Ratan Naval Tata, a bachelor, is the chairman of the Tata Group, India's most respected conglomerate. He was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai (then called Bombay) to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata on December 28, 1937.
He did a short stint with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles, California, before returning to India in 1962. He had earlier turned down an IBM job offer.
He joined the family business in 1962 and worked with many of his group's companies. He took over as group chairman from the legendary J R D Tata in 1991.
Since then, he has been instrumental in boosting the fortunes of the Tata Group, which has amongst the largest market capitalisations in the Indian stock markets.
Tata Motors developed the Tata Indica in 1998. This was the first 'entirely Indian' passenger car. Ratan Tata's dream now is to manufacture a car costing just Rs 100,000.
Ratan Tata holds a degree in Architecture and Structural Engineering from Cornell University. He has also done the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1974-1975.
Ratan Tata was honoured with one of India's highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan, on January 26, 2000.
Photograph: Jewella C. Miranda
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