247.87 3943.97 3335.94 13.43
2008 288.65 28168.55 4632.26 3779.8 62.2
Source: CMIE Database, 2008
Exhibit 2
Subsidiary Companies of Tata Sons Ltd.
Computational Research Laboratories Ltd. TRIF Real Estate & Development Pvt. Ltd.
Concept Marketing & Advertising Ltd. TRIF Realty Projects Pvt. Ltd.
e-Next Financials Pvt Ltd. TRIF Trivandrum Projects Pvt. Ltd.
Edwart Investments Ltd. TRIL Airport Development Pvt. Ltd.
Edwart Investments Pvt. Ltd (Mauritius) TRIL Construction Ltd.
Infiniti Retail Ltd. TRIL Developers Ltd.
Panatone Finvest Ltd. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
Tata AIG, Zug Tata America International Corporation Ltd
Tata AIG Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (Joint Venture) CMC Ltd.
Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. (Joint CMC Americas Inc.
Venture)
Tata Asset Management (Mauritius) Ltd Aponline Ltd.
Tata Asset Management Ltd WTI Advanced Technology Ltd.
Tata Business Support Pvt. Ltd. TCS Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Tata Capital Ltd. Tata Consultancy Services, Malaysia SDN
BHD
30
Tata Capital Markets Ltd. Tata Consultancy Services, Japan Ltd.

Continued...
TRIF Investments Management Ltd. Tata Information Technology (Shanghai)
Co. Ltd.
Tata International AG, Zug TCS Iberoamerica SA
Tata Internet Services Ltd. TCS Solution Centre S.A.
Tata Ltd. (London) TCS Argentina S.A.
Tata Pension Management Ltd. TCS DO Brasil Desenvolvimento De
Servicos LTDA
Tata Investment Co. Ltd. TCS DE Mexico, SA DE CV
Tata Petrodyne Ltd. TCS Inversiones Chile
Tata Securities Ltd. TCS De Espansa SA
Tata Sky Ltd. (Joint Venture) TCS Deutschland GMBH
Tata Teleservices (Maharshtra) Ltd.
Tata Teleservices Ltd. TCS, Netherlands BV
Tata Trustee Co. Pvt. Ltd. TCS DO Brasil LTDA
TCE Consulting Engineers Ltd. TCS, Chile, S.A
Tata Housing Development Company Ltd. TCS, Sverige, A.B.
Wireless-TT Infoservices Ltd. TCS, Belgium S.A.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. TCS Italia SRL
Associates:
1. Exegenix Research Inc.
2. Firstech Solutions Co. Limited
3. Global Information Services Limited
4. Hemisphere Properties India Limited
5. Miracle Entertainment Private Limited
6. Niskalp Energy Limited
7. Rockbourne Holdings B. V.
8. Tata Elxsi Limited
9. Tata Enterprises(Overseas) AG
10. Tata Industries Limited
11. Tata International Limited
12. Tata vInvestment Corporation Limited(Upto 12.02.08)
13. Tata Motors Limited
14. Tata Precesion Indfustries(pte) Ltd.
15. Tata Steel Limited
16. Tata Trustee Company Pvt. Limited(Upto 12.02.08)
17. The Associated Building Company Limited
18. The Tata Power Company Limited
19. Titan International Investments Limited B. V.
20. Titan International Marketing Limited
31
21. TKM Overseas Transport Limited, London

22. Trent Limited
23. Vantech Investments Limited
24. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
25. Voltas Limited
26. Tata Chemical Limited
27. Tata T/ea Limited
28. Technopolis Knowledge Park Limited
29. Rentalbazaar(India) Limited
30. Casa Décor Pvt. Ltd.
Investing Parties:
1. Sir Dorabji Tata Trust
2. Sir Ratan Tata Trust
Source: Ninetieth Annual Report 2007-2008
32
Exhibit 3
Comparative study of key financial figures of the TATA firms ( Figures are in INR crore)
Sales PAT Assets
Dec- Dec- Dec- Dec- Dec- Dec- Dec-
Company Name 90 Dec-00 08 90 00 Dec-08 90 00 08
American Express Services India Ltd. 0 -0.8 13.27
Avaya Globalconnect Ltd. 25.49 180.28 573.07 1.62 -5.26 17.21 30.16 189.77 404.33
E 2 E Serwiz Solutions Ltd. 167.34 5.06 83.56
Emerson Network Power (India) Pvt. Ltd. 127.87 10.4 82.42
Honeywell Automation India Ltd. 276.54 19.28 179.69
I D B I Homefinance Ltd. 0 0 -0.11 29.87 0.5 2792.2
Infomedia 18 Ltd. 19.75 99.62 146.31 -0.56 10.5 -9.66 24.2 128.52 215.7
Itel Industries Ltd.

Mcgraw-Hill Education (India) Ltd.
N Y K Line (India) Ltd.
T H D C Ltd. 11.73 65.39 0.53 1.37 32.3 186.68
T R F Ltd. 36.66 130.15 371.18 0.72 4.94 42.17 47.2 127.89 395.43
T S R Darashaw Ltd. 0.01 2.84 26.03
Tata Advanced Materials Ltd. 3.15 26.82 -7.92 -6.07 24.28 97.94
Tata Asset Mgmt. Ltd. 1.71 28.22 119.91
Tata Auto Plastic Systems Ltd. 42.68 -2.86 94.91
Tata Autocomp Systems Ltd.

Tata B P Solar (India) Ltd. 921.79 29 967.15
Tata Bluescope Steel Ltd.
Tata Capital Ltd. 0 0 0.27 9.21 17.05 4337.1
Tata Capital Markets Ltd. 0 0.04 6.07
Tata Ceramics Ltd. 6.64 30.11 -6.79 0.27 60.87 36.07
Tata Chemicals Ltd. 266.15 1519.42 4223.4 40.74 117.29 949.18 761.82 3457.6 7542.7
Tata Coffee Ltd. 23.91 215.72 304.55 1.59 29.34 24.68 32.62 188.51 664.95
Tata Communications Ltd. 317.7 7003.69 3301.7 56.88 840.27 304.46 626.06 8087.6 9776.6
Tata Construction & Projects Ltd. 34.04 23.65 -2.89 0.77 48.77 35.27
33
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 18538 4508.76 14736

Tata Cummins Ltd. 1757.2 118.57 809.82
Tata Elxsi Ltd. 124.2 401.53 6.71 52.67 79.42 261.42
Tata Ficosa Automotive Systems Ltd.
Tata Finance Ltd. [Merged] 0 56.78 3614.8
Tata Finance Merchant Bankers Ltd. 0 0.21 5.56
Tata Hydro-Electric Power Supply Co. Ltd.
[Merged] 168.19 564.79 16.49 98.45 224.33 1450.8
Tata Industries Ltd. 14.72 4.26 1118.4
Tata Infotech Ltd. [Merged] 39.12 421.38 5.14 12.2 33.17 255.09
Tata International Ltd. 254.56 1651.23 3.52 5.22 149.33 1017.5
Tata Internet Services Ltd. 17.7 10.04 40.61
Tata Investment Corpn. Ltd. 0 0 37.21 185.85 276.52 911.58
Tata Klockner Indl. Plants Ltd.
Tata Korf Engg. Services Ltd. 0.11 10.93 0.07 0.87 6.78 15.1
Tata Metaliks Ltd. 93.76 1185.5 3 69.63 67.61 592
Tata Metals & Strips Ltd. [Merged] 46.84 5.14 31.14
Tata Motors Finance Ltd. 0 44.77 6643.8
Tata Motors Insurance Services Ltd.

