Mr Oberoi - founder of the Oberoi Group

Rai Bahadur M.S. Oberoi
Founder Chairman, The Oberoi Group

• Early Life

Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was born on 15th August, 1898 in erstwhile undivided Punjab, which is now in Pakistan. He was only six months old when his father died. Success and fortune did not, therefore, come easily to him. Initiative, resourcefulness and hard work, combined with the capability to face and overcome the most overwhelming odds can best characterise this phenomenal entrepreneur.
Mr. M.S. Oberoi completed his primary education in Rawalpindi and moved to Lahore for his Bachelor’s degree. Shortly thereafter, to flee the ravages of a virulent plague, he went to seek his fortune in Shimla, the summer capital of British India. Arriving penniless, he found a job at a monthly salary of INR 50, as the front desk clerk at the Cecil Hotel. Today, The Oberoi Group owns the hotel The Oberoi Cecil where the young Mr. Oberoi found his métier.
The diligence, enthusiasm and intelligence displayed by Mr. Oberoi impressed Mr. Grove, the manager of the hotel. A quick learner, Mr. Oberoi did not restrict his efforts to fulfilling the job description of a desk clerk but sought and shouldered additional responsibilities. A few years later, when Mr. Clarke acquired a small hotel he asked Mr. Oberoi to assist him. It was here, at Clarkes Hotel, that Mr. Oberoi gained first hand experience in all aspects of operating a hotel.

• Budding Entrepreneur

In 1934, Mr. Oberoi acquired his first property, The Clarkes Hotel, from his mentor by mortgaging his wife’s jewellery and all his assets. Four years later, he signed a lease to take over operations of the five hundred rooms Grand Hotel in Calcutta that was on sale following a cholera epidemic. With his customary confidence and sheer determination to succeed, he was able to convert this hotel into a highly profitable business venture.
Over several years, Mr. Oberoi had purchased shares in Associated Hotels of India (AHI), which owned Cecil and Corstophans hotels in Shimla, Maidens and Imperial hotels in Delhi and a hotel each in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. In 1943, Mr. Oberoi acquired controlling interest in AHI. He thus became the first Indian to run the country’s largest and finest hotel chain. In the tumultuous years just prior to Indian independence, Mr. Oberoi met and intimately interacted with the would-be leaders of Free India, all of whom were, at one time or other, guests at his hotels.

• International Pioneer

Having consolidated his early ventures, Mr. Oberoi became the first Indian hotelier to enter into an agreement with an internationally renowned hotel chain, to open the first modern, five-star hotel in the country. The Oberoi Inter Continental, in New Delhi opened in 1965. The I-Con, as it became popularly known, offered facilities that no other hotel in the country matched and was India’s first luxury hotel.
This achievement was enhanced with the opening of the 35-storey Oberoi Sheraton in Bombay, in 1973. Mr. Oberoi was the first Indian to work in association with international chains to woo international travellers to India. This led to a heavy influx of international travellers and foreign occupancy soared to an average of 85%. This enabled the Oberoi Hotels to significantly contribute to India’s foreign exchange earnings.
Another pioneering landmark was the establishment in 1966 of the prestigious Oberoi School of Hotel Management, recognised by the International Hotel Association in Paris. Considered India’s premier institute, the school is now known as The Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development and continues to provide high quality professional training in hospitality management.
Other notable firsts were the decision to employ women in his hotels and to establish a chain of ancillary industries producing and supplying items like consumables and stationery to ensure the highest quality. The Oberoi Group was also the first to start flight catering operations in India, in 1959. The Oberoi Flight Services, located in New Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin and Chennai, provide in-flight meals of international quality to reputed airlines.

