Jamsetji Tata

The son of a cotton merchant, Tata attended Elphinstone College in Bombay (now Mumbai) before joining the family business. As a young man he traveled to England, where he observed the textile manufacturing process first-hand. He eventually married and had two sons, Dorabji and Ratanji.

From the beginning, Tata demonstrated a deep concern for the welfare of his workers. When he launched the Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company (later Empress Mills) in 1874, Tata ensured that the manufacturing facility had proper ventilation and clean drinking water, while employee housing maintained high sanitation standards. These health and safety measures were unprecedented for the era, even in Europe and the United States. Further, Tata established generous benefits packages for his employees, funding medical care, educational and training programs, childcare and maternity pay. 

Tata was also dedicated to expanding educational opportunities for India’s most promising students. In 1892 he created JN Tata Endowment, a scholarship fund for recipients to pursue advanced studies overseas. In the twentieth century, JN Tata scholars included nuclear physicist Raja Ramanna and politician K.R. Narayanan. 

Tata’s economic vision continued to bear fruit in the years after his death. In 1906, his sons established the Tata Power Company, realizing their father’s dream to develop hydroelectric power in Bombay. A year later, they transformed his plans for an ironworks facility into the Tata Iron and Steel Company. Under continuous family ownership, the Tata Group eventually developed into a major global conglomerate. 

The legacy of Tata’s generosity endures in the twenty-first century. In the years after his passing his heirs restructured the company so that majority control fell to the firm’s philanthropic arm, Tata Trusts. His sons later transformed the research institute in Bangalore into the Indian Institute of Science, where Nobel prize-winning physicist C.V. Raman later conducted his groundbreaking experiments in light scattering. Today, Tata Trusts remains among the country’s largest funders of scientific education and research. True to its founder’s ideals, Tata continues to serve as the exemplar for corporate philanthropy in India.

Contributors: Maha Tazi, Stephen Meyer