Tata Motors Ltd. 1905.9 8616.21 32435 102.54 71.2 2028.92 1554.7 8997.7 26152
Tata Oil Mills Co. Ltd. [Merged] 335.33 5.36 160.51
Tata Petrodyne Ltd. 47.5 171.8 -37.08 54.71 88 414.11
Tata Pigments Ltd. 2.25 17.05 0.07 1.46 1.9 11.86
Tata Power Co. Ltd. 419.64 1403.89 5920.5 40.95 238.64 869.9 556.56 3680.7 13076
Tata Power Trdg. Co. Ltd.
Tata Precision Inds. India Ltd.
Tata Projects Ltd. 12.43 172.17 1344 0.53 9.05 43.24 27.37 166.7 1201.5
Tata Refractories Ltd. 83.78 260.69 584.51 2.01 5.33 21.66 46.1 181.8 470.03
Tata Ryerson Ltd. 18.22 1280 -1.74 39.61 85.51 509.15
Tata S S L Ltd. [Merged] 210.96 654.57 14.91 3.65 121.64 446.59
Tata Securities Ltd. 0 0 14.05 0.51 434.79 42.38
34
Tata Services Ltd. 25.19 59.02 0 0.03 35.87 46.72

Tata Sky Ltd. 608.98 -863.7 537.08
Tata Sons Ltd. 88.27 2132.84 288.65 8.93 662.54 3779.8 127.22 3680.4 28169
Tata Sponge Iron Ltd. 14.63 123.65 515.85 3.52 9.37 95.53 37.98 109.46 503.33
Tata Steel Ltd. 2066.5 6156.28 22189 141.58 422.59 4687.03 3036.6 12143 55161
Tata Tea Ltd. 260.68 913.65 1136.5 41.49 124.56 312.86 272.75 1352.7 3104.8
Tata Technodyne Ltd. [Merged]
Tata Technologies Ltd. 65.7 277.53 3.85 28.41 31.62 400.65
-
Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. 63.82 1773.1 270.15 -125.74 1284.6 3443.9
Tata Teleservices Ltd. 5332.8 -1826.5 12663
Tata Tetley Ltd. 31.72 -0.19 23.47
Tata Toyo Radiator Ltd. 15.16 384.91 -7.86 20.1 58.65 205.32
Tata Yazaki Autocomp Ltd. 290.48 -5.76 140.91
Tata-Scob Dealers Calcutta Ltd.
Tatanagar Bricks Ltd.

Tatanet Services Ltd. 21.59 0.34 20.82
Taulis Pharma Ltd.
Tayo Rolls Ltd. 40.82 87.32 244.84 0.69 4.68 6.35 26.22 76.01 168.92
Timken India Ltd. 167.77 15.2 158.87
V S N L Broadband Ltd.
Vashisti Detergents Ltd. [Merged] 225.93 5.51 85.29
Wireless T T Info Services Ltd. 135.58 -30 1372.7
Source: Prowess ( CMIE)
35
Exhibit 4
TATA Steel Financial : 1931- 2008 (Figures are in INR crore)
Gross Gross Net transfer

Year Capital Block Investment Revenues PAT to revenues Dividends
1931 10.47 23.41 0.3 5.73 0.19 0.19
1936 10.47 24.07 0.63 7.55 1.21 0.13
1941 10.47 29.25 1.23 17.99 3.04 0.75 2.3
1946 10.47 35.25 2.15 22.36 2.61 0.7 1.82
1951 10.47 42.76 2.81 30.23 2.49 1.01 1.5
1956 17.34 69.39 5.99 41.93 5.81 4.07 1.76
1961 38.97 185.52 8.85 87.08 5.09 0.52 4.65
1966 38.97 211.87 11.66 134.01 9.64 4.4 5.25
1971 50.01 287.86 12.21 158.51 7.42 2.15 5.27
1976 50.01 395.84 11.09 287.63 9.42 4.59 4.83
1981 62.86 550.48 14.01 520.86 26.46 17.9 8.56
1986 82.74 1115.76 144.54 1285.51 107.68 90.88 20.61
1991 229.69 2703.29 571.86 2330.86 160.13 88.79 71.34
1996 367.23 7408.46 410.94 5879.96 565.79 408.82 156.97
2001 507.97 11253.17 846.92 7810.05 553.44 335.83 217.61
2006 553.67 16470.71 4069.96 17398.98 3506.38 2685.95 820.43
2008 6203.31 20746.57 4103.19 22526.81 4687.03 3293.48 1393.55
Source: Ninety fifth annual report 2001-02, TATA Steel
Exhibit 5
Financial History of TATA Steel (Figures are in INR crore)
Invest
Invest ment Forex No. of Market
Year Sales Assets PBDIT PAT ments (Abroad) earnings shares+ Cap.
1989 1865.3 2060.65 322.02 134.8 234.4 0 95.3 368.98
1990 2066.5 3036.64 404.91 141.5 795.3 0 147.5 553.47 2988.18
1991 2233.4 3504.68 486.09 160.1 571.8 0 207.6 553.47 4622.34
1992 2787.2 4789.08 617.73 200.5 248.7 0 455.6 553.47 10394.41
1993 3352.1 6261.84 664.28 119.1 170 0 641 553.47 5805.69
1994 3790.9 7347.26 696.6 180.8 261.6 0 719.7 553.47 8952.55
1995 4627.4 7835.11 860.07 264.1 220.6 0 550.1 553.47 7699.8
1996 5854.1 9209.78 1245.15 565.7 410.9 0 683 553.47 7224.24
1997 6348.5 9920.87 1339.39 469.2 664.9 0 666.9 553.47 6594.48
1998 6429.2 11274.2 1172.1 322 626 0 735.9 580.47 4360.42
1999 5516 11466.4 1220.85 282.2 588.8 0 663.5 580.47 4816.25
2000 6156.2 12143.3 1432.63 422.5 821.2 0 750.4 580.47 4357.89
2001 7196.6 12555.3 1577.12 553.4 850.8 0 750.7 608.97 4083.48
2002 7595.4 12809.6 1195.51 204 912.7 1.6 599.6 608.97 4355.89
2003 9788.4 13261.5 2200.89 1012.3 1201.5 1.6 1332.1 608.97 8156.31
2004 11918 13933.9 3537.4 1746.2 2201.4 2.8 1501.3 730.58 14805.12
2005 15868 16695.6 6143.55 3474.1 2463.2 152.3 2189.8 730.58 20886.88
2006 17133 19257.4 6152.99 3506.3 4069.9 972.1 2110.1 730.58 27565.63
2007 19766 32095.7 7332.12 4222.1 6106.1 1046.2 2103.8 730.58 40525.27
2008 22189 55160.8 8841.29 4687 4103.1 1152.3 2288.6 730.59 43763.82
Source: Prowess (CMIE)
36
Exhibit 6
TATA Motors ( Figures are in INR crore)
Invest
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT ments (Abroad) earnings shares Cap.
1989 1638.51 1191.12 186.25 68.93 140.04 0 84.91 357.99
1990 1905.86 1554.73 270.83 102.54 303.48 0 105.63 358.48 1740.32
1991 2501.27 1800.53 370.44 142.05 108.58 0 134.24 361.75 2725.92
1992 3024.36 2740.36 410.8 128.14 286.04 0 252.34 361.75 4501.32
1993 2875.94 3390.11 338.06 30.04 175.18 0 312.02 361.75 3074.34
1994 3543.09 3401.16 434.42 101.34 159.09 0 379.23 376.25 6623.53
1995 5511.46 4262.67 762.15 318.95 342.83 0 582.98 376.25 7737.78
1996 7636.46 6109.91 1091.38 505.82 660.9 0 642.93 382.83 10860.51
1997 9768.32 8599.67 1500.14 762.36 826.57 0 675.27 383.07 9244.91
1998 7026.5 8940.32 1048.02 294.66 837.11 0 633.88 385.17 4937.91
1999 6317.89 10235.8 927.89 97.85 1029.38 0 532.02 385.27 5630.81
2000 8616.21 8997.68 1040.64 71.2 1203.66 3.1 611.02 385.37 3141.18
2001 7912.36 8892.26 484.55 -500.34 1405.03 3.1 725.31 385.38 2077.92
2002 8641.81 8126.01 787.42 -53.73 1189.92 0 621.02 385.46 4216.17
2003 10607.7 8294.13 1097.63 300.11 1271.8 4.38 477.46 385.51 7842.19
2004 15208.7 10192.6 1770.65 810.34 3081.44 257.42 1016.64 385.51 15766.55
2005 20217.4 13849.2 2155.71 1236.95 2912.06 255.47 1497.85 385.61 17880.06
2006 23439.4 16192.1 2707.99 1528.88 2015.15 256.15 2384.81 385.61 31418.36
2007 31000.7 19575 3362.32 1913.46 2477 267.76 2714.68 449.83 28950.72
2008 32434.8 26151.5 3512.44 4910.27 301.62 2844.12 449.83 18858.67
Exhibit 7
Financial history of TATA Consultancy Services (Figures are in INR crore)
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT Invest Invest Forex No. of Market.
ment ment earnings Shares Cap.
(Abroad)
2002 0 215.44 1.54 1.54 37.81 0 0 978.61