Mr. Oberoi realised that the hotel and hospitality business is greatly dependent on travel agents, a vital element in the distribution chain. Therefore, he decided to establish his own travel agency. Mercury Travels, part of The Oberoi Group, ranks amongst the leading travel agencies in India. With vision and imagination, Mr. Oberoi converted old and dilapidated palaces, historical monuments and buildings into magnificent hotels such as The Oberoi Grand in Calcutta, the historic Mena House Oberoi in Cairo and The Windsor in Australia. It was, in fact, in the face of severe opposition that the State Government of Victoria awarded Mr. Oberoi the lease of The Windsor, a heritage building in Melbourne. He personally supervised the restoration of the hotel to its original grandeur and later acquired it. The Oberoi Cecil in Shimla, built in the early 20th century, reopened in April 1997 after extensive and meticulous renovation.

• Awards and Honours

In 1943, Mr. Oberoi was conferred the title of Rai Bahadur by the British Government in recognition of his services to the Crown. Thereafter, Mr. Oberoi won acclaim and received several national and international awards including admission to the Hall of Fame by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and Man of The World award by the International Hotel Association (IHA), New York. He was presented the Order of The Republic, First Class by the President of Egypt. He got an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration from the International Management Centre, Buckingham, UK. Newsweek named him one of the Elite Winners of 1978. The PHDCCI Millennium award in 2000 was presented in recognition of his entrepreneurial and business success. In 2001, the Government of India accorded him the Padma Bhushan.

• Globalisation of The Oberoi Group

To place The Oberoi Group on the world map, Mr. Oberoi exported management expertise to Australia, Egypt and Singapore, where The Oberoi Group took charge of the management of existing luxury hotels. The success of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts overseas, in the face of global competition, greatly enhanced the image of The Group.
Today, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts in Indonesia, Egypt, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia and India add value and distinction to their host countries.

• Foundations of the Future

Under Mr. Oberoi’s dynamic leadership, The Oberoi Group introduced its second brand of hotels, ‘Trident’. Trident hotels are five-star hotels that have established a reputation for excellence and are acknowledged for offering quality and value. These hotels combine state of the art facilities with dependable service in a caring environment, making them the ideal choice for business and leisure travellers. Presently there are nine Trident hotels in India located in Mumbai at Bandra Kurla and Nariman Point, Gurgaon (Delhi National Capital Region), Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Cochin, Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur. The Oberoi Group also operates a Trident hotel in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.
In the luxury category, The Group opened The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur; The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla; The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur; The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore; The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra; Wildflower Hall, Shimla in the Himalayas; The Oberoi, Lombok, Indonesia; The Oberoi, Sahl Hasheesh, Egypt; The Oberoi, Mauritius and The Oberoi Zahra, Luxury Nile Cruiser, Egypt.

The Group employs more than 12,000 people worldwide and operates 28 hotels and three cruisers in five countries.

Mr. Oberoi’s achievements and successes did not, however, take from his simplicity and old-fashioned charm. He retained, until his death in May 2002 at the age of 103, a unique humility. He was fond of saying, “I have been able to accept the challenge and make good. There is comfort in knowing that whatever little I have achieved has also helped to raise the prestige of my country.”

Mr Ratan Tata - Wikipedia page

Ratan Naval Tata

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ratan Naval Tata
Born	December 28, 1937 (age 71) Bombay Presidency, British India
Residence	Mumbai, India
Nationality	India
Ethnicity	Parsi
Citizenship	India
Alma mater	Cornell University Harvard University
Occupation	Chairman of Tata Group
Home town	Mumbai, India
Religious beliefs	Zoroastrianism
Spouse(s)	Never married
Children	None

Ratan Naval Tata (born December 28, 1937, in Mumbai) is the present Chairman of the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate founded by Jamsedji Tata and consolidated and expanded by later generations of his family.

Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early career 1.2 Wealth 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Quotes 5 Social and environmental record 6 Awards and Recognition 7 Bibliography 8 References 9 External links

[edit]Early life

Tata was born into the wealthy and famous Tata family of Mumbai. He was born to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata. Ratan is the great grandson of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata. Ratan's childhood was troubled, his parents separating in the mid-1940s, when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five. His mother moved out and both Ratan and his brother were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai.

