HORIZONS: THE TATA-INDIA CENTURY by AMAN NATH & JAY VITHALANI IBH Price: Not listed Pages: 357

The origins are shrouded in exhaust smoke, but on every highway in India truck tailgates carry the intriguing message, "Ok, Tata"-even on the vehicles not manufactured by the iconic industrial house. As a collective stamp of approval, however unintentional, there could be none as fitting. Rarely does a family name become a national benchmark, but that is exactly what the House of Tatas has achieved. More importantly, in an age when corporate governance and transparency are prickly buzzwords, it has grown and prospered without compromising on the values that have always defined the group: ethics, quality, trust. An anecdote in the book is illustrative enough. When George Fernandes, then industry minister, asked Naval Tata why it had taken so long to get clearance for their power project, Naval indicated by gestures that it was because the Tatas did not pay bribes.

This massive almanac is a celebration of the spirit of the Tatas and a commemoration of centenaries: the death centenary of founder Jamsetji Tata and the hundred years of the birth of two men who moulded its destiny, the legendary JRD and Naval, an orphan adopted by Ratan Tata, Jamsetji's second son. For the most illustrious of Indian business houses, this literary and pictorial tribute is richly deserved. The problem is that the saga of the group and family has been extensively written about. This book tries to compensate by juxtaposing the evolution of the Tatas with that of modern India. The parallel narrative distracts and dilutes the main focus. Despite the many books on the group and the family, the Tatas are fascinating enough as a 20th century saga. More so, as this effort is buttressed by outstanding research and rare archival material and photographs, including personal letters between JRD and three prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who addressed him as "Dear Jeh". The Tatas' contribution to India's industrial growth is too well known for it to be made hostage to a potted history of India's achievements.

PICTURE SPEAK

All in the family: (From left) Dorab, RD, Ratan and Jamsetji; (right) JRD (left) with Naval; (top) a young JRD who lifted weights to keep in shape

The book spans 130 years and is a treasure house of information on the family, on the group's corporate philosophy (the Telco motto was, "Quality is first engineered, only then is it inspected"), on the professionals who became titans in their own right (Naval famously said, "There's a Mughal emperor in each of the Tata companies"), and on each Tata company's origins and growth. JRD clearly stands out for the incredible breadth of his vision, his social commitment, and the future problem areas for India (population, infrastructure, etc) that he foresaw with such rare insight in his correspondence with Nehru.

There is not much on the present Tata chieftain, Ratan, but enough to show that he has inherited the family genes. Realising in the 1980s that the group had become sluggish, he proved his detractors wrong by streamlining the empire, taking it into emerging technology areas and giving it global ambition under his 1983 Tata Strategic Plan drawn up in New York during a time of great personal tragedy: his mother lay dying of cancer. After four generations, another chairman of Tatas has shown the same visionary enterprise and commitment to ethical practice that is a Tata hallmark.

Corporate history can be boring but the two main authors, hotelier-cum-historian Aman Nath and Jay Vithalani, a Harvard scholar, have produced a magnificent tribute, far superior to anything that has appeared earlier. There are some stunning photographs from the family album: Jamsetji and the family; JRD resembling a dashing Errol Flynn; on holiday in Europe with his wife Thelma; Ratan as a schoolboy; Parmeshwar Godrej attired in a sari as one of the early Air-India air hostesses. There are also rare bits of information and anecdotes that few people outside the immediate family know. It is a pity about the parallel narrative but this tome should be required reading for anyone in the corporate world, not just the 2.2 lakh Tata employees. The story of the Tatas is of a truly noble house and is both inspirational and aspirational. This book tells us why it is so fitting for those trucks barrelling down our highways to bear that flamboyant slogan, "Ok, Tata".

EXCERPTS

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Air-India crew

"Do you mean to say that the Tatas propose to make steel rails to British specifications? I will eat every pound of steel rail they succeed in making."
-Sir Frederick Upcott, chief commissioner, Indian Railways

"Some slight indigestion."
-Sir Dorabji Tata, on what Sir Frederick would have faced had he lived up to his word

"I mentioned to her (Indira Gandhi) how the Minister for Civil Aviation constantly interfered and also treated (Indian Airlines and Air-India) as a field for personal patronage, including the undeserved promotion of 67 Traffic Assistants in order to get his son, who was 68th in line, also promoted."
-JRD's memo on his meeting with Mrs Gandhi

Desirous of seeing India represented at the Olympics, Sir Dorabji Tata personally selected and financed four athletes and two wrestlers for the 1920 Antwerp Games. No official Indian Olympic body existed at the time.

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(from left): JRD, Nehru, Indira and Thelma

The first meeting between JRD and Morarji Desai took place when Desai was chief minister of the undivided state of Bombay. JRD told Desai that the Tatas had made a projection of electrical power demand and estimated that there would be a severe shortage. Desai replied: "No, there will not be. I have seen to that." JRD rose from his seat. "Where are you going?" demanded Desai.
JRD replied: "We say there will be power shortage if the additional generating capacity is not created. You say it won't. We do not want to waste your time, leave alone ours."
Later, when Desai, as finance minister, insisted that the Tatas should charge a premium on Tata Steel's new capital issue which the Tatas were offering at par, JRD wrote to Desai saying: "Would it be wrong of me to regret the passing of the days when businessmen with a good record of efficiency and integrity could be trusted to make such decisions themselves?"

PICTURE SPEAK

Godrej as an air hostess; the first Air-India ticket

JRD loved fast cars and owned a Bugatti which he drove at high speeds, earning the wrath of the Bombay police. An accident on Peddar Road led to a court case. Though he had to give up the Bugatti, there was some gain: at his lawyer's house he met his future wife, Thelma Vicaji, who was the lawyer's niece.

Air-India's early air hostesses set a cosmopolitan trend and brought social acceptance for Indian women. Among the liaisons that caused a flutter in their Air-India days were Nilu Gaekwad, Sunita Garware, Parmeshwar Godrej, Nina Pillai and Maureen Wadia.