2003 0.25 266.11 1.88 1.02 37.91 0 0 978.61
2004 2.05 657.89 17.7 15.17 426.4 0 0 978.61 54533.03
2005 8054.57 4752.8 2255.8 1831.42 1408.71 529.37 7485.25 978.61 65844.53
2006 11239.3 7430.2 3374.25 2716.87 1963.52 897.44 10127.08 978.61 93944.58
2007 14944.6 10714.9 4520.11 3757.29 3252.09 1643.23 13785.08 978.61 112572.9
2008 18537.5 14736.1 5855.16 4508.76 4509.38 1633.86 16776.48 978.61 77060.92
37
Exhibit 8
TATA Power (Figures are in INR crore)
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT Forex Investment No. of Market

earning Shares Cap.
1989 378.1 486.24 51.43 22.68 0 12.33 197.89

1990 419.64 556.56 76.73 40.95 0 17.27 197.89 178.7
1991 474.09 655.85 79.12 34.83 0.32 29.27 197.89 338.36
1992 554.79 963.4 98.55 26.48 2.02 44.97 197.89 369.73
1993 759.31 1262.28 160.21 67.27 1.89 56.07 197.89 824.8
1994 951.08 1642.22 216.04 95.97 0.73 163.81 197.89 1578.61
1995 1060.9 2177.55 298.99 119.51 14.5 495.15 197.89 1330.52
1996 1170.8 2320.22 505.61 223 0.77 573.22 197.89 1621.4
1997 1192.5 2451.9 401.83 117.93 0.05 614.54 197.89 1422.48
1998 1206.4 3022.83 426.91 164.64 40.1 1072.73 197.89 1159.91
1999 1159.7 3307.56 439.62 166.34 34.55 1208.16 197.89 919.33
2000 1403.9 3680.7 536.13 238.64 53.11 1389.31 197.89 927.44
2001 3379.5 7680.43 1026.97 399.7 79.61 1582.93 197.89 2418.37
2002 3797.8 8484.8 1341.48 508.23 132.69 2276.12 207.79 2231.76
2003 4279.8 8688.23 1475.31 536.42 67.82 2451.83 217.39 3292.51
2004 4216.1 8000.49 1367.3 526.85 48.59 2728.83 220.71 6426.3
2005 3973.1 9347.87 1270.38 551 74.04 3502.92 220.78 7965.73
2006 4560 9678.18 1184.07 610.64 82.88 3412.17 221.38 10326.82
2007 4704.9 11493.3 1258.72 696.8 104.31 3570.15 221.38 15840.42
2008 5920.5 13075.7 1529.73 869.9 18.82 4630.09 221.42 24103.45
Exhibit 9
Tata Communications ( Figures are in INR crores)
Invest- Investment Forex No. of Market
Year Sales PBDITA PAT Assets ments (Abroad) earnings shares CAP.
1990 317.7 132.43 56.88 626.06 4.89 0 122.91 285
1991 376.11 177.82 78.58 631.04 19.76 0 129.32 285
1992 598.23 277.91 104.14 904.08 0.41 0 175.44 285 0
1993 734.92 309.02 112.38 1335.08 0.41 0 300.4 285 0
1994 2911.05 382.42 176.1 2131.86 0.41 0 1625.89 285 0
1995 3560.48 617.37 303.07 2194.7 3.45 0 2120.12 285 5205.26
1996 4432.32 757 409.56 3178.96 125.26 0 2888.96 285 8825.36
1997 5209.27 888.8 504.74 5195.32 313.77 0 3397.7 285 8860.36
1998 6142.29 1465.64 967.92 6713.89 375.95 0 4022.53 285 7460.68
1999 6857.94 1994.28 1324.95 8828.43 574.5 0 4737.62 285 10298.4
2000 7003.69 1572.39 840.27 8087.55 115.82 101.44 4817.11 285
2001 7299.42 2683.86 1778.83 10069.3 110.65 101.45 4867.3 285 8167.79
2002 6509.98 2227.7 1407.05 7640.14 366.29 357.09 4177.96 285 4173.09
2003 4540.28 1404.35 780.07 7643.82 655.87 375.43 2849.95 285 3067.12
2004 3168.05 716.18 377.66 6876.68 2094.11 344.58 1477.71 285 5008.95
2005 3303.04 1298.02 756.18 7683.89 1223.21 54.66 1951.89 285 8172.36
2006 3791.17 1047.9 479.54 8227.53 2499.34 317.66 1712.01 285 11565.9
2007 3757.32 1110.87 468.56 8615.61 2680.85 414.65 1759.12 285 13364.1
2008 3301.73 790.89 304.46 9776.59 2325.28 417.11 1035.27 285 13537
38
Exhibit 10
TATA Chemicals (Figures are in INR crore)
Invest- Investment Forex No. Of Market

Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT ments (Abroad) earnings shares Cap
1989 256.83 576.95 103.37 35.79 227.64 0 4.04 180.63
1990 266.15 761.82 121.95 40.74 296.62 0 4.78 215.11 636.91
1991 299.43 1055.61 131.6 44.45 407.4 0 1.93 215.11 596.59
1992 348.42 1106.33 165.87 59.75 351.96 0 4.08 215.11 1535.28
1993 414.75 1674.76 188.86 74.95 377.78 0 9.68 215.11 2601.47
1994 504.38 2401.07 365.52 276.58 295.16 0 9.2 215.11 5048.7
1995 770.17 2808.18 561.89 286.65 269.74 0 3.68 215.11 3998.01
1996 1515.37 3168.58 769.53 392.31 350.88 0 14.95 215.11 3939.56
1997 1598.52 3363.93 660.39 249.96 259.12 0 23.72 215.11 2984.08
1998 1643.53 3442.56 681.5 288.63 258.15 0 19.98 215.11 2178.4
1999 1461.96 3527.33 549.31 181.67 262.58 0 2.05 215.11 1270.62
2000 1519.42 3457.58 473.54 117.29 208.44 0 5.46 215.11
2001 1470.89 3510.5 495.76 164.95 428.22 0 22.1 215.11 763.58
2002 1397.14 3501.06 461.57 126.82 555.68 0 20.75 215.11 908.98
2003 1614.08 3181.19 521.32 196.58 569.02 0 53.18 226.65 1550.37
2004 2633.88 3765.91 553.77 220.53 626.94 0 64.25 233.96 2623.46
2005 3098.97 4485.82 620.11 340.55 938.74 0 85.27 234.72 3844.77
2006 3639.58 4756.04 686.63 353.03 713.74 166.26 94.39 235.16 4974.49
2007 4124.66 4785.31 826.92 444.21 1350.28 575.02 113.42 235.16 5667.27
2008 4223.4 7542.73 1327.04 949.18 3741.4 3320.32 91.94 235.16 6608.92
Exhibit 11
Tata Tea ( Figures are in INR crore)
Invest
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT ments (Abroad) earnings shares Cap.
1989 223.3 203.25 58.67 36.66 53.37 0 34.31 56219857
1990 260.68 272.75 88.47 41.49 73.34 0 35.5 56219857 447.56
1991 294.33 359.28 106.13 51.57 133.82 0 34.11 56219857 688.82
1992 348.04 419.74 110.14 52.86 130.34 0 51.62 56219857 1200.27
1993 380.53 475.22 115.43 54.23 100.96 0 95.96 56219857 1914.39
1994 415.91 517.29 115.86 55.88 133.31 0 100.24 56219857 2251.26
1995 399.32 546.74 108.46 58.36 153.75 0 79.11 56219857 1583.01
1996 519.69 644.58 106.05 46.08 181.58 0 111.59 56219857 1306.13
1997 692.19 754.95 131.34 58.61 184.3 0 225.29 56219857 1630.59
1998 871.9 832.44 193.15 102.17 177.84 0 281.35 56219857 1655.35
1999 876.2 943.17 235.22 128.76 231.12 0 143.99 59029857 2257.89
2000 913.65 1352.65 220.12 124.56 629.15 0 98.05 59029857 1747.5
2001 824.44 1338.51 184.61 100.21 621.91 440.88 66.74 61839857 1116.98
2002 762.82 1422.16 141.19 71.96 738.4 506.69 91.7 61839857 956.81
2003 748.43 1471.78 150.75 70.6 748.47 506.69 133.31 61839857 1260.27
2004 777.53 1432.55 161.33 91.53 835.45 512.09 118.69 61839857 2185.74
2005 893.27 1540.2 198 128.81 865.85 501.03 129.41 61839857 3755.39
2006 971.01 1703.53 266.38 186.93 1106.83 512.09 191.62 61839857 4536.33
2007 1056.4 2723.47 413.75 306.57 2045.92 1427.95 179.83 61839857 4651.5
2008 1136.5 3104.81 459.28 312.86 2193.78 1438.91 61839857 4555.24
39
Exhibit 12: Tata Investment Corpn. Ltd. (Figures are in INR crore)
Invest Forex No. of Market
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT ments earnings shares Cap.
1992 0 76.53 7.13 3.87 52.67 0 22973592 228.91
1993 0 92.72 11.09 6.26 82.85 0 22973592 169.17
1994 0 106.67 16.45 9.04 94.79 0 34460388 355.5
1995 0 137.41 25.77 16.92 109.09 0 34460388 263
1996 0 160.47 26.35 17.78 127.35 0 34460388 223.08
1997 0 171.43 28.38 19.81 135.87 0 34460388 198.29
1998 0 204.49 26.27 20.06 170.84 0 34460388 144.94
1999 0 216.52 28.24 22.68 188.48 0 34460388 145.8
2000 0 276.52 43.14 37.21 268.82 0.57 34460388 143.36
2001 0 287.62 45.11 41.13 273.22 0.17 34460388 131.56
2002 0 342.33 47.21 41.34 300.03 0 34460388 147.12
2003 0 359.6 52.87 45.82 316.93 0 34460388 315
2004 0 468.96 88.08 80.56 455.02 0.18 34460388 474.17
2005 0 526.35 116.85 112.38 516.52 0.04 34460388 931.1
2006 0 656.76 165.15 163.14 624.62 0.33 34460388 1378.87
2007 0 785.65 195.91 181.65 753.59 1.92 34460388 1631.86
2008 0 911.58 200.33 185.85 888.19 7.05 34460388 1589.02
Exhibit 13
Indian Hotels Ltd. ( Figures are in INR crore)
Invest Investment No. of Market
Year Sales PBDITA PAT Assets ments ( Abroad) Shares* CAP.
1989 115.85 27.8 9.38 167 9.34 0 45.11
1990 138.25 33.49 11.53 203.6 11.19 0 45.11
1991 156.28 36.7 9.03 237.62 12.37 0 45.11
1992 203.22 58.14 21.92 273.39 13.76 0 46.41
1993 238.14 71.27 33.54 320.03 16.93 0 52.01
1994 293.72 98.14 55.18 367.69 32.54 0 54.66
1995 372.5 135.83 82.11 596.54 36.04 0 55.36
1996 524.3 241.14 140.57 948.64 142.09 0 56.66
1997 576.82 253.21 146.88 1093.34 214.8 0 58.41
1998 595.65 221.57 137.96 1164.87 218.09 0 58.41
1999 603.28 201.15 119.14 1232.23 260.35 0 586.63
2000 604.17 208.48 113.23 1563.67 338.25 87.1 586.63
2001 688.01 243.07 116.79 1759.17 422.33 113.84 602.85
2002 581.03 212.27 80.7 1923.2 541.54 114.65 602.85
2003 569.57 162.94 40.48 1926.37 575.5 114.65 602.85
2004 668.59 180.79 60.65 2626.79 608.51 125.98 602.85
2005 848.04 250.6 105.86 2609.38 610.87 125.98 723.41
2006 1116.62 381.63 183.78 2745.46 660.43 125.98 723.41
2007 1541.43 664.16 322.39 3354.63 1109.6 531.94 723.41
2008 1765.17 763.15 377.46 3796.96 1162.58 531.94 723.41
Source: Prowess ( CMIE )
40
Exhibit 14
Tata Teleservices Ltd. (Figures are in Rs. Cr.)
Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT Investments

