Ratan Tata on Bharat Ratna campaign: I appreciate sentiments but would request such campaigns be stopped

Tata Group’s Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has urged Twitterati to end the campaign seeking to confer him India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna. In response to the Twitter campaign #BharatRatnaForRatanTata, launched by a motivational speaker and YouTuber Dr Vivek Bindra on Friday, Ratan Tata on Saturday morning tweeted that “while I appreciate the sentiments expressed by a section of the social media in terms of an award, I would humbly like to request that such campaigns be discontinued.” The noted philanthropist added that instead, he considers himself fortunate to be an Indian and to try and contribute to India’s growth and prosperity.

While I appreciate the sentiments expressed by a section of the social media in terms of an award, I would humbly like to request that such campaigns be discontinued.

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Instead, I consider myself fortunate to be an Indian and to try and contribute to India’s growth and prosperity pic.twitter.com/CzEimjJPp5

— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) February 6, 2021

Born December 28, 1937, Ratan Tata was educated at Cornell University, New York in 1962 before he returned to India and worked at multiple Tata Group businesses. He was named director in charge of one of them — the National Radio and Electronics Co in 1971. He climbed the corporate ladder to become the chairman of Tata Industries and later in 1991 became the Chairman of Tata Group. Under his leadership, the business-focused on global expansion. Tata Group acquired UK’s Tetley Tea for $431.2 million back in 2000 and acquired the truck-manufacturing operations of South Korea’s Daewoo Motors for $102 million in 2004. In 2008, Tata Motors acquired British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company in the $2.3 billion deal that marked the biggest-ever buyout by an Indian automaker.

Ratan Tata had received the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 2000 and 2008 respectively. Among other notable recognitions conferred on Rata Tata included the UK’s Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 and similar awards by the government of Italy, Japan, and France. “Ratan Tata believes today`s generation of entrepreneurs can take India to next level. We confer the country`s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna for @RNTata2000,” Bindra had tweeted.

The revenue of Tata Group’s 30 companies in FY20 was $106 billion. The 30 companies spread across 10 clusters operates in over 100 countries and collectively employ more than 7.5 lakh people. Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies with 66 per cent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons held by philanthropic trusts. According to the group, there are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market value of $123 billion as of March 31, 2020.