[edit]Early career

Ratan Tata completed a BSc degree in engineering with structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962, and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1975. He joined the Tata Group in December 1962, after turning down a job with IBM on the advice of JRD Tata. He was first sent to Jamshedpur to work at Tata Steel. He worked on the floor along with other blue-collar employees, shoveling limestone and handling the blast furnaces.^[1] Ratan Tata, a shy man, rarely features in the society glossies, has lived for years in a book-crammed, dog-filled bachelor flat in Mumbai's Colaba district.^[2][3]

[edit]Wealth

Ratan Tata has his own capital in Tata Sons., the holding company of the group. His share is around 1%, valuing his personal holding at approximately US$ 1 Billion. About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamshedji Tata. Ratan Tata is on the board of trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, giving him significant influence on the board of Tata Sons, despite his minority personal shareholding.

[edit]Career

In 1971, Ratan was appointed the Director-in-Charge of The National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco), a company that was in dire financial difficulty. Ratan suggested that the company invest in developing high-technology products, rather than in consumer electronics. J.R.D. was reluctant due to the historical financial performance of Nelco which had never even paid regular dividends. Further, Nelco had 2% market share in the consumer electronics market and a loss margin of 40% of sales when Ratan took over. Nonetheless, J. R. D. followed Ratan's suggestions.

From 1972 to 1975, Nelco eventually grew to have a market share of 20%, and recovered its losses. In 1975 however, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, which led to an economic recession. This was followed by union problems in 1977, so even after demand improved, production did not keep up. Finally, the Tatas confronted the unions and, following a strike, a lockout was imposed for seven months. Ratan continued to believe in the fundamental soundness of Nelco, but the venture did not survive.

In 1977, Ratan was entrusted with Empress Mills, a textile mill controlled by the Tatas. When he took charge of the company, it was one of the few sick units in the Tata group. Ratan managed to turn it around and even declared a dividend. However, competition from less labour-intensive enterprises had made a number of companies unviable, including those like the Empress which had large labour contingents and had spent too little on modernisation. On Ratan's insistence, some investment was made, but it did not suffice. As the market for coarse and medium cotton cloth (which was all that the Empress produced) turned adverse, the Empress began to accumulate heavier losses. Bombay House, the Tata headquarters, was unwilling to divert funds from other group companies into an undertaking which would need to be nursed for a long time. So, some Tata directors, chiefly Nani Palkhivala, took the line that the Tatas should liquidate the mill, which was finally closed down in 1986. Ratan was severely disappointed with the decision, and in a later interview with the Hindustan Times would claim that the Empress had needed just Rs 50 lakhs to turn it around.

In 1981, Ratan was named director of Tata Industries, the Group's other holding company, where he became responsible for transforming it into the Group's strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in high-technology businesses.

In 1991, he took over as group chairman from J.R.D. Tata, pushing out the old guard and ushering in younger managers. Since then, he has been instrumental in reshaping the fortunes of the Tata Group, which today has the largest market capitalization of any business house on the Indian Stock Market.

Under Ratan's guidance, Tata Consultancy Services went public and Tata Motors was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Tata Motors introduced his brainchild, the Tata Indica.

On January 31, 2007, under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata, Tata Sons successfully acquired Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel and aluminium producer. With the acquisition, Ratan Tata became a celebrated personality in Indian corporate business culture. The merger created the fifth largest steel producing entity in the world.

On March 26, 2008, Tata Motors, under Ratan Tata, bought Jaguar & Land Rover from Ford Motor Company. The two iconic British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, were acquired for £1.15 billion ($2.3 billion).

