Tata Group

Tata Group
Private
Industry Conglomerate
Founded 1868 (1868)
Founder Jamsetji Tata
Headquarters Bombay House, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
Products
Revenue Increase US$104 billion (2017)[3]
Total assets Increase US$120.6 billion (2016)[3]
Owner Tata Sons
Number of employees
 660,800 (2016)[3]
Subsidiaries List of subsidiaries
Website www.tata.com

Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata and gained international recognition after purchasing several global companies. It is India's largest conglomerate. In 2016–2017, the revenue of Tata companies altogether was $104 billion.[3] These companies collectively employ over 660,000 people.[3]

Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors and shareholders. There are 30 publicly listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of about $116 billion as of March 2016.[3] Tata companies with significant scale include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Taj Group.

Chairman

Subsidiaries

Bombay House, the head office of Tata Group
Tata Bus
Tata Nano
Packages of Tata Tea
Himalayan–Tata Mineral Water
Tata bus in Sri Lanka
Thai assembled Tata Xenon pickup truck

This section lists the Tata companies and details their business:

Chemicals

  • Advinus Therapeutics
  • Brunner Mond
  • General Chemical Industrial Products
  • Magadi Soda Company
  • Rallis India
  • Tata Chemicals
  • Tata Pigments Limited

Consumer products

Energy

  • Hooghly Met Coke and Power Company
  • Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company
  • Powerlinks Transmission
  • Tata Petrodyne
  • Tata Power, one of the largest private sector power companies
  • Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (formerly known as North Delhi Power Ltd)
  • Tata Power Solar, started as a joint venture between Tata Power and BP Solar, now a wholly owned company
  • Tata Power Trading
  • Tata Projects

Engineering

Information systems and communications

Services

Steel

  • JAMIPOL
  • NatSteel Holdings
  • Tata Bearings
  • Tata BlueScope Steel
  • Tata Metaliks
  • Tayo Rolls
  • Tata Sponge Iron
  • Tata Steel
  • Tata Steel Europe
  • Tata Steel KZN
  • Tata Steel Processing and Distribution
  • The Tinplate Company of India
  • TM International Logistics

Acquisitions:

Philanthropy

The Tata Group has helped establish and finance numerous research, educational and cultural institutes in India.[8][9] The Tata Group was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 for philanthropic activities.[10] Some of the institutes established by the Tata Group are:

The Tata Group donated ₹ 2.20 billion ($50 million) to the Harvard Business School (HBS) to build an academic and a residential building on the institute's campus in Boston, Massachusetts. The new building is called the Tata Hall and is used for the institute's executive education programmes.[15] This amount is the largest given from an international donor to Harvard Business School.

Ratan-Tata
Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Group[16]

One Tata project brought together Tata Group companies (TCS, Titan Industries and Tata Chemicals) in developing a compact, in-home water-purification device. It was called Tata swach, which means "clean" in Hindi, and would cost less than 1000 rupees (US$21). The idea of originated from the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which left thousands of people without clean drinking water. This device has filters that last about a year for a family of five. It is a low-cost product available for people who have no access to safe drinking water in their homes.[17] The advantage of this device is that it does not require the use of electricity.[18]

TCS also designed and donated an innovative software package that claims to teach illiterate adults how to read in 40 hours. "The children of the people who have been through our literacy program are all in school", said Pankaj Baliga, global head of corporate social responsibility for TCS.[17]

In 1912, Tata Group expanded their CEO's concept of community philanthropy to include the workplace. They instituted an eight-hour workday, before nearly any other company in the world. In 1917, they recommended a medical-services policy for Tata employees. The company was among the first worldwide to organise modern pension systems, workers' compensation, maternity benefits, and profit-sharing plans.[17]

The charitable trusts of Tata Group fund a variety of projects, for example, the Tata Swach and the TCS project. They founded and still support such cherished institutions as the Indian Institute of Science, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Tata Memorial Hospital. Each Tata Group company channels more than 4 percent of its operating income to the trusts, and every generation of Tata family members has left a larger portion of its profit to them.[17]

After the Mumbai attacks, salaries of the attacked Taj Hotel employees were paid despite the hotel being closed for reconstruction. About 1600 employees were provided food, water, sanitation and first aid through employee outreach centres. Ratan Tata personally visited families of all the employees that were affected. The employees' relatives were flown to Mumbai from outside areas and were all accommodated for three weeks. Tata also covered compensation for railway employees, police staff, and pedestrians. The market vendors and shop owners were given care and assistance after the attacks. A psychiatric institution was established with the Tata Group of Social Science to counsel those who were affected and needed help. Tata also granted the education of 46 children of the victims of the terrorist attacks.[19][20]

In 2013, the Tata Group, through the Tata Relief Committee and the Himmotthan Society, an associate organisation of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, worked in close collaboration with the Uttarakhand government to provide relief to the impacted local communities in three districts of the state. The relief activities, which included provision of food and household material, covered over 65 villages and 3,000 families. In the first phase of relief, the group expected to reach over 100 villages. The Tata group also plans to implement long-term measures for the economic, ecological and resource sustainability of the affected communities and areas. The plan will be based on a baseline survey of impacted villages carried out by teams from the Centre for Disaster Management at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, in collaboration with local organisations and communities.[21][22]

In 2017, Tata Football Academy has won the bid to form a football club based on Jamshedpur of Jharkhand in the 4th edition of Indian Super League along with Bengaluru FC.

