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Ratan Tata’s legacy is much larger than his persona

Eulogies have glorified Tata’s humility and his philanthropy, balanced out by critics who focus on his bad history of acquisitions. The legacy is more nuanced and fits the times he lived and led in.

10 October, 202411 min
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How do you judge the legacy of someone like Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the $165 billion Tata Group, and one of India’s most respected industrialists, who passed away at 86 on Wednesday?

We are, after all, talking about someone who took on some of the biggest risks in India’s corporate history, fought battles against politically well-connected competitors and antagonistic governments, and navigated India’s largest conglomerate through the tumultuous post-liberalization period. 

Legacies are best judged when the dust of their absence has settled and the future generations are able to grow on the foundations that have been laid. In that …

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