Ratan Naval Tata Part-3

Jeh (JRD) Rescued Ratan

Back Against The Wall

Taking over from JRD as group chairman in 1991 didn't resolve matters either, even though it was a Tata Sons board decision to make him group chairman.

Tata Group historian R M Lala recalls speaking with JRD some 10 days after the announcement and asking whether Ratan had been chosen because of his integrity.

"Oh no, I wouldn't say that; that would mean the others did not have integrity," JRD replied. "I chose him because of his memory. Ratan will be more like me."

JRD may have seen his own reflection in his successor but others, both inside and outside Bombay House, did not, at least initially. "Who expected Ratan Tata to become such a towering figure in his own right? The first three or four years were engaged in struggles with the satraps," says Lala.

Individual company heads were larger-than-life personalities in their own right, and had ruled these satraps for decades: Russi Mody at Tata Steel, Darbari Seth at Tata Chemicals, Ajit Kerkar at Indian Hotels, and Nani Palkhivala at ACC. Getting them to toe a group line and work in tandem with other companies was next to impossible.

It didn't help that they were more experienced and, many believed, more deserving than Ratan to head the group. Indeed, in an interview a few years ago, Ratan recalled his surprise on hearing of his appointment: he had thought Palkhivala and Mody to be neck-and-neck in the race for the top post.

As it happened, Palkhivala's political views and Mody's clashes within the group worked against them. Mody, though, continued to be a thorn in the flesh of both JRD and Ratan. His battles with Ratan were loud, acrimonious and conducted in full public view, which went against the ethos of this low-key business house -- an inside joke at the time was that Russi Mody had become Rude-i Mody. JRD finally dismissed him in 1993.

Ratan enforced the long-dormant retirement age rule for all business heads and directors, which effectively dealt with Seth and Kerkar (ill-health hastened Palkhivala's departure).

But the crown remained shaky for several years -- there was conjecture as late as 1997 that Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry would oust Ratan and take over the mantle of Tata Group head. (Mistry is the single largest shareholder in Tata Sons and, incidentally, the father-in-law of Noel Tata, Ratan's half-brother and the frontrunner in the current succession race.)