 | |
 Bombay House, the headquarters of Tata Group inMumbai, India | |
| Company type | Corporate group |
|---|---|
| Industry | Conglomerate |
| Founded | 1868; 157 years ago (1868) |
| Founder | Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata |
| Headquarters | , India |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Products | |
| Services | |
| Revenue |  ₹15.34 lakh crore (US$180 billion) (2025) |
| ₹2.31 lakh crore (US$27 billion) (2025) | |
| ₹1.13 lakh crore (US$13 billion) (2025) | |
Number of employees | 1,151,353 (March 2025) |
| Subsidiaries | 35(See full list) |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references Financials as of 31 March 2025[update].[2] | |
TheTata Group (/ˈtɑːtɑː/) is an Indian multinationalgroup of companies, headquartered inMumbai.[3][4] Established in 1868, it is India's largestbusiness conglomerate.[5]
Tata Group comprises numerousaffiliate companies, withTata Sons as theholding company andpromoter. As of August 2025, there are 29 publicly listed affiliate companies, with a combinedmarket capitalisation of ₹37.84 trillion (US$436 billion).[6]
During the cotton boom in Bombay triggered by theAmerican Civil War,Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata and his father became involved with theAsiatic Banking Corporation. However, when the market declined, the firm faced significant financial difficulties. In 1868, the family’s fortunes improved substantially after securing a share in a profitable contract to supply the commissariat forNapier's expedition to Abyssinia. Throughout his career, Tata remained focused on four major aspirations: establishing an iron and steel company, building a landmark hotel, founding a world-class educational institution, and developing hydroelectric power.
In 1870, with Rs.21,000 capital, he founded a trading company.[7] Further, he bought a bankrupt oil mill atChinchpokli and converted it into a cotton mill, under the name Alexandra Mill, which he sold for a profit after two years. In 1874, he set up another cotton mill atNagpur named Empress Mill. During his lifetime, in 1903, the company opened theTaj Mahal Hotel atColaba waterfront as the first hotel with electricity inBritish India.
After Jamsetji's 1904 death, his older sonDorabji Tata became chairman.[7] Sir Dorabji established the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), now known asTata Steel in 1907. Marking the group's global ambitions, Tata Limited opened its first overseas office inLondon. Following the founder's goals, Western India's first hydro plant was brought to life, giving birth toTata Power. Fulfilling yet another dream, theIndian Institute of Science was established, admitting its first group of students in 1911.
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J. R. D. Tata was made chairman of the Tata Group in 1938. Under his chairmanship, the assets of the Tata Group grew from US$101 million to over US$5 billion. Starting with 14 enterprises, upon his departure half a century later in 1988, Tata Sons had grown to a conglomerate of 95 enterprises. These enterprises consisted of ventures that the company had either started or in which they held a controlling interest. New sectors such as chemicals, technology, cosmetics, marketing, engineering, manufacturing, tea, and software services earned them recognition.[8]
In 1932, Tata founded its airline, known asTata Air Services (later renamed Tata Airlines and thenAir India).[9] In 1953, the Government of India passed the Air Corporations Act and purchased a majority stake in the carrier fromTata Sons, though JRD Tata would continue as chairman until 1977.
In 1945,Tata Motors was founded, first focused on locomotives. In 1954, it entered the commercial vehicle market after forming a joint venture withDaimler-Benz. In 1968,Tata Consultancy Services was founded.
In 1991,Ratan Tata became chairman of Tata Group.[10] This was also the year ofeconomic liberalization in India, opening up the market to foreign competitors.[11] During this time, Tata Group began to acquire several companies. Tata Group boughtTetley In February 2000. After that, it acquiredCorus Group in 2007. The next year, the company's subsidiaryTata Motors launched theTata Nano, presenting it as "the world’s most affordable car," and acquiredJaguar andLand Rover fromFord Motor Company.[12]
In 2017,Natarajan Chandrasekaran was appointed chairman. He was instrumental in restructuring business verticals and increasing promoter stake ownership in companies. Under his leadership, the group made acquisitions through insolvency law and investments ine-commerce, expanded its airline business by winning a bid forAir India, and completely boughtAir Asia India. He has mentioned the future strategy is to focus on healthcare, electronics, and digital.[13] Tata-owned Air India got approval to acquire AirAsia India nearly two months after putting forth the proposal. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of the entire shareholding in Air Asia India by Tata-owned Air India.[14]
The chairman ofTata Sons is usually the chairman of the Tata Group. As of 2020, there have been seven chairmen of Tata Group.
