A Padma Bhushan awardee and chairman of the Tata group, Ratan Naval Tata was

born on 28 December 1937 in Mumbai. He completed an advanced management programme from Harvard University in 1975, and in 1991 took over as the group chairperson from J R D Tata.

Since the time Ratan Tata became the chairman of the group he and his associates have been looking towards mergers and acquisitions, IT market and hospitality businesses as major sources of growth for the group. However, the group has also been surrounded with controversies as well. In 1997 the chairperson’s telephone was allegedly tapped in connection with the accusations that Tata Tea had paid money to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The investigations by the Intelligence Bureau alleged that Tata Tea had paid the medical bills of the ULFA cultural secretary Pranati Deka at Mumbai's Jaslok hospital.

Again, barely months after its takeover of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) the Tata group got involved into yet another controversy over the stockholding issue between the government and the group. In another instance,