Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse

Mumbai: Industrialist Ratan Tata, who died at age 86, was credited with transforming India's Tata Group into a globally renowned conglomerate with a portfolio ranging from software to sports cars.

A painfully shy student, he planned to be an architect and was working in the US when his grandmother, who raised him, asked him to return home and join the sprawling family business.

Tata took over the family empire in 1991, riding the wave of radical free-market reforms unleashed by the Indian government that year.

Ratan Tata presented with the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, May 5, 2014. During his 21 years in charge, the salt-to-steel conglomerate expanded its global footprint to include British luxury brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover.

Then US Vice President Joe Biden with Ratan Tata, July 24, 2013. Born in Bombay, now Mumbai, in 1937, the Cornell University-educated Tata was known for his willingness to take risks.

In 2004, he made the conglomerate's software outsourcing arm, Tata Consultancy Services, public when many were nervous about investing in technology stocks.

Tata's 2008 decision to purchase the loss-making Jaguar and Land Rover brands for $2.3 billion put him on the map.

His pet project, the Tata Nano (above), billed as the world's cheapest car, stuttered after finding few takers in status-conscious India, where consumers flinched at owning a so-called "poor man's car."

His retirement in 2012 was to prove short-lived, with Tata briefly retaking the reins barely four years later. India's largest group endured its worst crisis in decades over the acrimonious sacking of his young successor, Cyrus Mistry.

The conglomerate stayed strong after his second departure, with Tata in 2021 welcoming debt-laden Air India back into the family fold decades after it was nationalised.

Ratan with Mukesh Ambani, November 8, 2010. The lifelong bachelor later devoted his time to running the group's charitable arm and funding some of India's hottest start-ups.

A pillar of India's proud but dwindling Zoroastrian Parsi community, Tata also joined Instagram at 81, winning over followers with posts sharing his passion for cars, flying and dogs.