Even though he was one of the most celebrated names in India’s business ecosystem, Ratan Tata remained a shining beacon of humility till his last day. Entrepreneur Jaithirth ‘Jerry’ Rao recently penned a touching homage to the late Chairman of Tata & Sons. In an article that was published in the magazine The Print, Rao reminisced how, despite being one of their most prized clients, Tata had no airs about him and waited patiently in the queue to retrieve cash from the ATM machine just like any civilian.
“We were changing passwords on our credit cards, and, of course, we were planning to send someone to Bombay House with a thingummy jig device for Tata to change his password as befitted a VVIP customer. Surprise of surprise, I suddenly got a call that Mr Ratan Tata himself had turned up at our ATM. He stood patiently in a queue and was busy setting up his password. I came down nine floors and ran to the ATM. By now, he had finished and was leaving. I felt awkward and confused about this “most unusual” customer. He was gentle, polite, completely non-threatening, and almost casually okay with being treated as just another ordinary customer. We shook hands, and he left, sitting in the front seat of the car next to the driver—so unlike what many of us do…” he recalled.
The Perfect Customer
Reminiscing about Tata further, Rao recalled he was an exemplary client, who always maintained decorum and paid his bills on time. “He never complained. Whenever I bumped into him, he had only nice things to say. Having spent a lifetime dealing with irascible and delinquent customers, I think of him as the ideal inhabitant of a banker’s heaven..” he revealed.
Rao eventually left the banking sector to launch his own company. He recalled how Tata had kept in touch with him when he was a struggling entrepreneur. “When I left banking and started my own company, I wrote to him just to keep him informed. He wrote back with a great deal of warmth and affection. He followed my progress with interest and good wishes. He never made me feel that, just because I was no longer a powerful banker but rather a struggling entrepreneur, I had to be treated less courteously…” he wrote.
Ratan Tata, born on December 28, 1937, served as the Chairman of the Ratan Tata Trust and the Dorabji Tata Trust, two of India’s most prominent philanthropic organizations supported by the private sector. He also led Tata Sons, the parent company of the Tata Group, from 1991 until his retirement in 2012, after which he was named Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons.
In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
“We were changing passwords on our credit cards, and, of course, we were planning to send someone to Bombay House with a thingummy jig device for Tata to change his password as befitted a VVIP customer. Surprise of surprise, I suddenly got a call that Mr Ratan Tata himself had turned up at our ATM. He stood patiently in a queue and was busy setting up his password. I came down nine floors and ran to the ATM. By now, he had finished and was leaving. I felt awkward and confused about this “most unusual” customer. He was gentle, polite, completely non-threatening, and almost casually okay with being treated as just another ordinary customer. We shook hands, and he left, sitting in the front seat of the car next to the driver—so unlike what many of us do…” he recalled.
The Perfect Customer
Reminiscing about Tata further, Rao recalled he was an exemplary client, who always maintained decorum and paid his bills on time. “He never complained. Whenever I bumped into him, he had only nice things to say. Having spent a lifetime dealing with irascible and delinquent customers, I think of him as the ideal inhabitant of a banker’s heaven..” he revealed.
Rao eventually left the banking sector to launch his own company. He recalled how Tata had kept in touch with him when he was a struggling entrepreneur. “When I left banking and started my own company, I wrote to him just to keep him informed. He wrote back with a great deal of warmth and affection. He followed my progress with interest and good wishes. He never made me feel that, just because I was no longer a powerful banker but rather a struggling entrepreneur, I had to be treated less courteously…” he wrote.
Ratan Tata, born on December 28, 1937, served as the Chairman of the Ratan Tata Trust and the Dorabji Tata Trust, two of India’s most prominent philanthropic organizations supported by the private sector. He also led Tata Sons, the parent company of the Tata Group, from 1991 until his retirement in 2012, after which he was named Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons.
In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
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