Business | A titan departs

Ratan Tata, a consequential and beloved figure in Indian business

He reshaped one of India’s most successful conglomerates

Ratan Tata in 2009
Ratan Tata, 1937-2024Photograph: AP
|Mumbai

Two things are often said of Ratan Tata, former head of the Tata Group, one of India’s mightiest conglomerates: he was a giant of Indian business, and among its most virtuous figures. For a society as fractious as India, the esteem in which he was held was remarkably wide.

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