2001 84.2 767.88 -3.76 -148.05 26.68
2002 147.82 1433.28 4.3 -195.43 104.03
2003 268.07 3219.58 -72.41 -381.57 585.43
2004 794.86 6133.86 -185.13 -786.4 542.85
2005 1351.26 9177.16 -614.64 -1664.07 575.69
2006 2582.57 11518.02 -429.62 -1878.21 620.59
2007 4532.16 11423.86 -238.4 -2062.52 506.17
2008 5332.84 12662.96 260.32 -1826.51 553.17
41
Exhibit 15
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust
Project/ Activities Location year Nature/scope

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore 1911 Donated initial fund and land for the set up
the institute.
Sir Ratan Tata Department of Social London 1912 Through Sir Ratan Tata’s benefaction the
Sciences centre was set up at London School of
Economics (LSE), London
Tata Institute of Social Science Mumbai 1936 Social research & community
studies/development
Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai 1941 Advanced research for cancer.
Tata Institute of Fundamental Mumbai 1945 Set up under guidance of J.R.D. Tata for
Research (TIFR) research in mathematics & physics
International Institute of Population Mumbai 1956 Set up by United Nations, Government of
Studies (IIPS) India & Sir Dorabji Tata Trust
Demographic Centre for Training & Mumbai 1956 Government of India & Dorabji Tata Trust
Research for study of issues related to population
Atomic Energy Training School (now Mumbai 1957 Centre for Atomic energy research
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) (where most of the scientists were recruited
from TIFR in the initial days)
Tata Management Training Centre Pune 1964 Train employees from Tata organization
(TMTC) and other organizations including PSUs.
National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai 1966 Activities of art & cultural significant
Tata Theatre Mumbai Part of National Centre for Performing Arts
National Institute of Advanced Mumbai 1988 Institution which would conduct advanced
Studies (NAS) research in multidisciplinary areas.
JRD Tata Ecotechnology Centre Chennai 1996 Set up by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust at MS
Swami Nathan Research Foundation,
Chennai
Sir Dorabji Tata Centre for Research Bangalore 1997 Set up at IISc for advanced studies for
in Tropical Disease medical research and tropical disease
control
Tata Agricultural and Rural Training Gujarat Training activities for the visually impaired
Centre for the Blind (TACEB) people (Donation of INR 2,00,000 to
National Association of the Blind)
Tata Medical Centre (To be opened) Kolkata 2009 Medical Centre & Research
Source:
1. Lala R.M., “Beyond the Last Blue Mountain”; Viking Penguin Books India (P) Ltd.1992
2. www.dorabjitatatrust.org (accessed on May 7, 2009)
42
Exhibit 16
Tata Trusts
Sir Ratan Tata Trust
From its inception in 1919, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) largely made grants in Bombay.
Education, health and support for allied trusts were the mainstay of institutional grant
making, with a few grants also being made for the promotion of arts and heritage, women’s
development, rural development, etc.
Few of the early ventures of the Trust were the Sir Ratan Tata Industrial Institute,
National Metallurgical Laboratory at Jamshedpur, and to the establishment of the Tata
Memorial Centre. Notable grants and donations until were for: The establishment of the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Apart from concentrating on funding the
establishment of prestigious and pioneering institutions, the Trust responded to requests from
individuals and institutions, on an ad-hoc basis.
JN Tata Endowment
The JN Tata Endowment was set up in 1892 by the founder of the Tata group, Jamsetji Tata,
to encourage young people to take up higher studies at some of the best universities in the
world. It is the first Tata benefaction in the field of education, and possibly the first of its
kind in Asia. Annually, the endowment selects around 120 scholars for higher studies
abroad. Over the years, several JN Tata scholars have distinguished themselves in various
walks of life.The endowment awards only loan scholarships. However, the selected scholars
may also qualify for a gift award.
Other Trusts sponsored by Tata Family
Trust Year of Activities

