The Legacy that Built a Nation

In the grand narrative of India’s progress, few names shine as brightly as the Tatas. The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation is not merely the chronicle of a business empire—it is the sweeping, two-hundred-year journey of a family whose vision and values helped shape modern India. Beginning in 1822 with young Nusserwanji Tata’s leap of faith from his priestly roots in Navsari to the bustling city of Bombay, Girish Kuber traces how a modest cotton trading venture blossomed into a multifaceted industrial powerhouse.

The book paints an intimate yet panoramic portrait of each generation—from Jamsetji Tata, the pioneering industrialist and dreamer who envisioned steel plants, world-class education, and landmark hotels, to Dorabji and Ratanji, who nurtured those dreams, to JRD Tata, whose charisma and foresight placed India on the global aviation map, and finally Ratan Tata, whose business acumen and humanitarian ethos brought the group into the twenty-first century. Along the way, readers discover extraordinary milestones—the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science, the creation of India’s first hydel power project, the birth of labour-friendly policies like the eight-hour work shift, and the founding of institutions that transformed healthcare, research, and industry.

Through triumphs and challenges, the Tata story is also India’s story—of resilience in the face of adversity, of innovation against odds, and of leadership that measures success not only in profits but in the betterment of society. Written with the insight of a seasoned journalist, this is the most complete account of the Tata legacy, revealing how one family’s dreams, values, and ventures became inseparable from the destiny of a nation.

This is more than business history—it is a celebration of visionaries who built not just an empire, but also a nation’s hope, pride, and future.