Tatas — The inside story

Geetu Vaid 

“All you need to succeed in the corporate world is common sense”, this was young Mukund Rajan’s first lesson from the illustrious Ratan Tata when he joined as the group Chairman’s Executive Assistant in 1995. But it was not just common sense that made this IIT graduate and Oxford alumnus become a CEO before the age of 40, run a public listed company, establish a private equity business worth thousands of crores or being the first Brand Custodian of the most respected corporate brand in India. A shrewd eye for business interests coupled with unflinching belief in ethos of the company and integrity were his key qualities and qualifications.

Rajan was seen as Ratan Tata’s blue eyed boy and a trusted lieutenant due to his close association with him for around 12 years and rapid progression in the company’s hierarchy. In his 23-year-long stint in the group, he was witness to the ups and downs that the group faced and with this book Rajan gives reader a view of the Tata group from that vantage point. 

 Beginning from how he joined the group Rajan takes the reader step by step through different milestones of his journey with one of the largest conglomerates on the Indian business landscape. The politics, the vision, telecom and private equity experiences to the ugly conflict between Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry, Rajan includes it all in this volume.  

An objective and honest assessment not only of the growth trajectory of the group but also of the various controversies, loose ends and loopholes that can  have disastrous effect on one of the most respected business houses of the country.

While he gives credit to Ratan Tata “for unifying the relatively disparate Tata group and for taking the Tata brand to unprecedented heights”, he doesn’t shy away from mentioning that as a leader he left several critical questions about “an appropriate model of governance unanswered for a long time and did not “build a next-tier succession for transition” for the next generation.

He also clears the air on whether he was on Cyrus Mistry’s side when things took an ugly turn in 2016. Though initially apprehensive of Mistry’s appointment, Rajan explains how the young Chairman earned respect as a performer as he had his heart in the right place and wanted to do the right thing. He terms the Tata-Mistry conflict as a tragedy as both the leaders had same passion and ambition for the group.  

The language is simple and this is what makes the book engrossing.    

A mix of nostalgia and love for the organisation as well as pride in playing a role in its growth are evident all through the book. He might have been caught in the Ratan Tata-Cyrus Mistry crossfire in 2016 and quit in 2018, but this book is testimony to the fact that Mukund Rajan continues his role as a  Brand Custodian, even as an outsider. In the last chapter he writes about the need for the group to restructure itself to secure its future. 

He might have moved on, but it is difficult to miss his deep involvement with his former employer. “Stakeholders from across the globe will watch the continuing evolution of the Tatas with great interest. And from a distance, so will I, with more than a measure of pride in the role I was able to play in this organisation’s growth.”