Establishment
Lady Tata Memorial Trust 1932 Advanced research in the diseases of the
blood & leukemia research.
Lady Meherbai D Tata 1932 Grants scholarships to young Indian women
Education Trust graduates for pursuing higher studies abroad
in the field of social work and public health.
JRD Tata Trust 1944 Developmental issues, medical and
educational grants.
Jamsetji Tata Trust 1974 Grants are made across the five sectors of
Tata Education Trust 1990 Management of Natural Resources,
Tata Social Welfare Trust 1990 Livelihood, Health, Education and a range
RD Tata Trust 1990 of issues covered as Social Development
Initiatives.
JRD & Thelma J. Tata 1991 Promoting the welfare, education, health,
Trust rehabilitation and uplift of the women of
India
Source: http://www.dorabjitatatrust.org/allied_trust (accessed on May 9, 2009)
43
Exhibit 17
Shareholders of Tata Sons
No of
Shareholder shares % Holding
1 Shapoor Mistry 108 0.03
Sterling Investment Corp - Shapoorji Pallonji
2 Group 40,319 9.98
3 Cyrus Investments - Shapoorji Pallongi Group 33,925 8.39
4 Ratan Tata 3,368 0.83
5 Sir Dorabji Tata Trust 113067 27.98
6 Sir Ratan Tata Trust 95,211 23.56
7 Tata Investment Corp 326 0.08
8 Sarvajanik Seva Trust 396 0.10
9 RD Tata Trust 8,838 2.19
10 Tata Social Welfare Trust 15,076 3.73
11 Tata Education Trust 15,075 3.73
12 JRD Tata Trust 16,200 4.01
13 Tata Power 5,673 1.40
14 Tata Tea 1,755 0.43
15 Indian Hotels 4,500 1.11
16 Tata Industries 2,295 0.57
17 Tata Chemicals 10,237 2.53
18 Kalimati Investment Co. 12,375 3.06
19 Tata International Ltd 155 0.04

20 Tata Motors 12,375 3.06
21 Piloo Tata 487 0.12
22 Jimmy Tata 157 0.04
23 Farhad Choksey 157 0.04
24 Simone Tata 2,011 0.50
25 Noel Tata 2,055 0.51
26 Virendra Singh Chauhan-Chhota Udaipur 1 0.00
27 MK Tata Trust 2,421 0.60
28 Others 5,583 1.38
Total Number of Shares 404,146 100.00

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=332876 <accessed
May 9, 2009>
44
Exhibit 18: A Section of Tata family tree
NUSSERWANI R. TATA
DADABHOY TATA
(husband of Jeevanbai Tata)
(brother of Jeevanbai Bhikhibai
husband of Bhikhibai)
JAMSETJI NUSSERWANJI TATA RATANBAI TATA MANECKBAI TATA VIRBAIJI TATA JERBAI TATA
Founder of the House of Tata Wife of Edulji Bamji Wife of Kharsedji Tata Wife of BapujiSaklatvala Wife of Dorabji Saklatvala
Husband of Hiabai Daboo
R.D. TATA
(Ratanji DadaBhoy Tata)
husband of Suzanne (Sooni) Briere
SIR DORABJI TATA

Husband of Meherbai Bhaba DHUNBAI TATA SIR RATAN TATA KAEKOBAD SAKLATVALA SIR NOWROJI SAKLATVALA
Husband of Navajbai Sett Husband of Sehra Bardi Husband of Goolbai Batliwala
MINOCHER TATA
Husband of Piloo Dastur
adopted
NAVAL H. TATA SYLLA TATA J.R.D. TATA RODABEH TATA DORAB TATA JIMMY TATA
(Lady Dinshaw Petit) Husband of
wife of Sir Dinshaw Petit Thelma Vicaji
Husband of
Soonoo Commisariat Husband of JAMSETJI NUSSERWANJI TATA (1887-1904)
Simone Dunoyer SIR DORABJI TATA (1904-1932)
SIR NOWROJI SAKLATVALA (1932-1938)
J.R.D. TATA (1938-1991)
RATAN TATA (Since 1991)
RATAN TATA Years mentioned indicate the period of
JIMMY TATA NOEL TATA Championship
45
Exhibits 19
Fostering the brand Tata: Heights attained by Tata Chairmen
J.R.D. Tata:
Award/ Recognition Year From
First solo flight* between 1930 Courtesy from Aga Khan
India & England
International Man of 1953 National Association of
Management Foremen
Padma Vibhushan 1955 Government of India
Honorary Air Commodore 1966 Indian Air Force
Tony Jannus Award 1979 The Greater tampa chamber

of commerce
Commander of the Legion 1982 French Government
of Honour
Gold Medal 1985 Federation Aeronautique
Internationale
Daniel Guggenheim 1988 Museum of Flight
Medal Award
Bharat Ratna 1992 Government of India
U.N. Population Award 1992 United Nations
Special Award 1992 International Planned

Parenthood Federation
Release of Postal Stamp in 1994 Government of India
his memory
N.B. – *First Indian to be Awarded Pilot’s License in February, 1929
Ratan N. Tata:
Award/ Recognition Year From
Padma Bhusan 2000 Government of India
Padma Vibhushan 2008 Government of India
Honorary doctorate in Ohio State University
business administration
Honorary doctorate in Asian Institute of
technology Technology, Bangkok
Honorary doctorate in University of Warwick
science
Honorary fellowship London School of Economics
46
Exhibit 20
Tata Group initiations in Labour welfare
Welfare Policy/ Scheme Introduction Enforced Legal Measure

by Tata group by Law
Eight hour working day 1912 1948 Factories Act
Free Medical aid 1915 1948 Employees State Insurance Act
Establishment of welfare 1917 1948 Factories Act

Department
Formation of works 1919 1947 Industrial disputes Act
committee for handling
complains & grievances
Leave with pay 1920 1948 Factories Act
Worker’s provident fund 1920 1952 Employees’ Provident Fund Act

Scheme
Workmen’s Accident 1920 1924 Workmen’s Compensation Act
Compensation Scheme
Technical Institution for 1921 1961 Apprentices Act
Training
Maternity Benefit 1928 1946 Bihar Maternity Benefit Act
Profit Sharing Bonus 1934 1965 Bonus Act
Retiring Gratuity 1937 1972 Payment of Gratuity Act
Source: Elankumaran S, Seal R. & Hshmi A.;”Transcending Transformation: Enlightening

Endeavors at Tata Steel”; Journal of Business Ethics (2005) 59: 109-119
47
Exhibit 21
Time line of TATA Group
Source: www.palgrave-journals.com/.../8400198f1.gif (as on April 14, 2009)
48
Exhibit 22
Milestones by TATA Group
Foundation: 1868-1931
1868
§ Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata starts a private trading firm, laying the foundation of
the Tata group.
1874
§ The Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company was set up.
1902
§ The Indian Hotels Company is incorporated to set up the Taj Mahal Palace and
Tower, India's first luxury hotel, which opened in 1903.
1907
§ The Tata Iron and Steel Company (now Tata Steel) is established to set up India's
first iron and steel plant in Jamshedpur. The plant started production in 1912.
§ Sets up its first office overseas, Tata Limited in London.
1910
§ The Tata Hydro-Electric Power Supply Company is set up. Andhra Valley Power
Supply Company was established in 1917 and Tata Power in 1919.
1917
§ Tata Oil Mills Company being established to make soaps, detergents and cooking
oils. The company was sold to Hindustan Unilever in 1984.
1919
§ Insurance business unit, New India Assurance was set up (nationalized in 1956).
Consolidation (1932-1989)
1932
§ Tata Airlines, a division of Tata Sons is established.
1939
§ Tata Chemicals is established.
1944
§ Tata Sons set up its overseas office in USA.
49
1945
§ Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (renamed Tata Motors in 2003) is
established.
§ Tata Industries is created for the promotion and development of hi-tech industries.
1952
§ Setting up of Lakme brands of cosmetics. The company was sold to Hindustan
Unilever in 1997.
1954
§ India's major marketing, engineering and manufacturing organization, Voltas, is
established.
1962
§ Tata Finlay (now Tata Tea) is established.
§ Tata Exports (now Tata International) is established.
1968
§ Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's first software services company, is
established as a division of Tata Sons.
1971
§ Tata Precision Industries established in Singapore, is founded to design and
manufacture precision engineering products.
1984
§ Tata Electric Companies commissioned first thermal power unit at Trombay.
1995
§ Tata Quality Management Services institutes the JRD QV Award, modelled on the
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Value Award of the United States, laying the
foundation of the Tata Business Excellence Model.
Expansion (1990 Onwards)