Tata Nano car, 2008

Ratan Tata's dream was to manufacture a car costing Rs 100,000 (1998: approx. US$2,200; today US$2,000 US$2,528). He realized his dream by launching the car in New Delhi Auto Expo on January 10, 2008. Three models of the Tata Nano were announced, and Ratan Tata delivered on his commitment to developing a car costing only 1 lakh rupees, adding that "a promise is a promise," referring to his earlier promise to deliver this car at the said cost. Recently when his plant for Nano production was obstructed by Mamta Banerjee, his decision of going out of West Bengal was warmly welcomed. Banerjee had the support of the people of Singur, where the Nano plant was being constructed, and many social movements. They criticised Ratan Tata for forcing people out of their land in collusion with the Left Front government in the state, headed by Budhadeb Bhattacharjee.

On October 7, 2008, After a controversial stay in West Bengal, Ratan Tata and his men shifted their Rs 1-lakh car Nano project to Sanand near Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), declaring that efforts will be made to roll out the world's cheapest car from a make-shift plant to meet the deadline. Praising Modi for speedy allocation of about 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) of centrally located land, Ratan Tata said that the company had a great deal of urgency in having a new location and was driven by the reputation of the state. He successfully made a secret deal with Narendra Modi who agreed to give him a soft loan to the tune of approximately $10 billion to make the car in Gujarat.

The car was launched on March 23, 2009 amid much fanfare with advance bookings that preceded its launch by months.

[edit]Personal life

Mr. Ratan Tata has a metallic blue Maserati.^[4] He sometimes likes to fly his private jet himself.^[5] He has a Falcon Jet. ^[6] He has never been married. ^[7]

[edit]Quotes

"Question the unquestionable." & "a promise is a promise," ^[8]

[edit]Social and environmental record

The TATA Group is widely believed to make the largest contribution to charity of any corporation in India. However, during his tenure as Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata has come in for criticism from human rights and environmental activists for the TATA Group’s record in this sector and the apparent reluctance to address these issues at the Group level.

Kalinganagar, Orissa: On January 2, 2006, policemen at Kalinganagar, Orissa, 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.^[9]

Dow Chemicals, Bhopal Gas Disaster: In November 2006, survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster were outraged by Ratan Tata’s offer to bail out Union Carbide and facilitate investments by Carbide’s new owner Dow Chemical. Tata had proposed leading a charitable effort to clean-up the toxic wastes abandoned by Carbide in Bhopal. At a time when the Government of India has held Dow Chemical liable for the clean-up and requested Rs. 100 crores from the American MNC, survivor’s groups felt that Tata’s offer was aimed at frustrating legal efforts to hold the company liable, and motivated by a desire to facilitate Dow’s investments in India.^[10]

TATA supplies to Burma’s military regime: TATA Motors reported deals to supply hardware and automobiles to Burma’s oppressive and anti-democratic military junta has 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. ["Myanmar Ties." December 8, 2006. The Telegraph, Calcutta, India]. In 2009, TATA Motors announced that it would press ahead with plans to manufacture trucks in Myanmar.^[11],^[12]

Singur displacement: The Singur controversy^[13] in West Bengal led to further questions over TATA’s social record, with protests by local villagers and some political parties over forcible eviction and inadequate compensation to those being displaced for the TATA Nano plant. As the protests gathered steam, and despite having the support of the ruling CPI(M) government, TATA eventually pulled the project out of the state 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’s subsequent embrace of and praise for Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, also earned him brickbats on account of Modi’s openly communal stance and his performance as Chief Minister during the 2002 pogrom that saw hundreds of Muslims killed in riots within the state.^[14]

Dhamra Port: On the environmental front, the Dhamra port controversy has received significant coverage, both within India and in Tata’s emerging global markets. (‘India – Tata in troubled waters’, Ethical Corporation, November 2007, London, UK)^[15]

The Dhamra port, a venture between TATA Steel and Larsen & Toubro, has come in for criticism for its proximity to the Gahirmatha Sanctuary and Bitharkanika National Park, from Indian and international organizations, including Greenpeace. Gahirmatha is one of the world’s largest mass nesting sites for the olive ridley turtle and Bitharkanika 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.^[16] On the other hand, conservation organizations, 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 that the port could interfere with mass nesting at the Gahirmtha beaches and the ecology of the Bitharkanika mangrove forest.^[17],^[18]

Protests by Greenpeace to Dhamra Port construction is also alleged to be less on factual data and more on hype and DPCL's (Dhamra Port Company Limited) response to Greenpeace questions harbours on these facts ^[19],^[20]. Nevertheless, if good intentions prevail on both sides, we can have progress on sustainable development in one of the poorest parts of India, benefitting the society immensely.

