Tata distanced himself from ‘Ratan Tata—A Life’ and ended the agreement late last year because he felt “discomfited” by the overly flattering references about him in the manuscript he had received, according to an executive familiar with the situation.
After the prominent businessman and philanthropist passed away on 9 October, Harper Collins released the book on 25 October.
Tata, who was chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company of Tata group, is mentioned in the present tense throughout the 668-page book. Mahindra Group chair emeritus Keshub Mahindra and former Tata Sons board member R.K. Krishna Kumar, who passed away last year, are also mentioned in the present tense in the book.
The book cover acknowledges Tata’s passing, but the text refers to the doyen in the present tense. Author Thomas Mathew later explained in a telephone conversation that the manuscript, except for the cover, was already printed and ready to hit the bookstores.
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“Mr. Tata had terminated the project sometime between October and December of last year,” said the executive mentioned above, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He was unhappy after reading the one-side and glowing representation made.”
Mathew declined to comment on whether he had shared the manuscript with Tata, although Mint learned that he had in early 2022. On his website, Mathew, a retired Indian bureaucrat, mentions that he began work on Tata’s biography in 2018.
Since Tata’s approval for the book was not forthcoming, Harper Collins had to defer the book’s release on three occasions: first in November 2022, then in March 2023, and finally, in February this year, as Mint reported earlier.
The Tata book is categorised as an independent work despite Harper Collins in the past stating that it was an authorised biography.
An email sent to HarperCollins on Saturday remained unanswered.
Not without criticisms
“I cannot criticise him where criticisms are not due,” Mathew riposted during the phone conversation with Mint.
He said the book was blunt in stating that Ratan Tata made a mistake by not participating in the committee that appointed his successor at Tata Sons. Consequently, Cyrus Mistry—whose family owned an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons—was appointed chairman in 2012. This decision led to conflicts, ultimately resulting in Mistry’s dismissal by the board four years later.
Mathew had approached the late Cyrus Mistry for his perspective on the events; however, he stated that his email to Mistry went unanswered.
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Another criticism in the book of Tata’s chairmanship was his choice of West Bengal as the manufacturing base for the Tata Nano. “His choice (of West Bengal) was wrong, and he lost the plot,” Mathew averred.
Even though Tata, who did not get married, is survived by his younger brother, Jimmy, two sisters, and one half-brother, Noel Tata, none of the family members intend to take any action against Harper Collins, according to the executive cited above.
Noel Tata was entrusted as the chair of Tata Trusts on 11 October, which owns 66% of Tata Sons.
Not paid, not commissioned, but independent
To Mathew’s credit, the author did not seek any financial benefit from the Tata group. He even refused Tata Hotel’s hospitality when he travelled between March 2018 and early 2022 while researching and meeting for the book.
Mathew said he made many sacrifices to write Tata’s biography, including letting go of a prestigious job offer to relocate to Shanghai as India’s nominee vice president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Mathew had other offers as well, including to pen the authorised biography of another business leader from the infrastructure space, which was more lucrative.
“I spent close to ₹70 lakh on my own for this book,” said Mathew. “I was not driven by money when I took this assignment. I made it very clear that it cannot be a ‘paid project’ or a ‘commissioned project’ but an ‘independent project’.”
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While writing the biography, Mathew had received private papers and confidential correspondence, spent over 160 hours with Tata, and met with more than 135 people.
Mathew asserted that the book challenges many widely held beliefs. Among them: Naval Tata, along with his sons Ratan and Jimmy Tata and their half-brother Noel Tata, had a direct lineage to the central Tata family. The genealogy traces back to the founders, thereby debunking the myth that Naval Tata inherited the Tata name after being adopted by Lady Navajbhai Tata.
In 2022, Harper Collins secured the publishing rights to the Tata biography for a record ₹2 crore—10 times what authors typically get paid for a non-fiction book. The publisher had dubbed the book as the “only comprehensive, definitive and authorized account of Mr. Tata’s life and times”.