1996
§ Tata Tele services (TTSL) is established.
1998
§ Tata Indica, India's first indigenously designed and manufactured car launched by
Tata Motors.
1999
§ The new Tata group corporate mark and logo are launched.
2000
§ Tata Tea acquires the Tetley group, UK. This is the first major acquisition of an
international brand by an Indian business group.
2001
50
§ Tata AIG is set up in a joint venture between the Tata group and American
International Group Inc (AIG).
2002
§ Tata Sons acquires state run telecom player VSNL (renamed as Tata
Communications).
2004
§ Tata Motors is listed in New York Stock Exchange, the second group company to
do so after VSNL.
§ Tata Motors acquires the heavy vehicles unit of Daewoo Motors, South Korea.
§ TCS goes public in July 2004 in the largest private sector initial public offering
(IPO) in the Indian market, raising nearly $1.2 billion.
2005
§ Tata Steel acquires Singapore-based steel company Nat Steel.
§ VSNL (now Tata Communications) acquired Tyco Global Network, making it
one of the world's largest providers of submarine cable bandwidth.
§ The Taj acquires a hotel run by Starwood, Sydney (renamed Blue) and takes over
management of The Pierre, NY.
2006
§ Tata Sky satellite television service launched across the country.
§ Foundation stone for the Tata Medical Centre unveiled in Kolkata.
2007
§ Tata Steel acquires the Ango-Dutch steel company ‘Corus’.
§ TCS inaugurates TCS China.
§ Computational Research Laboratories, a division of Tata Sons, develops Eka, one
of the fastest supercomputers in the world and the fastest in Asia.
§ The Taj acquires Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco.
2008
§ Tata Motors acquires the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from the Ford Motor
Company.
§ Tata Chemicals acquires General Chemical Industrial Products Inc.
Source: http://www.tata.com/htm/Group_milestone.htm (as on April9, 2009)
51
Exhibit 23: Letter to G.D. Birla*
Bombay
28 September 1944
Dear Mr. Birla,
I was talking the order day to a highly placed friend who has just returned from England. He
confirmed that our proposed visit had aroused much interest in England and then said that he had
gathered the impression that it would be to our advantage to go there, if not orders in our
pockets, at least with specific and clear ideas of what India would want in the way of machinery
and equipment in the immediate post war period. If we were found to have come merely on an
exploratory and study mission, much less attention would be given to us and the usefulness of
our work would be reduced. Although we shall obviously not be in a position to negotiate large
purchases or contracts on behalf of India as a whole, I think there is some force in what he said.
In this connection you will have read in the papers of the formation in England, under the
initiative of Sir George Schuster, of an individual group comprising fifty industries from the
Midlands, to prepare for our visit. It is clear from this and other things that have appeared in the
press from time to time that when we get there we shall be faced by people and interests who
will have taken the trouble to organize themselves to meet us, and ready to talk business. I feel,
therefore, that it is important that we should also be prepared in advance, with facts and ideas,
when we meet these gentlemen….
Exhibit 24
Bombay
14 November 1947
Dear Mr. Birla,
As you may know, the Government of India have recently approved a joint scheme between
themselves and Air-India, for the inauguration of an international service between India and UK.
A similar scheme is under consideration in connection with the shipping industry. There are
other projects which Government have in view, in some of which it would appear to be
Government’s present intention to set up industrial enterprises of there own, either managed
wholly by themselves or in conjunction with private interests. All this raises large questions of
policy and would have a profound influence on industrial development in the country.
I think it is essential, therefore, for a few of us confer together with a view to arriving, if
possible, at some uniform views on the general principles involved.
I am writing the same letter to Sir Sri Ram and Kasturbhai Lalbhai, and I am also verbally
approaching Mr. Walchand Hirachand, Dharamsey Khatau, Krisnaraj Thakersey and
Bhagwandas Mehta, the present Chairman of Millowners’ Association.
As all of us, except you and Sir Sri Ram are permanently in Bombay, and as Mr. Kasturbhai
visits Bombay every week, I would like, if you agree with my suggestion, to arrange an early
meeting in Bombay. I shall therefore appreciate it if will let me know when it would be
convenient for you to meet in Bombay. It would be advantageous if you and Sir Sri Ram could
agree between you as to a suitable date. I suggest it should be towards the end of this month or
beginning of December….
With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,
J.R.D. Tata
* Chairman, Birla Group of Industries
Source: Mmbro A., “Letters J.R.D. Tata”; Rupa & Co. 2004
52
Exhibit 25
Network of Tata Sons & Directors of Tata group
Ratan Tata:
Ø Chairman of the Government of India’s Investment Commission and a

Ø Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry,
Ø Member, National Hydrogen Energy Board
Ø National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council
Ø International Investment Council set up by the President of the Republic of South Africa
Ø UK Prime Minister’s Business Council for Britain
Ø Member of the International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development
Board
Ø Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee to the board of directors of the New York Stock
Exchange
Ø International advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, American International
Group, JP Morgan Chase and Rolls Royce
Ø Boards of Fiat SpA and Alcoa
Ø President of the court of the Indian Institute of Science
Ø Chairman of the Council of Management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Ø Board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California
Ø Foundation Board of the Ohio State University
Ø Programme Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS Initiative
J.J. Irani:
Ø National president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 1992-93

Ø Co-chairman of the Indo-British Partnership during 1993-1998
Ø Former president of the Indian Institute of Metals
Ø President of the All India Management Association (AIMA) during 1988-89
Ø Chairman of the Board of Governors of the XLRI, Jamshedpur, 1993-2003
Ø Chairman of the Society and Board of Governors of the IIM, Lucknow
Ø Member, Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C), Government of India.
Ø Former chairman of Expert committee; to draft the new Companies Act
Ø Working groups for iron and steel for the 6th, 7th and 8th national Five-Year Plans
Ø Member of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).
Ø President of the Asian Association of Management Organisations (2004-2007)
Syamal Gupta:
Ø Honorary consul general of Namibia in India

Ø President's advisory council in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana
Ø Member of Commonwealth Business Council, London.
Ø On the board of the IIM, Kozhikode and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London
53
Ishaat Hussain
Ø Member, SEBI committees on insider trading and primary capital markets & CII
Arun Kumar Gandhi:
Ø Member, Securities and Exchange Board of India's takeover panel exemption committee
Ø Member, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India's accounting standards board.
Exhibit 26
Business Policies those regulated Iron & Steel Industry of India
Year Policy Brief about the policy

1948 Industrial policy Resolution § State run policy & regulation for industrial
development
§ Limited opportunity for private players in Iron &
Steel industry and mineral sector; where ever the
government feel cooperation of such activity is
needed for National growth
1949 Mineral Concession Rules
1956- Second Five years plan § Second five years plan is eventful for Iron & Steel
1961 industry; 3 PSUs were set up.
§ Private players are given financial support and
other incentives to increase the production.
§ Tata Steel has increased the production from 8
lakh tones to 15 lakhs during this period.
1956 Industrial policy Resolution § Iron & Steel industry is scheduled in A-category.
Limited growth opportunity for private player
§ Fello-alloys & tool steels are scheduled in B-
category. Private players will be allowed to enter
§ Coal & Ignite, Mining of iron ore, chrome ore are
scheduled in A category. Solely state affair. No
private players would be entertained to participate
1957 Mines & Minerals
Regulation & Development
Act.
1960 Mineral Concession Rules § Regulation of mining license except atomic
minerals and minor minerals
1969 Monopolies and Restrictive § Participation of private players in Schedule A
Trade Practices Act industries like Iron & Steel are under scrutiny of
(MRTP) the state.
1970 Industrial Policy Statement § Licensing policy will be encouraged with strict
follow up of the MRTP Acts.
§ Large business houses are allowed to participate
in Metallurgical industries including fello allays,
steel castings & forgings and special steels
industries.
54
1977 Industrial Policy Statement § Growth of private players will be allowed under
MRTP Act,1969
§ Limited access to foreign investments (Maximum
stake holding capacities up to 40%)
1980 Industrial Policy Statement § Government recognizes that , it would be
desirable to allow private players to mmet the
production target in consonance with national
objectives.
§ All incentives given to industry must be
performance orientated.
1982 Industrial Licensing Policy § Large industrial houses are allowed to set up
industries in core sectors including iron & steel
sector.
§ Private players and multi-nationals will also be
permitted to set up units outside the core sector if
the units are predominately export oriented.
1988 Mineral Conservation and
Development Rule
1993 National Mineral Policy § Foreign firms can hold up to 50% of ownership
§ Facilitates better scope for private player to
participate in post liberalized economy.
1995 Union Budget of India § Import duty rates on ferrous & non-ferrous metals
will be reduced to 40%.
§ Other items included by the Iron & Steel sector
sees heavy discount in tax structure.
2008 National Mineral Policy § Policy to attract more foreign investment in
development of mining sector
§ Private ownership is encouraged by softening of
License guideline
55
Exhibit 27
TATA Group listed firms during financial year 2000
Tata Sponge Iron 39.74

