Ratan Tata: An Inspiration for Generations:-
Say that there are some people who inspire not only today’s generation but also the coming generation, Ratan Tata was among them. I had these words with great sadness. Because you must know that late last night suddenly a very shocking news comes that Ratan Tata is no more in this world, he has passed away and I am saying shocking because just two-three days ago the news came.
A Memorable Legacy:-
It was also said that he has been hospitalised, but on behalf of Ratan Tata ji it was also said and tweeted that look, I have come for checkup etc., you do not need to worry, thank you for thinking of me, he did this in a very simple manner. Said but somewhere today there is an opportunity for us to remember that important movement of his and I think there was a time here when Ta Motors had started in a way, Tata Indica etc.
If you remember, then at that time that much Well, when things were not going well, he had gone to Ford with this and Ford had insulted him in a way, he had literally insulted me, I will tell you about it and Ratan Tata ji had taken revenge when we talked. If we do this then we are not talking about any fighting, but it is said that when you do such things with your work or achieve something big, then it becomes a big thing in itself, so this is why We will discuss about it in detail, you will get to know a lot, so let me first of all tell you that when it is said here that Ratan Tata ji’s role as a chairman within Tata Group, if we put it in a statement If you say what else, then you can simply say, The Man Who Took Tata and Corporate India International, meaning somewhere he took India, Tata Group, Internationally and see, it is very easy to say in today’s date.
Triumph Over Insult:-
It means in today’s date there is no big It is not a matter that there are many companies, you see that they also go out, a lot of acquisitions are done by us Indians but we are talking about 20-30 years ago, at that time doing such things was not a small thing. He had done it like Tetley Tea, you know tea, it was acquired and today we are talking about Jaguar Land Rover, so what is here that whatever international acquisitions were done by Ratan Tata ji in his term, today They are doing very good work in debt, a lot of it is profitable but yes, there are some miscalculations also.
The Jaguar Land Rover Acquisition:-
It is not that when you take any decision in business, it is 100% correct, some mistake also happens. Like you know that the European company Corus Steel was acquired by Tata and today Tata Steel, you know the UK business is incurring huge losses so it is facing some issues. Keep coming but here if we talk about it, it was acquired by in 2008, about which we will know further and somewhere it is a prestigious car and a lot of people like it, so what am I basically telling you this?
What I want to say is that the surprising thing here is not that they had acquired a Jaguar Land Rover, the surprising thing is that the manner in which it was acquired here and in a way it seemed as if somewhere the Tata Group The way revenge is being taken for the insult done is a very interesting thing, so first of all we will talk about what happened in the end, look, it was in 1999 when Ratan Tata ji along with his team had gone to Ford’s place.
He had gone to America and there he had his own car business which had just started. You know Tata Indica, Tata Indica was actually launched in 1998. Look, this in itself was a big thing because as you say, It can be said that the country’s first Indica was a designed car which ran on the roads of India but at that time it was not that famous and not many people liked it, but later on Indica did well and you know that. It was used a lot, especially in taxis etc.
Challenges and Strategic Revival:-
So it became successful later on, but in the beginning, that success was not achieved, so somewhere in 1999, Ratan Tata ji went to Ford with it and wanted it to be used in passenger cars. It would be good if Ford acquires the business, but the way Ford’s representatives questioned Ratan Tata ji and his entire team and tried to make it sound like you don’t know anything.
You don’t even have expert expertise in the car business. How did you start this kind of business? Such things were said here by the FAD. In fact, if you see the officials of the FAD, they are very angry. We also said that we will buy your entire car division. Do you understand saying such things and that too for a person who has worked hard for many years and has built such a big empire? Speaking like this is not a big deal in itself, so somewhere Ford was trying to show that it would do a favor if it bought TA’s entire car business.
Yes, Ford was trying to show like this, but what? Do you think Ratan Tata ji will like this? Not at all. Ratan Tata ji immediately canceled the meeting and said that we will not talk about acquisition here and he left from there. Now see, he is the one who says that the journey is there.