Controversies and criticisms

The Tata Group has also attracted several controversies and criticisms, including the following.

Munnar, Kerala

The Kerala Government filed an affidavit in the high court saying that Tata Tea had 'grabbed' forest land of 3,000 acres (12 km2) at Munnar. The Tatas said they possessed 58,741.82 acres (237.7197 km2) of land, which they are allowed to retain under the Kannan Devan Hill (Resumption of Lands) Act, 1971, and there was a shortage of 278.23 hectares in that. The then Chief Minister of Kerala V.S. Achuthanandan, who vowed to evict all on government land in Munnar, formed a special squad for the Munnar land takeover mission and started acquiring back properties. However, later he had to abort the mission as there were many influential land grabbers and faced opposition from his own party.

Kalinganagar, Odisha

On 2 January 2006, policemen at Kalinganagar, Odisha, opened fire at a crowd of tribal villagers. The villagers were protesting the construction of a compound wall on land historically owned by them, for a Tata steel plant. Some of the corpses were returned to the families in a mutilated condition. When pushed for comment, TATA officials said the incident was unfortunate but that it would continue with its plans to set up the plant.[23]

Supplies to Burma's military regime

Tata Motors reported that deals to supply hardware and automobiles to Burma's military junta had come in for criticism from human rights and democracy activists. In December 2006, Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, Myanmar's chief of general staff visited the Tata Motors plant in Pune.[24] In 2009, TATA Motors announced that it would press ahead with plans to manufacture trucks in Myanmar.[25][26]

Land acquisition in Singur

The Singur controversy[27] in West Bengal led to further questions over Tata's social record, with protests by locals and political parties (though the involvement of Mamata Banerjee's party was widely criticised as an act for political gains) over the forced acquisition, eviction and inadequate compensation to those farmers displaced for the Tata Nano plant. As the protests grew, and despite having the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) state government, Tata eventually pulled the project out of West Bengal, citing safety concerns. The Singur controversy was one of the few occasions when Ratan Tata was forced to publicly address criticisms and concerns on any environmental or social issue. Ratan Tata subsequently embraced Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, who quickly made land available for the Nano project.[28]

In a historic judgement on Aug 31 2016, the Honorable Supreme Court of India set aside the land acquisition by the West Bengal Government in 2006 to facilitate Tata Motors to set up its Nano plant, and directed the West Bengal government to take possession of the land and distribute it to the land owners within 12 weeks.[29]

Dhamra Port, Odisha

On the environmental front, the Port of Dhamara controversy has received significant coverage, both within India and in Tata's emerging global markets.[30][31]

The Dhamra port, a venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro, has come in for criticism for its proximity to the Gahirmatha Sanctuary and Bhitarkanika National Park, from Indian and international organisations, including Greenpeace. Gahirmatha Beach is one of the world's largest mass nesting sites for the Olive Ridley Turtle, and Bhitarkanika is a designated Ramsar site and India's second largest mangrove forest. TATA officials have denied that the port poses an ecological threat, and stated that mitigation measures are being employed with the advice of the IUCN.[32] On the other hand, conservation organisations, including Greenpeace, have pointed out that no proper environment impact analysis has been done for the project, which has undergone changes in size and specifications since it was first proposed, and say that the port could interfere with mass nesting at the Gahirmtha beaches and the ecology of the Bitharkanika mangrove forest.[33][34] Dhamra port stake has been hived off.

Soda extraction plant in Tanzania

Tata group, along with a Tanzanian company, joined forces to build a soda ash extraction plant in Tanzania.[35] Environmental activists oppose the plant because it would be near Lake Natron, and it has a very high chance of affecting the lake's ecosystem and its neighbouring dwellers.[36]

It could also jeopardise the Lesser Flamingo birds there, which are already endangered. Lake Natron is where two-thirds of Lesser Flamingos reproduce.[37] Producing soda ash involves drawing out salt water from the lake, and then disposing the water back to the lake. This process could interrupt the chemical makeup of the lake.[35] 22 African nations are against the creation of the project and have signed a petition to stop its construction.[35]

Data and intellectual property theft

In April 2016, a U.S. Federal Grand Jury awarded Epic Systems a $940 million judgement against Tata Consultancy Services and Tata America International Corp. Filed Oct. 31, 2014, the charges accused Tata of "brazenly stealing the trade secrets, confidential information, documents and data" and that the 6,477 unauthorized downloads could be used to enhance Tata's competing product, Med Mantra.[38][39][40]