4.68
Tata Iron & Steel Co. Tata Motors ltd.
46.66 9.13
Tata Metaliks
14.17
Tata Elxi Ltd. Tata Infotech. Ltd.
2.87
18.98 78.17
17.88 19.17
Tata Power Co. ltd.
Tata Finance 8.69
Tata Industries 9.54
Tata Telecom
Tata construction & Tata Sons ltd. Tata SSL ltd. 2.4
Projects ltd.
87.03
11.03 1
90.73 31.75
Tata Advance
Material ltd. 15.7
Tata Investment Corp. ltd.
15.06
15.37 9.81
4.21
50.59
Tata Coffee ltd. Tata Tea 7.68
Tata Chemicals
9.8
Tata Honeywell
Source: Cross Holding Strategy to increase control: Case of the Tata group by Ram Kumar Kakani & Tejas Joshi
56
Exhibit 28
TATA Group listed firms during financial year 2005
Tata Sponge Iron 39.74

Tata Iron & Steel Co. 4.66
Tata Motors ltd.
46.66 8.61
Tata Metaliks
19.8 14.17
2.87
Tata Elxi Ltd. Tata Infotech. Ltd.
2.06
78.17
17.88 38.15
Tata Power Co. ltd.
Tata Finance Tata Consultancy
Tata Industries 9.54 Services
28.74
80.7
Tata construction
& Projects ltd. 12.41
Voltas 2.4
23.8
Tata Sons ltd.
Indian
14.7
12.9
Hotels
31.75 3.11
Kalimati 1.07
Investment Co. 1.66
Tata Investment Corp. ltd.
8.74
15.06
Titan Industries 15.37 8 1.16
7.15
Tata Coffee ltd. 50.56 7.68
Tata Tea Tata Chemicals
3.38
Source: Cross Holding Strategy to increase control: Case of the Tata group by Ram Kumar Kakani & Tejas Joshi
57
Exhibit 29
Extent of Tata Sons Ltd’s interest in the subsidiary (Figures are in %)
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 74.81 TCS Financial Australia Pty Ltd 74.81
APOnline Ltd. 66.58 TCS BPO Chile S.A. 74.81
C-Edge Technologies Ltd. 38.15 TCS Financial solutions Australia 74.81
CMC Ltd 38.24 Financial Network Services (Europe) Plc. 74.81
CMC Americas Inc. 74.81 TKS Services S.A. Nil
Diligenta Ltd. 56.86 Quartz Software Technology SA Nil
Exegenix Canada Inc. 74.81 TKS Banking Services S.A. Nil
WTI Advanced Technology Ltd. 74.81 TCS France SAS 74.81
TCS Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 74.81 PT Network Srevices 74.81
TCS, Japan Ltd. 74.81 Financial Network Services(Africa) Ltd. 74.81
TCS, Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 74.81 Financial Network Services (HongKong) 74.81
Tata Information Technology(Shanghai) Ltd. 74.81 Sycrom S.A. 74.81
TCS, Belgium SA 74.81 Pentacrom S.A. Nil
TCS, Netherlands B.V. 74.81 Pentacrom Services S.A. Nil
TCS, Italia SRL 74.81 Custodia de Documentos 74.81
TCS Sverige AB 74.81 Financial Network Services Malaysia 74.81
TCS, Deutschland GmbH 74.81 TCS S.A. 74.81
IT Consulting Co. Nil Wireless TT Info Servoices Ltd. 45.50
Tata America International Co. 74.81 Ewart Investments Ltd.
TCS Iberoamerica S.A. 74.81 Tata Housing Development Co. Ltd. 99.74
TCS, Uruguay 74.81 Concept Marketing & Advertising Ltd. 99.74
TCS DO Brasil LTDS Nil Tata Capital Ltd. 100
TCS Do Brasil S.A. 74.81 TCE Consulting Engineers Ltd. 100
TCS Espana S.A. 74.81 Tata AIG Life Insurance Co. 74
TCS, Argentina S.A. 74.06 Panatone Finvest Ltd. 60.01
TCS Inversions Chile Limitada 74.81 Tata Business process services 100
TCS Chile S.A. 74.81 Tata Asset Management Ltd. 67.91
TCS De Mexico S.A. De C.V. 74.81 Tata Teleservices Ltd. 45.50
Tata Infotech Deutschland GmbH 74.81 Tata Teleservices (Maharshtra) Ltd. 20.76
Tata Infotech(Singapore) Pte. Ltd. 74.81 Tata Internet Services Ltd. 45.50
TCS FNS Pty. Ltd. 74.81 Tata Sky Ltd. 70
Swedish Indian IT Resources AB Nil Tata Petrodyne Ltd. 100
TCS Luxemboug SA 74.81 Tata International AG 100
TCS Portugal 74.81 Tata AG, Zug 100
MP Online Ltd. 66.58 Tata Ltd., London 100
TCS, Switzerland 74.81 Infiniti Retail Ltd. 100
TCS China CO. 54.03 Computaional Research Laboratories Ltd. 100
PT TCS Indonesia 74.81 Finanacial Network Services Co. ltd. 74.81
Tata Pensoin Management Ltd. 67.91 Tata Securities Ltd. 100
Tata Asset Management (Mauritius) Ltd. 67.91 Tata Trustee Company pvt. Ltd. 100
Ewart Investment Pvt. Ltd. 100 TCS Morocco SARL AU 74.81
E-Next Financial Pvt. Ltd. 100 TCS (Africa) pte. Ltd. 74.81
Tata Capital Markets Ltd. 100 TCS South Africa 44.81
Tata Investment corporation Ltd. 56.56 TCS Financial Management LLC 74.81
Source: Ninetieth Annual Report 2007-08, Tata Sons Ltd.
58
Exhibit 30
Book Values of Tata Sons Ltd.; Quoted & Un-quoted investment (Figures in INR Crore)
Quoted Investment:
Name of the group company 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1995 1990
Equity Share- Fully Paid
Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. 92.27 68.50 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 51.52 44.01 41.68 31.06 0.86
Tata Chemical Ltd. 364.80 354.74 206.90 133.98 78.15 78.15 70.14 70.14 70.14 21.54 9.15.
Tata Investment Corporation Ltd. 147.74 34.81 34.81 34.81 34.81 30.64 26.47 22.82
Tata Communication Ltd. 855.27 855.27 299.65 52.06 52.06 44.10
Tata Steel 5095.50 2621.61 1144.53 1095.75 1095.75 1095.75 1095.75 1095.58 1013.23 35.38 14.97
Tata Motors+ 1086.92 1086.92 1057.41 897.41 887.93 741.74 741.74 2.94
Tata Power Corporation Ltd. 1050.64 469.78 469.78 469.78 469.78 469.78 469.78 460.26 156.72 21.56 0.07
Tata Tea Ltd. 604.57 400.44 182.10 182.10 182.10 182.10 182.10 182.10 116.52 1.73 1.73
Convertible Preference Share-
Fully Paid
Tata Steel 1717.91
Subsidiary Companies Equity
Shares-Fully Paid
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 143.44 148.22 152.12 48.03
Tata Investment Corporation Ltd. 448.66
Tata TeleServices (Maharashtra) Ltd. 704.03 456.53
Un-Quoted Investment:
Name of the group company 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1995 1990
Equity Share- Fully Paid
Tata Industries Ltd. 240.39 240.39 240.39 240.39 240.39 152.09 152.09 148.76 144.49 10.05
Subsidiary Investment
(Equity Share- Fully Paid)
Panatone Finvest Ltd. 750.45 750.45 750.45
59
Tata AIG Life Insurance Co. Ltd. 643.80 404.78 330.78 92.50
Tata Capital Ltd.* 570.03 0.03 0.03 0.03
Tata Ltd., London 652.67 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.16
Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. 725.00 15.00
Tata Sky Ltd. (Joint Venture) 672.69 456.48 156.16
Tata Teleservices Ltd. 3391.35 3000.0 2948.4 1394
Preference Shares-Fully Paid
Tata Capital Ltd. 16 16 16 16
Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. 1,000.0
* (Formerly primal investments and Finance Ltd.)