It is very beautiful in itself, so if we talk about it here, first of all know a little background of Jager Land Rover so that you can understand. Look, when we talk about Jaguar, in 1922 this company was a swallow side car company. It was founded by them, basically it was a British company and you know how good the relationship between India and the British is, the way they ruled over us for so many years, so what is here is that these are the cars which you see.
Overcoming Criticism:-
You must be able to see that it was started here and was quite famous at that time but what happens in 1989, which is a fad, which is an American brand, a US brand, and they bought jaguar.com for 2.5 billion dollars. That we can do this, we can do that, we did not have a lot of experts, we were not able to run it, the FDA was facing huge losses, yes in fact, let me tell you how much did the FDA acquire both the brands of Jaguar Losses were happening so much that the total loss of Jagar in 19 years of ownership was 10 billion dollars. Just imagine, 10 billion dollars was lost to Ford because of Jagar and what happens in future, you will know in 2008 financial. Crisis comes, Global Financial Crisis and somewhere at that time, Ratan Tata ji felt that this is a good opportunity when he can take his revenge.
Infact 2008 was a time when Ford Banker was in trouble, Almost Banker was in trouble. There were a lot of financial problems going on, then here Ratan Tata ji saw an opportunity and he bought Jaguar Land Rover, which are both brands together, for just 2.3 billion dollars. Just imagine, the Ford here, he bought it.Jagar was bought for 2.5 billion dollars and Land Rover for 2.7 billion dollars i.e. 5.2 billion dollars but Ratan Tata ji bought both the brands for only 2.3 billion dollars after so many years so I hope you have understood. How can the brand which had in a way rejected Ta Motors to Ratan Tata ji that you do not even know how Ta Motors runs the business, which means in a way how will the same brand be able to handle the business of vehicles today? Tata Motors acquired both the brands in 2008.
Well, what does acquisition mean that the journey will be very smooth, it is not so because imagine that Ford was not able to run both those companies, there were continuous losses, so imagine. How difficult it must have been for Tata and there were a lot of challenges here.
A Lasting Impact:-
What was the challenge problem? Firstly, let me tell you that the design was of Landrover and that of jaguar.com etc. So that opportunity was shown to Ratan Tata ji and that in the SUV segment. And somewhere due to this, Land Rover got a huge advantage and Jar was having issues but still here it got a lot of advantage and you can see that Tata Group focused on three key areas.
Liquidity should be improved, which is cash etc. Apart from this, cost should be controlled. Expenses are very high and it was very important to bring new products. People did not want to see old products, they wanted to see new designed products, so trusting on that, it should be done.
It was revived and along with it it was necessary that some more money should be put into it so that the company could be revived in a better way. Yes, let me also tell you one thing that when Ratan Tata ji had acquired Landrover and Jagger, it was very much. Had to bear criticism also, people were laughing saying that you could not run Ford, how will you be able to run both those companies and see, I remember the recent times, if you compare now, you will know about Jamato, Deependra Goyal.
Zomato had acquired Blinked, it is fine and even then people were laughing that Blinked is incurring so much loss, Jumato will sink because of Blinked, but in today’s date, look at where Jumato and Blinked have reached, then this would have happened many times. These are the kind of things when we as a common citizen are not able to recognize things but the visionary leaders who are there are the ones who are able to take it forward and the same thing was there in Ratan Tata too, his determination and strategic thinking was his ability to think.
Remembering a Visionary Leader:-
Perhaps no one else could think of it and because of that, you will see so much profit in today’s date. Let me tell you how much profit you will get, just think within a year. It was acquired in 2008 by Ratan Tata ji. And if you see in 2009, the net profit was around 55 million pounds, which means what a huge turnaround for a company which has been running for many years, Ford has been running with the audience, it was continuously facing losses but Ratan Tata ji.
In leadership, it became profitable within a year and within, it is not a small thing to become profitable despite so many challenges in the global economic challenge environment, so from this particular story only you will be able to understand what was the capability of Ratan Tata ji.
And even in today’s date, let me tell you that the revenue of the entire Tata Motors is fourth fifth. Think of it. Fourth fifth means around 80% of the revenue comes from Jagger Landrover alone, then Ratan Tata ji’s journey from Humin to Triumph. His journey is very inspiring and I think the coming generation is going to remember him forever.