Fire breakout at headquarters

On 16 June 2016, a fire broke out at the corporate headquarters of the company in Mumbai. However, due to quick containment, no casualties were reported. [41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services, is new Chairman of Tata Group". Times of India. New Delhi. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Tata Sons appoints Saurabh Agrawal as group chief financial officer
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Tata Group Financial Statements". Tata Group.
  4. ↑ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/tcs-boss-n-chandrasekaran-is-the-new-tata-sons-chairman/articleshow/56501182.cms
  5. ↑ "Tatas' shopping spree: 27 in 6 years!". Rediff. 24 August 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Tata Steel gives India a pound of UK". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Timmons, Heather (4 January 2008). "Tata Pulls Ford Units into Its Orbit". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  8. ↑ "The rainbow effect". 4 May 2008.
  9. ↑ "India's Tata Group: Empowering marginalized communities". 4 May 2008.
  10. ↑ "U.S. and Indian philanthropists recognized for conviction, courage and sustained efforts". 4 May 2008.
  11. ↑ Tata Center for Technology & Design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  12. ↑ Tata Centre for Technology & Design at IIT Bombay
  13. ↑ "Tata Medical Center". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "Ratan Tata gifts $50m to Cornell varsity". The Economic Times. India. 21 October 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  15. ↑ "Tatas gift Rs220 crore to Harvard Business School – Mumbai – DNA". Dnaindia.com. 16 October 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  16. ↑ "Cyrus Mistry Replaced by Ratan Tata as Tata Sons chairman - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Too good to Fail". February 2010.
  18. ↑ "Tata Swach". 14 December 2009.
  19. ↑ "Ratan Tata did for the Mumbai Terrorist Attack Victims". 14 May 2010.
  20. ↑ "Salute to Ratan Tata". 8 April 2010.
  21. ↑ "Our commitment - Tata trusts - Uttarakhand relief". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  22. ↑ "::TATA TRUST:: Error". Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  23. ↑ Nityanand Jayaraman (24 May 2006). "CorpWatch : Stolen for Steel: Tata Takes Tribal Lands in India". Corpwatch.org. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  24. ↑ ["Myanmar Ties." 8 December 2006. The Telegraph, Calcutta, India].
  25. ↑ "India's Independent Weekly News Magazine". Tehelka. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  26. ↑ "Ansari visits Myanmar tomorrow, 3 MoUs to be signed". Zeenews.com. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  27. ↑ "Singur farmers: Why they oppose Tata plant". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  28. ↑ "Singur's loss". Hinduonnet.com. 7 November 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  29. ↑ "Singur verdict announced, SC says return land to farmers: Here's a timeline of the case - Firstpost". Firstpost. 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  30. ↑ 'India – Tata in troubled waters', Ethical Corporation, November 2007, London, UK
  31. ↑ "India – Tata in troubled waters – Ethical Corporation". Ethicalcorp.com. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  32. ↑ "Page Not Found". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  33. ↑ "Documents And Reports | Save the turtles". Greenpeace.in. 12 June 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  34. ↑ "Sea dredging affecting Olive Ridley turtles, says green body". Thaindian.com. 5 April 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  35. 1 2 3 "Dar annoys neighbours over $400m soda ash project". The East African. Nation Media Group. 5 November 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  36. ↑ Magubira, Patty (16 May 2008). "Tanzania: UK Activists Pile Pressure Against Soda Ash Project". The Citizen. Dar es Salaam: AllAfrica.com. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  37. ↑ Pathak, Maulik (31 October 2007). "Tata Chemicals' African safari hits green hurdle". The Economic Times. India. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  38. ↑ "US jury slaps $940 million fine on Tata group in trade secret case". The Times of India. 16 April 2016. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  39. ↑ Judy Newman (5 April 2016). "Jury trial begins in Epic Systems Corp. lawsuit against India's Tata Consultancy". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016. According to the 40-page complaint, Tata employees fraudulently accessed Epic documents and downloaded at least 6,477 of them, containing information that could be used to benefit Tata’s own health care software, Med Mantra.
  40. ↑ Kyle Murphy, PhD (11 April 2016). "Epic Systems Taking TCS to Court over Theft of Trade Secrets". EHR Intelligence. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016. [T]he documents downloaded by TCS personnel included, among other things, documents detailing over twenty years of development of Epic’s proprietary software and database systems, including programming rules and processes developed to produce optimal functionality of Epic’s software; documents that decode the operation of its source code that would otherwise be unusable to those outside of Epic; and information regarding Epic’s system capabilities and functions, including procedures for transferring data between customer environments, rules related to information collection, methods for limiting access to patient records, and processes for converting customer data, all of which reveal decades of work with its customers to determine the functionality desirable or required for Epic to provide successful products to those customers.
  41. ↑ "Fire at TATA Group headquarters". The Economic Times. Times Group.


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