+ Earlier Tata Engineering & Locomotives ltd
Source: Ninetieth Annual Report 2007-08, Tata Sons Ltd.
60
Exhibit 31
Details about Merger & Acquisition activities considered by TATA group
TATA Company Year Acquired Company Country Stake acquired Value
Tata Sons - TCS 2001 Computer Maintenance India 51.23 %

Corporation (CMC) Ltd
2002 Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. India 100% (wholly owned) GBP 271
(VSNL) mn
TCS 2004 Airline Financial support India 100% (wholly owned)
Services India (AFS)
2004 Aviation Software India
Development Consultancy
India(ASDC)
2004 Phoenix Global Solutions India
2005 Financial Network Services Australia
2005 Pearl Group UK Structured deal
2005 Comicrom Chile
2006 Tata Infotech India
Tata Tea -Tata Tea (GB) 2005 Good Earth Corporation & US 100% (wholly-owned) $31 mn
FMali Herb Inc
2006 JEMCA Czech Assets: intangible and GBP11.60
Republic tangible mn
2006 Joekels Tea Packers South 33.3% GBP0.91
Africa mn
Tata Tea - Tetley group 2007 Vitax and Flosana Poland
trademarks
Indian Hotels 2002 Regent Hotel India Effective 100% INR 450cr
2005 The Pierre US Lease of the property $9 mn
2005 Starwood group (W Hotel) Sydney 100% (wholly-owned) $29 mn
2007 Campton Place Hotel US $58 mn
Tata Teleservices 2002 Hughes Telecom (India) India 50.83% INR 859cr
Tata communications 2003 Gemplex USA
2004 Dishnet DSL's ISP division India
2004 Tyco Global Network US
2005 Teleglobe International US
2005 Tata Power Broadband India
2007 Transtel Telecoms (TT) South $33 mn
Africa
2008 China Enterprise China 50% equity interest
Communications Limited
(CEC)
Tata Motors 2004 Daewoo Commercial Korea 100% (wholly-owned) $102 mn
Vehicle
2005 Hispano Carrocera Spain 21% Euro12 mn
2005 Tata Finance India Merger
2008 Jaguar and Land Rover UK $2.3 bn
Tata Chemicals 2004 Hind Lever Chemicals India Amalgamation
2005 Indo Maroc Phosphore S.A. Morocco Equal partner $38 mn
(IMACID)
2005 Brunner Mond UK *63.5% (Dec 2005) *Rs508 cr
**36.5%(March 2006) **Rs290 cr
2008 General Chemical Industrial US 100%
Products
Tata Steel 2005 NatSteel Asia Pte Singapore 100%(wholly-owned) $468 mn
2006 Millenium Steel Thailand 67.11% $167 mn
2007 Corus UK 100%
2007 Rawmet Industries India Rs101 cr
Tata Power 2007 Coastal Gujarat Power India acquisition
2007 PT Kaltim Prima Coal and Indonesia 30% equity stake
PT Arutmin Indonesia
Telco Construction 2008 Serviplem SA Spain 79%
Equipment Company 2008 Comoplesa Lebrero SA Spain 60%
(Telcon)
Tata Industries 2005 Indigene Pharmaceuticals US <30% Not
disclosed
Tata Tech 2005 INCAT International UK
Trent 2005 Landmark India 76% $24.09 mn
TACO 2005 Wündsch Weidinger Germany Euro7 mn
Tata Metaliks 2006 Usha Ispat, Redi Unit India 100% (wholly-owned) Rs115 cr
Tata Interactive 2006 Tertia Edusoft Gmbh Germany 90%
Tertia Edusoft AG Switzer 90.38%
land
Tata Coffee 2006 Eight O' Clock Coffee US 100% (wholly-owned) $220 million
Company
TRF 2007 York Transport Equipment Singapore 51%
(Asia)
Tata Projects Artson Engineering India
Source: www.tata.com (accessed on May 8, 2009)
62
Exhibit 32
International Projects
Country Location Year Project

Australia Bowen Basin in 2005 § Mining capacity of 58 million tonnes of
Central raw coal for 14 years
Queensland § Coal Project located in Queensland,
Australia.
§ The Carborough Downs coal project is
majority owned and operated by a
subsidiary of AMCI Holdings Australia
Pty Ltd.
South Africa Richards Bay (in 2006 § A Ferro Chrome Plant is proposed at
uMhlathuze Richards Bay, South Africa to produce
Municipality) High Carbon Ferro Chrome, for global
consumers.
Mozambique Key coal 2007 § Potential to extract 720 million tonnes by
exploration open-cut methods from a major coal
tenements (the resource in the Benga Licence.
Benga and Tete § Under the terms of agreement, Tata Steel
licences) held by will pay AUD100 million (approximately
Riversdale in 88.2 million USD) to acquire 35% of
Mozambique Riversdale's Benga and Tete licences.
§ The JV comprises two licences (the Benga
and Tete licenses)
Ivory Coast Nimba Iron ore 2007 § Tata Steel Limited and SODEMI (state
(West deposits in Ivory owned company for mineral
Africa) Coast (West development)
Africa) § The project will be implemented by a joint
venture company, wherein Tata Steel will
have a major shareholding.
§ The iron ore from this project will be
supplied to Tata Steel Group facilities
especially those located in the United
Kingdom and Netherlands.
Oman Uyun region in 2008 § Tata Steel Limited and the members of the
the Salalah Al Bahja Group, a leading business house
province of Oman
Vietnam Ha Tinh 2008 § A proposed steel complex with an
province estimated capacity of 4.5 million tonnes
per year.
§ Another MOU was signed to set up a cold
rolling mill in Ha Tinh province.
Source: http://www.tatasteel.com/Company/new_investments.asp (as on April 6, 2010)
63

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Tata Sons Limited:: Firm Characteristics Expressed Under Competition

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Journal of Case Research vol:1 issue: i

Tata Sons Limited:

Amar K.J.R Nayak1

The mainstream literature on strategy relating to firm performance is heavily

1 Amar K.J.R.Nayak, Ph.D., Strategic Management, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

Tata Sons Limited

Trusts and Development activities of the Tatas

Industrial Pioneers and Building of Goodwill

Tata Sons shaping the Industrial Policies in India

“The so-called unofficial deputation which will go to England and America

Building the Tata Brand

Further, the complex shareholding patterns of Tata sons, management reporting

J.N. Tata Trust, Dorabji

BRAND OF TATA SONS

Process and Methods of Growth in a Fast Changing Environment

Corporate and Management Restructuring

Financial Restructuring & Resource Reallocation

Raising Capital, Resources & Capabilities

From Group Companies

From Individuals and Institutions through the Stock Market

Acquisition of Public Assets and Capabilities at cheap price

Has Growth been at the cost of Principles?

Technical Education Centre at Gopalpur in 2005 to improve the employability of the

Questions for discussion:

Tata Capital Markets Ltd. Tata Consultancy Services, Japan Ltd.

21. TKM Overseas Transport Limited, London

Source: Ninetieth Annual Report 2007-2008

Itel Industries Ltd.

Tata Autocomp Systems Ltd.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 18538 4508.76 14736

Tata Motors Insurance Services Ltd.

Tata Services Ltd. 25.19 59.02 0 0.03 35.87 46.72

Tatanagar Bricks Ltd.

Source: Prowess ( CMIE)

Gross Gross Net transfer

2002 0 215.44 1.54 1.54 37.81 0 0 978.61

Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT Forex Investment No. of Market

1989 378.1 486.24 51.43 22.68 0 12.33 197.89

Invest- Investment Forex No. Of Market

Source: Prowess ( CMIE )

Year Sales Assets PBDITA PAT Investments

Project/ Activities Location year Nature/scope

Sir Ratan Tata Trust

Other Trusts sponsored by Tata Family

Trust Year of Activities

19 Tata International Ltd 155 0.04

Total Number of Shares 404,146 100.00

Exhibit 18: A Section of Tata family tree

SIR DORABJI TATA

Honorary Air Commodore 1966 Indian Air Force

Tony Jannus Award 1979 The Greater tampa chamber

U.N. Population Award 1992 United Nations

Special Award 1992 International Planned

N.B. – *First Indian to be Awarded Pilot’s License in February, 1929

Welfare Policy/ Scheme Introduction Enforced Legal Measure

Free Medical aid 1915 1948 Employees State Insurance Act

Establishment of welfare 1917 1948 Factories Act

Worker’s provident fund 1920 1952 Employees’ Provident Fund Act

Profit Sharing Bonus 1934 1965 Bonus Act

Retiring Gratuity 1937 1972 Payment of Gratuity Act

Source: Elankumaran S, Seal R. & Hshmi A.;”Transcending Transformation: Enlightening

Source: www.palgrave-journals.com/.../8400198f1.gif (as on April 14, 2009)

Expansion (1990 Onwards)