[edit]Awards and Recognition

On the occasion of India's 58th Republic Day on 26 January 2000, Ratan Tata was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest decoration that may be awarded to a civilian. On 26 January 2008 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian decoration. He was one of the recipients of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards-2008 given away at a ceremony on February 14 2008 in Mumbai. Ratan Tata accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 on behalf of the Tata family. ^[21][22]

Ratan Tata serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. In March 2006 Tata was honoured by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector.^[23]

Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California and of his alma mater, Cornell University.^[24][25] He also serves as a board member on the Republic of South Africa's International Investment Council and is an Asia-Pacific advisory committee member for the New York Stock Exchange. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of RAND's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the programme board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative. In February 2004, Ratan Tata was conferred the title of honorary economic advisor to Hangzhou city in the Zhejiang province of China.

He recently received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.He was listed among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune magazine in November 2007. In May 2008 Mr Tata made it to the Time magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 most influential people. Tata was hailed for unveiling his tiny Rs. one lakh car 'Nano'.

On 29 August 2008, the Government of Singapore conferred honorary citizenship on Ratan Tata, in recognition of his abiding business relationship with the island nation and his contribution to the growth of high-tech sectors in Singapore. Ratan Tata is the first Indian to receive this honour.

After the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Forbes opined Ratan Tata be brought into politics, calling him India's most respected business leader.^[26]

In 2009 he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire^[27].

[edit]Bibliography

• Yogesh Chabria, Happionaire's Cash The Crash. CNBC - Network18. ISBN 9788190647953

[edit]References

1. ^ Times of India Article: Man of the Year? Its Ratan Tata
2. ^ "Faces of Enterprise: Ratan Tata".
3. ^ "profile Tata".
4. ^ India Today Power List 2009
5. ^ India Today Power List 2009 - flys the jets himself
6. ^ India Today Power List 2005
7. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/business/worldbusiness/04tata.html?_r=1&sq=tata&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=7&adxnnlx=1238497443-4R16x3p9Aj5a8CErvf45bw
8. ^ India Today 2005 Power List
9. ^ [1]
10. ^ [2]
11. ^ [3]
12. ^ [4]
13. ^ [www.rediff.com/money/2006/dec/09tata.htm]
14. ^ [5]
15. ^ [6]
16. ^ [7]
17. ^ [8]
18. ^ [9]
19. ^ [10]
20. ^ [11]
21. ^ "Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, 2007".
22. ^ "Tata: Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, 2007".
23. ^ "26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education - Announcement".
24. ^ Board of Trustees, University of Southern California, Accessed April 13, 2008.
25. ^ Ratan Tata Joins USC Board of Trustees, USC News, August 30, 2005.
26. ^ "India's Obama Moment?". Forbes. 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
27. ^ http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/what-we-do/honours/honorary-awards-2009 UK Foreign Office

• "Ratan Tata on Time's most influential list".
• Piramal, Gita (1997), Business Maharajas, New Delhi: Penguin, ISBN 0140264426
• "Chairman Profile, Interviews and Press Articles". Tata Group Website.
• Dubey, Rajiv (January 24, 2005). "Interview with Ratan Tata". Businessworld.
• "The Shy Architect: Ratan Tata has transformed India’s biggest company, and has done it alone.". The Economist. January 11, 2006.
• "India's Tata wins race for Corus". BBC News. January 31, 2007.
• Sinha, Suveen K (February 5, 2007). "Ratan Tata: The man with steely resolve". rediff.com.

[edit]External links

• Tata Group
• Ratan Tata's profile on the Tata Website