HarperCollins wins global publishing deal for Ratan Tata’s biography

The biography of one of India's iconic industrialist, philanthropist will include hitherto unknown details and fascinating stories from his formative years, the time he spent in America as a student, his return to India and his early tenure with the Tata Group.

The book will also contain anecdotes on the inspiring and engaging documentation of Ratan Tata’s business strategies, leadership vision, and personal integrity, all of which contributed to having shaped the Group.

That apart, the biography will contain inputs from a variety of interviewees such as former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

According to the publishing house, the biography penned by retired IAS officer Dr Thomas Mathew, who had met Ratan Tata in a professional capacity about three decades ago, and began working on the book in 2018, “is the only comprehensive, definitive and authorized account of Mr Tata’s life and times, his struggles and his important contributions to contemporary India”.

HarperCollins described Ratan Tata’s biography as the “story of a private individual, a great industrialist and a remarkable leader who steadfastly believes, above all, in the values that he inherited, and who spent his life in the service of his fellow humans and a fledgling nation.”

It will also talk about how Ratan Tata turned the Tata conglomerate into a global colossus, daring to acquire the marquee brands of Tetley Tea, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus Steel, among others.

Today, the group has a market capitalisation of over $250 billion that employs over 7,50,000 people.