PERSONALITY SPECIAL ...................TATA Under the Radar, but He's Still Flying

RATAN TATA Under the Radar, but He's Still Flying   Ratan Tata's investment taste buds may be tickled more by social responsibility  and plain curiosity rather than the prospect of mouth-watering returns Great men have often inspired the young and the old alike. But, not many would have inspired older men when they them selves were young. Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, may claim membership to this rare club of galvanisers. Among the many entities that Tata started is a Flying Club in Jamshedpur in the late '60s when he was a strapping lad in his early '30s. It became so popular in the Steel City that the late Russi Mody, the then managing director of Tata Steel, acquired a flying licence at the ripe age of 50. The Tata-Mody relationship took many turns thereafter. They fought over who should head Tata Steel, although they smoked the peace pipe much later in life. One bit remains similar, though. Both remained relevant after their retirement and sought a second innings at 75. The similarities end there. The flamboyant Mody (who passed away a year ago at age 96) started a trading company called Mobar as a joint venture with the Bajorias of Kolkata and the German firm Rohstofftechnologie Overseas Engineering GmbH. The secret ambition was to rival Tata Steel in sales. He also wore Hawaiian shirts even in his '80s and regaled audi ences with his commentary at Kolkata business do's. Ratan Tata's second coming may just be more about philanthropy and less about commercial returns, the headline-hitting investments in brands like Snapdeal and Xiaomi nothwithstanding. That's what Samir Bhatia reckons. The former chairman for retail and commercial at Barclays Bank in India today works closely with companies like Snapdeal and Paytm (both Tata investees) to help their partners find funds. “What Ratan Tata is doing is corporate social re sponsibility (CSR) investing,“ insists Bhatia, f ounder of SMECorner.com. Here's how. Tata has invested in nine companies post retirement (in December 2012), mostly ecommerce firms, save for Xiaomi which is a smart phone maker, Altaeros Energy, a wind energy firm, and Grameen Capital, which dab bles in microfinance. Bhatia feels that only Snapdeal and Paytm may make Tata some money, but the  rest are too small. “In typical CSR you donate money. In Tata's kind of CSR you invest in something that you believe is a good cause. Instead of pre senting a tree, you present a seed,“ Bhatia says. He feels Tata is cuting his application for setting up an airline in India to the directorate general of civil aviation with Tata in tow (the AirAsia India joint venture, which has Tata Sons as a 30% partner, was announced months after Tata retired as chairman of the holding company). In fact Tata did more; he actually flew the plane carrying the AirAsia team from Mumbai to Delhi. rious about the ecommerce opportunity and is putting his money wherever his passion is leading him. But more than money Tata is lending his name. So while Xiaomi wants Ratan Tata as an investor it may also want to play down the “Chinese“ tag when operating in India; Malaysian airline AirAsia's head honcho Tony Fernandes perhaps felt more at ease submit It Isn't About Money So how easy is it to get Tata to invest, or to persuade him to lend his name? One man who has been there is entrepreneur and investor Ronnie Screwvala, and this was old-school philanthropy. Screwvala got the Jamsetji Tata Trust to fund projects around water and sanitation in Maharashtra's Raigad district, which are being executed by Screwvala's Swades Foundation (Ratan Tata heads all the Tata Trusts that together own over 60% in Tata Sons). The investment called for two personal meets with Tata, two field visits by his team, fol lowed by a strong project proposal and finally a meeting with the governing board of the Jamsetji Tata Trust. Screwvala says Tata appreciates some skin in the game. “He was particularly impressed that our family foundation was committing equal financial support and so matching each rupee; and that the projects have the personal and active involvement of my wife Zarina and myself.“ Screwvala is clear that the purpose of having Tata on board as an investor was not to ride on his image and use him as an ambassador of sorts. “We have not used the name or been public on this; so unlike some of your ecommerce examples where one can see that his association would bring credibility to an otherwise long-term loss-leading model, we see his commitment to be one bringing his and his team's cross learnings to Swades...There can be no better champion than Tata to support and endorse Swades as a model for others to follow.“ The consensus seems to be this isn't about money. Neither is Tata looking at making a fortune in his 80s (he is said to be worth around $1 billion) nor is he giving out dollops of cash. Clearly, as Tata Sons with Cyrus Mistry at the helm goes about the task of embellishing the Tata brand, the equity and recall of the former chairman are doing just fine.

:: Suman Layak

ETM 3MAY15