His passing leaves a vacuum at the powerful Tata Trusts, a collective of charities that Tata led since stepping down as group chairman in 2012. These philanthropic trusts, which wield control over the Tata group through its ownership of about 66% in holding company Tata Sons Pvt., have traditionally been led by a member of the Tata family.
Ratan Tata, the businessman who inherited one of India’s oldest conglomerates and transformed it through a string of eye-catching deals into a global empire, has died. He was 86.
His death was announced in a statement by Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran on Wednesday. Tata, who never married and had no children, was chairman of the business house for more than two decades beginning in 1991 — a period marked by rapid expansion. The group now operates in over 100 countries and posted US$165 billion ($215.69 billion) in annual revenue.
