Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (R.D. Tata, 1856–1926) was an Indian businessman who played a pivotal role in the growth of the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...

in India. He was the first cousin of

Jamsetji Tata Jamsetji (Jamshedji) Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian pioneer industrialist who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. Named the greatest philanthropist of the last century by several poll ...

, a pioneering industrialist and the founder of

Tata Sons Tata Sons Private Limited is the parent company of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in the Tata group of companies including their land holdings across India, tea estates and steel plants. It is a privately owned conglomerate of ...

. He was one of the partners in Tata Sons founded by Jamsetji Tata. Ratanji is the father of

J. R. D. Tata Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (29 July 1904 – 29 November 1993) was a French-Indian aviator, industrialist, entrepreneur and chairman of Tata Group. Born into the Tata family of India, he was the son of noted businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy ...

Personal life

Ratanji was born in

Navsari Navsari is the ninth biggest city in the state of Gujarat in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Navsari District. Navsari is situated between Surat & Mumbai. Navsari is a twin city of Surat. It is located 37 km south of Sura ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

in 1856. He studied at The Cathedral & John Connon School and

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the ed ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. After graduating, he took up a course in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He then joined his family trade in the Far East. Ratanji was married to a Parsee girl at a tender age. However, she died childless not long after the marriage. Ratanji was in his forties when he remarried a French woman,

Suzanne Brière Suzanne RD Tata (nee Brière, 1880–1923), also known as Sooni Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, was the French wife of Indian businessman Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata. She is known for being the first woman in India to drive a car, in 1905. She was born in Pa ...

, in 1902. This was considered revolutionary in his times and was not welcomed by some in the Parsi community. They had five children Rodabeh,

Jehangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

, Jimmy, Sylla and Dorab.

Opium trade

Under the name Tata & Co, Ratanji ran an

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

importing business in China, which was legal at the time. In 1887, he and other merchants such as

David Solomon Sassoon David Solomon Sassoon (1880–1942) (also known as "David Suleiman Sassoon"), was a bibliophile and grandson of 19th Baghdadi Jewish community leader David Sassoon. Sassoon travelled extensively with the sole intent of collecting Hebrew books ...

presented a petition on behalf of the opium traders to complain about a

Hong Kong Legislative Council The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" constitutional arrange ...

bill that threatened to affect their trade.Legislative Council No. 21
Friday, 25 March 1887

Director of Tata Steel

Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company, based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO), Tata ...

was conceived and commissioned by Jamsetji Tata. However, Jamsetji died before the completion of the project. Ratanji played an important role in the completion of the Tata Steel Project along with Jamsetji's son Dorab and thus Tata Steel was established in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (, ) or Tatanagar is the largest and most populous city in Jharkhand and the first planned industrial city in India. It is a Notified Area Council and Municipal Corporation and also the headquarter of the East Singhbhum district. It ...

. The Tatas supplied steel to the British during the First World War. However, after the war Tata Steel went through a difficult period in the 1920s as steel was dumped into India from Britain and Belgium. Ratanji, along with other directors successfully sought protection for the Indian steel industry from the colonial government of the day and steadied the operations of Tata Steel.

References

A section of the Tata family tree from the Tata Central Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tata, Ratanji Dadabhoy Ratanji Dadabhoy Parsi people Businesspeople from Gujarat 1856 births 1926 deaths Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India Tata Group people Indian emigrants to France