Tata Group veteran and former Tata Sons director RK Krishnakumar passed away in Mumbai on January 1 due to cardiac arrest, who rose through the ranks at the sprawling conglomerate during a career spanning five decades.
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran while speaking on his demise said that they "will sorely miss him".
A confidant of Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, Krishna Kumar remained a member of Tata Administrative Service and continued to serve in Ratan Tata's consultancy firm, RNT Associates, and with the group's other charitable trusts, which hold 66 percent stake in Tata Sons.
Expressing his condolences in a statement, Chandrasekaran said, "R. Krishnakumar was a veteran Tata leader who made an enormous contribution to the Tata Group over his lifetime. I had the good fortune of knowing him and what stood out was his deep sense of compassion as a human being. He always wanted to help the less privileged and positively impact their lives. We pray for his departed soul and will sorely miss him."
Key achievements
Kumar held important positions at several group companies and was particularly influential in determining the future of the company's packaged consumer goods division, Tata Tea. Tetley, a British tea manufacturer three times the size of the acquirer, was purchased by Tata Tea (now Tata Consumer Products Ltd) for an astonishing sum of money at the time—£271 million—in the year 2000. Tata Tea's vice-chairman at the time was Krishna Kumar. Tata Tea gained international recognition thanks to the deal, which at the time was the largest cross-border acquisition by an Indian company. He was instrumental in the purchase and integration of additional businesses, such as Grand Tea & Coffee in Russia and Eight O'Clock Coffee in the US.
Krishnakumar, well known as K K, contributed to Tata Group in several ways. His contributions were known as several acquisitions of Tata Group, including the £271 million buy-out of Tetley in 2000, which not only catapulted Tata Global Beverages to the No. 2 spot among the world's tea makers but also brought the group and India Inc to the international stage. He was also at the helm of Indian Hotels as Vice-Chairman till 2013.
Krishna Kumar joined the Tata Administrative Service in 1963, whereupon he was assigned to the tea, coffee, and spice company Tata Finlay, which was a joint venture between Tata and Finlay of Glasgow. Kumar joined Tata Tea's board of directors in 1988 and was made the company's managing director in 1991.
He then moved on to work as managing director of Indian Hotels before becoming vice-chairman of Tata Tea in 1997. From 2002 until his retirement in July 2013, Krishna Kumar served as a director on the board of Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company for the Tata Group.
In 2009, the central government awarded Kumar the fourth highest civilian honour Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian Trade and industry.
Even after Ratan Tata retired from the company in 2013, Krishna Kumar's relationship with Ratan Tata continued. He was one of the select few executives whose services the chairman emeritus of the Tata Group preserved. He was among the five people selected by Tata Sons to serve on the search committee to find Ratan Tata's replacement after his retirement.
KK had joined the Tata Group in 1963, fresh out of the Presidency College in Chennai. His first posting was at Tata Industries and from there he moved to different Tata entities-Tata Global Beverages, Indian Hotels (owns the Taj chain), and Tata Sons.
He is survived by his wife Ratna, who was by his side when he died, his son Ajith, who is also the COO at Tata Consumer, daughter-in-law Joey and a grandson.
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