Ratan Naval Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Mumbai to Naval Tata and Sooni Tata, and he is the great-grandson of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group.
Ratan Tata was raised by his grandmother, Navajbai Tata after his parents separated in 1948.
Ratan Tata never married but admitted that he once fell in love while working in Los Angeles, but due to the 1962 Indo-China War, the girl's parents refused to allow her to move to India.
Ratan Tata started his career in 1961, working on the shop floor of Tata Steel, which built the foundation for his future leadership roles.
He became chairman of the Tata Group in 1991, leading the group founded by his great-grandfather until 2012.
Ratan Tata restructured the Tata Group during India's economic liberalisation, and led the expansion of the Tata Nano and Tata Indica cars.
He made Tata Tea to acquire Tetley, Tata Motors to acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel to acquire Corus in 2004.
He was awarded with Padma Vibhushan in 2008.by President Pratibha Patil.
In 2009, he fulfilled his promise of launching the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, aimed to make it easily accessible to the middle class.
After stepping down, he was honored with the title of chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, Tata Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, and Tata Chemicals.