Mody beefed up marketing operations and started an export cell. He also gave the company the legendary 'G' blast furnace, which he discovered on one of his holidays.The 'G' blast furnace happens to be Tata Steel's biggest blast furnace even today and created national record in 2004.
JRD Tata's successor, Ratan Tata, took over from Mody as chairman in 1992, though it was not a smooth baton-passing, and JJ Irani assumed the role of managing director.
The transition was critical in the history of Tata Steel not for the way it happened but because the company was faced with competitive pricing at the dawn of a liberalized Indian economy.
And Tata Steel was in bad shape. What came as an eye-opener was a McKinsey report in the late 1990s, asking Tata Steel to exit the steel business.
What followed was far from an exit. Drastic changes were brought about. The company was rightsized with innovative schemes so as not to disturb the industrial harmony, from around 80,000 to less than 40,000 today.
The company also exited a host of non-core activities. From "We also make steel", the company made a conscious effort to establish "We make steel", operationally. The product-mix was changed as Tata Steel moved up the value chain to set up a cold rolling mill.
Aerial view of the Corus Hoogovens complex on the Northsea channel in Ijmuiden..
Photograph: Vincent Jannink/AFP/Getty Images
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