By: Vinanti Pandya
Jamsetji Tata was one of India’s biggest and most famous industrialists. Born in 1839 in Navsari, Gujarat, Tata received a Western education, unlike his peers. Tata joined his father’s company upon graduation and in less than two decades, he formed his own company.
During a period of political turmoil in India, Tata wanted to ensure that the material used in India was derived from local sources. To do so, he made many risky and expensive business decisions. Today those decisions led to one of the biggest multinational companies founded and headquartered in India, the Tata Group. He had four missions to accomplish: (1) start an iron and steel company, (2) generate hydroelectric power, (3) create a world-class educational institution, and (4) establish a world-class hotel. Only the hotel came to fruition during his life, but his work allowed his descendants to build the rest in his honor.
The Swadeshi Movement, which was the catalyst that led to the Freedom Movement, had not started yet. In the early 1990s, politically conscious Indians wanted to develop industries and resources in India by Indians. Tata followed this sentiment before its prominence. Near the end of Tata’s life, the movement picked up momentum. The momentum was so consequential that he named one of his mills Swadeshi.
Tata started with textiles. In 1869, he bought a bankrupt oil mill in Mumbai and converted it into a cotton mill. In two years, he sold the mill for profit. To understand the industry’s ins and outs, he went to London. He returned to India with a conviction to transfer the high standards he experienced in England to his home country.
The entire textile industry was centered in Mumbai, or Bombay as it was called then. It was, and still is today, the center of many industries. However, Tata decided to invest in a smaller town called Nagpur. Everyone ridiculed his strategic business decision. However, three years later, his mill was ready to produce handicrafts for all Indians. With cheaper land and better access to resources, Tata’s new mill was a success.
In the 1880s, Tata decided to build a steel plant. The industrial revolution had not touched India, so Tata had many obstacles to overcome. He was unsuccessful in his lifetime, but his son and cousin succeeded several years after his death.
One of the last things Tata did was inaugurate the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai in 1903. At the time, it cost 11 million rupees (approximately $11 billion today). Today, it is one of the best hotels in India. He wanted to build it after being refused entry for being Indian. It was a one-of-a-kind luxury hotel with American fans, German elevators, English butlers, and Turkish baths. Tata died soon after in 1904.
Though he was a visionary, he was also a philanthropist. He donated to educational and healthcare charities. In his factories, workers’ welfare was at the forefront. He also established the JN Tata Endowment, which helped Indian students to pursue higher education in England, regardless of their socio-economic background. Knowing that his mission was to make everything in India, he knew the utmost importance of education. Thus, he started drawing up plans for, what is now known as, the India Institute of Science.
Although he did not participate in politics regularly, he was an avid supporter of his country’s economic well-being. If anything was disturbing India’s economic stability, the loudest voice against it was Jamsetji Tata’s. He opposed the tariffs against Indian cloth and the shipping rates that discriminated against Indian goods, not British goods.
Tata fought for India’s economic freedom before the Freedom Movement started. He fought for goods to be made in India before the Swadeshi Movement started. He donated immensely to charities and funds to uplift Indians in access to education and health care. Jamsetji Tata remains an inspiration to Indians around the world.
Vinanti Pandya, at the time of this post, is a second-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is originally from India but is technically from Canada. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto. Vinanti is the current Vice President of the North American South Asian Law Students’ Association and a member of the Moot Court Team.