As tributes poured in to honour legendary industrialist Ratan Tata, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai took to social media to remember his "business and philanthropic legacy". Recalling his interaction with Mr Tata, Mr Pichai said the Tata Group Chairman Emeritus "deeply cared about making India better". He said they talked about Google's autonomous driving technology Waymo and his vision was "inspiring to hear".
He added that the 86-year-old was " instrumental in mentoring and developing the modern business leadership in India". Among other business leaders who remembered him were Chairman of the Mahindra Group Anand Mahindra and RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka. Mr Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who transformed a staid group into India's largest and most influential conglomerate, breathed his last at south Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital at 11.
30 pm on Wednesday. He was born on December 28, 1937 in Mumbai. Educated at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, the veteran industrialist worked on the shop floor at the family-run group after returning to India in 1962.
He gained experience in several Tata Group firms before being named director in charge of one of them, the National Radio and Electronics Co. in 1971. He became chairman of Tata Industries a decade later and in 1991 took over as the chairman of the Tata Group from his uncle, JRD, who had been in charge for more than half a century.
Under his stewardship, the conglomerate embarked on a massive expansion.