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| Company | Major subsidiaries | Equity stake |
|---|---|---|
| Aerospace and defence | ||
| Tata Advanced Systems | Tasec | 100% |
| Information technology | ||
| Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) | 72.27% | |
| Tata Elxsi | 42.22% | |
| Steel | ||
| Tata Steel |
| 32.46% |
| Electrical and electronics | ||
| Tata Electronics | 100% | |
| Voltas | Universal MEP Projects & Engineering Services | 26.64% |
| Energy | ||
| Tata Power | 45.21% | |
| Engineering and construction | ||
| Tata Projects | 100% | |
| Tata Consulting Engineers | 100% | |
| Real estate | ||
| Tata Housing | 100% | |
| Tata Realty and Infrastructure | 100% | |
| Automotive | ||
| Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles | 46.40% | |
| Tata Motors | ||
| Tata AutoComp Systems | 100% | |
| Tata International Vehicle Applications | 100% | |
| Chemicals | ||
| Tata Chemicals | 31.90% | |
| Retail and e-commerce | ||
| Trent | 32.45% | |
| Tata Digital | 100% | |
| Titan Company | 25.02% | |
| Consumer goods | ||
| Tata Consumer Products |
| 29.39% |
| Financial services | ||
| Tata Capital | 85.41% | |
| Tata Asset Management | Tata Mutual Fund | 100% |
| Tata AIG | 51% | |
| Tata AIA Life | 51% | |
| Tata Investment Corp | 68.51% | |
| Tourism and travel | ||
| Indian Hotel Company | 38.43% | |
| TajAir | 100% | |
| Air India Limited |
| 74.9% |
| Telecom and media | ||
| Tata Communications | Tata Communications Canada | 31.90% |
| Tata Teleservices | 19.58% | |
| Tata Play | 60% | |
| Tejas Networks | 52.40% | |
| Trading and distribution | ||
| Tata International Group |
| 100% |
| Medical devices | ||
| Tata Medical and Diagnostics | 100% | |
Tata Group has helped establish and finance numerous research, educational and cultural institutes in India,[22][23] and received theCarnegie Medal of Philanthropy.[24]
In 2008, Tata Group donated US$50 million toCornell University for "agricultural and nutrition programs in India and for the education of Indian students at Cornell."[25]
In 2010, Tata Group donated₹2.20 billion (US$50 million) toHarvard Business School to build an academic and a residential building for executive education programmers on the institute's campus inBoston,Massachusetts.[26] The building, now known as Tata Hall,[27] is the largest endowment received by Harvard Business School from an international donor.[26]
In 2017, Tata Trusts gifted US$70 million toUniversity of California, San Diego and also partnered with it in setting up Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS) to address issues in public health and agriculture. In recognition of the donation, the building which houses TIGS has been named Tata Hall.[28] It is also the largest international donation made to University of California, San Diego.[29][30]
In 2017,Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) donated a US$35 million grant toCarnegie Mellon University, the largest ever industry donation to the university, to collaborate on promoting next-generation technologies that will drive theFourth Industrial Revolution, including cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles.[31]
In 2017, the Tata Football Academy won the bid to form theJamshedpur FC, anISL football club based inJamshedpur,Jharkhand.[32]
In 2020, Tata Group donated₹15 billion toPM Cares Fund to fight againstCOVID-19 pandemic in India.[33]
In 2024, the Tata Trusts' Small Animal Hospital in Mumbai was started byRatan Tata to provide medical care for pets, including dogs, cats, and rabbits.[34]
Most of the philanthropic activities of the group are carried out by various trusts incorporated by the members of theTata family.
