Tata Stories

A diamond twice as large as the famous Kohinoor pledged to survive a financial crisis; meeting a 'relatively unknown young monk' who later went on to be known as Swami Vivekananda; a photograph that Kalpana Chawla carried along with her on her first mission into space; the fascinating story of the first-ever Indian team at the Olympics; how 'OK TATA' made its way to the back of millions of trucks on the Indian highways, and many more. #Tatastories is a collection of little-known tales of individuals, events and places from the Tata Group that have shaped the India we live in today.

TATAlog presents eight riveting and hitherto untold stories about the strategic and operational challenges that TATA companies have faced over the past two decades and the forward thinking and determination that have raised the brand to new heights. From Tata Indica, the first completely Indian car; to the jewellery brand Tanishq; and Tata Finance, which survived several tribulations, TATAlog, written by a Tata insider, reveals the DNA of every TATA enterprise—a combination of being pioneering, purposive, principled and ‘not perfect’.

In 1868, Jamsetji Tata, a visionary of his time, lit the flame that went on to become Tata and its group of companies. This business grew into an extraordinary one. One that some may even call 'the greatest company in the world'. Over the decades, the business expanded and prospered under the leadership of the various keepers of the flame, such as Sir Dorabji Tata, J.R.D Tata and Ratan Tata, to name a few. But, one day, the headlines boldly declared that the chairman of the board of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry, had been fired. What went wrong? In this exclusive and authorized book, insiders of the Tata businesses open up to Peter Casey for the first time to tell the story. From its humble beginnings as a mercantile company to its growth as a successful yet philanthropic organization to its recent brush with Mistry, this is a book that every business-minded individual must read.

“Inspirational Stories for Purposeful Living” by John Parankimalil is an enriching collection of 150 stories, each carrying profound significance for Speakers, Educators and Mentors in Value Education. Stories play a pivotal role in our lives by imparting essential life lessons. The narratives in this book are crafted to engage your mind, touch your heart, and inspire you to realize the incredible potential within you for achieving greatness in life.

An exhaustive and unforgettable portrait of India's greatest and most respected industrialist. Written with J.R.D. Tata's co-operation, this superb biography tells the J.R.D. story from his birth to 1993, the year in which he died in Switzerland. The book is divided into four parts: Part I deals with the early years, from J.R.D's birth in France in 1904 to his accession to the chairmanship of Tatas, India's largest industrial conglomerate, at the age of thirty-four; Part II looks at his forty-six years in Indian aviation (the lasting passion of J.R.D's life) which led to the initiation of the Indian aviation industry and its development into one of India's success stories; Part III illuminates his half-century-long stint as the outstanding personality of Indian industry; and Part IV unearths hitherto unknown details about the private man and the public figure, including glimpses of his long friendships with such people as Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and his association with celebrities in India and abroad.

An endearing portrait of an Indian legend I told him that when I write a book, I would write about another side of him and not just historic events or business milestones. I would write about us and our adventures together, and how I saw him, colours and shades of him unknown to the world. Life beyond the great steel wall of 'industry doyen'. He agreed. 'There cannot be one book that captures everything ... So you do your thing, give your perspective.' It was their shared empathy for homeless dogs that sparked an unlikely friendship. In 2014, Shantanu Naidu, an automobile design engineer in his early twenties, developed an innovation to save the local strays from being run over by speeding cars. Ratan Tata, himself known for his compassion for stray dogs, took note. Impressed, he not only decided to invest in the venture, but over the years became a mentor, boss and an unexpectedly dear friend to Shantanu. I Came Upon a Lighthouse is an honest, light-hearted telling of this uncommon bond between a millennial and an octogenarian that gives glimpses of a beloved Indian icon in a warm light.

| WINNER OF THE GAJA CAPITAL BUSINESS BOOK PRIZE 2019 | The nineteenth century was an exciting time of initiative and enterprise around the world. If John D. Rockefeller was creating unimagined wealth in the United States that he would put to the service of the nation, a Parsi family with humble roots was doing the same in India. In 1822, a boy was born in a priestly household in Gujarat's Navsari village. Young Nusserwanji knew early on that his destiny lay beyond his village and decided to head for Bombay to start a business - the first in his family to do so. He had neither higher education nor knowledge of business matters, just a burning passion to carve a path of his own. What Nusserwanji started as a cotton trading venture, his son Jamsetji, born in the same year as Rockefeller, grew into a multifaceted business, turning around sick textile mills, setting up an iron and steel company, envisioning a cutting-edge institute of higher learning, building a world-class hotel, and earning himself the title of the 'Bhishma Pitamah of Indian Industry'. Stewarded ably over the decades by Jamsetji's sons Dorabji and Ratanji, the charismatic and larger-than-life JRD, and thereafter the more business-like Ratan, the Tata group today is a 110-billion-dollar empire. The Tatas is their story. But it is more than just a history of the industrial house; it is an inspiring account of India in the making. It chronicles how each generation of the family invested not only in the expansion of its own business interests but also in nation building. Few know, for instance, that the first hydel power project in the world was conceived of and built by the Tatas. Nor that some radical labour concepts such as eight-hour work shifts were born in India, at the Tata mill in Nagpur. The Tata Cancer Research Centre, the Indian Institute of Science, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, as also the national carrier Air India - the family has a long, rich and unrivalled legacy. The Tatas is a tribute to a line of visionaries who have a special place in the hearts and minds of ordinary Indians. Written by seasoned journalist Girish Kuber, this is also the only book that tells the complete Tata story spanning almost two hundred years.