The House that JRD built
Business Standard — March 28, 2005

A few months ago, Rupa & Co. published a collection of J R D Tata’s letters and speeches in two volumes. The letters, more than the speeches, told the entire story of J R D’s life. And if you have already read R M Lala’s biography of the man, you could safely assume that there was nothing left to be said after that. And now the same publisher has come out with another book on Tata. In spite of initial scepticism, I read the book, cover to cover, in one sitting flat. Maybe it is the fascinating life and times of Tata that make any book on him a must-read. Tata lived a roller coaster life of no less than 89 years.

It is like reading a mountaineer’s account as he fixes his pick-axe on one summit after the other. But credit must go to Dadabhoy for putting together the twists and turns of a remarkable human journey. It is a book on Tata, the man behind the business empire: what pleased him, what angered him, who all did he love, what were his follies. For example, so long as the managing agency system was in place, Tata Sons exercised control over group companies through its managing agency, Tata Industries, though its shareholding in group companies was small.

In fact, at one time, the Birla family held a bigger stake in Tata Steel than the Tatas. Once the managing agency system was scrapped by the government, the vulnerability was exposed. Another incident needs to be mentioned. Tata had groomed several extremely capable technocrats like Russi Mody, Darbari Seth, Sumant Moolgaonkar, Faqir Chand Kohli, and Ajit Baburao Kerkar to run various group companies. The group had diversified into several areas since Tata had become chairman in 1938 and it was not possible for him to personally run a plethora of ventures.

These were capable men who played a key role in taking the Tata business empire to dizzying heights. When the time came for Tata to retire, some of them staked their claim to the chairman’s seat at Tata Sons. More than the others, it was Mody who went public with his claims when it became clear that Ratan Tata would become the heir.

But he lost the battle and was removed from the group unceremoniously. Dadabhoy has told almost the whole story, crisply and competently. He has stuck to the facts and tried not to be too judgmental about the whole episode.

How the satraps were eventually removed should be the subject matter of another book, perhaps on Ratan Tata. Writers often run the danger of painting characters in either black or white. The truth often lies somewhere in between, in shades of grey. Dadabhoy, fortunately, is just in his treatment of all characters. Take Mody, for instance, whose long career with the Tatas was cut short because of the nasty fracas. Though he was Homi Mody’s son and Pilloo Mody’s brother, he began life at the bottom of the heap in Tata Steel as a “khalasi” (driver). For this, he was often the butt of people’s jokes.

Yet, he was a man-manager par excellence, perhaps the best ever to work with the group. Tata realised this and acknowledged it publicly. Dadabhoy too gives it due recognition. Mody, after all, had once said: “There are only three great men who have come out of Harrow in this century—Jawahrlal Nehru, Winston Churchill, and Russi Mody.” One question that has often remained unanswered is, what happened to Tata’s siblings. Though he was the chosen one, Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife Soonie (Suzanne before marriage) had five children.

Dadabhoy tells us in adequate detail about the lives and careers of Tata’s four siblings. Tata remained close and devoted to his sisters, Rodabeh and Sylla, till the very end, though his relationship with his youngest brother Dorab was strained after, in a fit of anger, he sold his Tata Sons shares to construction magnate Pallonji Mistry. Jimmy, the other brother, who was also an adventurer like Tata, died young in an accident. The book deserves a slot in the bookshelf of anybody who finds fascinating the small and big triumphs of a human life.