The company has attracted controversy for reports ofpolitical corruption,cronyism,[37] theft,[38] mass killings,[39][40][a] and exploitation of its customers, Indian citizens,[45][46][47] and natural resources.[48][49]
TheKerala Government filed an affidavit in the high court alleging thatTata Tea had "grabbed" 3,000 acres (12 km2) of forest land atMunnar. The Tatas provided that they possessed 58,741.82 acres (237.7197 km2) of land, which they are allowed to retain under theKannan Devan Hill (Resumption of Lands) Act, 1971, and there was a shortage of 278.23 hectares (2.7823 km2) in that. The Chief Minister of KeralaV.S. Achuthanandan, who vowed to evict all on government land in Munnar, formed a special squad for the Munnar land takeover mission and started acquiring back properties. However, the mission was aborted due to both influential landholders and opposition from Achuthanandan's own party.[50]
On 2 January 2006,Kalinganagar, Tribal Orissa villagers protested against the construction of a new steel plant for Tata Steel on land historically owned by them. Some of the villagers had been evicted without adequate relocation. Police retribution was brutal: 37 protesters were injured and 13 killed, including 3 women and a 13-year-old boy. One policeman was hacked to death by a mob after police had opened fire on protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets. Family members of the deceased villagers later claimed that the bodies had been mutilated during post-mortem examinations.[51]
In December 2006, Myanmar's chief of general staff, General Thura Shwe Mann, visited the Tata Motors plant in Pune.[52] In 2009, Tata Motors announced that it would manufacture trucks in Myanmar. Tata Motors reported that these contracts to supply hardware and automobiles to Burma's military were subsequently criticised by human rights activists.[53][54]
TheSingur controversy inWest Bengal was a series of protests by locals and political parties over the forced acquisition, eviction, and inadequate compensation to those farmers displaced for the Tata Nano plant, during which Mamata Banerjee's party was widely criticised as acting for political gain.[55] Despite the support of theCommunist Party of Indiastate government, Tata eventually pulled the project out of West Bengal, citing safety concerns.Narendra Modi, thenChief Minister of Gujarat, made land available for the Nano project.[56]
On 31 August 2016, in a historic judgement, the Supreme Court of India set aside the land acquisition by the West Bengal Government in 2006 that had facilitated Tata Motors' Nano plant, stating that the West Bengal government had not taken possession of the land legally, and were required to repossess and return it to local farmers within 12 weeks without compensation.[57]
ThePort of Dhamara has received significant coverage, sparking controversy in India, and in Tata's emerging global markets.[58] The Dhamra port, an equal joint venture between Tata Steel andLarsen & Toubro, has been criticised for its proximity to the Gahirmatha Sanctuary andBhitarkanika National Park by Indian and international organisations, includingGreenpeace;Gahirmatha Beach is one of the world's largest mass nesting sites for theolive ridley turtle, and India's second largest mangrove forest,Bhitarkanika, is a designatedRamsar site, and critics claimed that the port could disrupt mass nesting at Gahirmtha beaches as well as the ecology of the Bitharkanika mangrove forest.[59][60] Tata Steel employed mitigation measures set by the project's official advisor, theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the company pledged to "adopt all its recommendations without exception" when conservation organisations asserted that a thorough environmental impact analysis had not been done for the project, which had undergone changes in size and specifications since it was first proposed.[61]
In 2007, Tata Group joined forces with a Tanzanian company to build asoda ash extraction plant in Tanzania.[62] Environmental activists oppose the plant because it would be nearLake Natron, and it has a very high chance of affecting the lake's ecosystem and its neighbouring dwellers,[63] jeopardising endangeredlesser flamingo birds. Lake Natron is where two-thirds of lesser flamingos reproduce.[64] Producing soda ash involves drawing out salt water from the lake, and then disposing the water back to the lake. This process could interrupt the chemical makeup of the lake.[62] 22 African nations signed a petition to stop its construction.[62]
In April 2016, a U.S. Federal grand jury awardedEpic Systems a $940 million judgement ($240 million incompensatory damages and $700 million inpunitive damages) against Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata America International Corp. Filed 31 October 2014; the suit charged that a TCS employee had made "6,477 unauthorized downloads" while working at a hospital which "could be used to enhance Tata's competing product, Med Mantra."[38][65][66] In 2017, U.S. District Court Judge William Conley reduced the award to $420 million ($140 million in compensatory damages and $280 million in punitive damages) due to Wisconsin state law; the company stated that they would appeal the judgement, as "not supported by evidence presented during the trial and a strong appeal can be made to superior court to fully set aside the jury verdict.”[67] In 2020 theSeventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the compensatory damages but recommended reducing the punitive damages to $140 million.[68] TCS further appealed this to theSupreme Court butcertiorari was denied.[69]
In July 2018, theNational Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which "adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies,"[70] issued a verdict in the company's favor on charges of mismanagement leveled in 2016 by ousted chairman,Cyrus Mistry.[71]
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