Veteran industrialist and chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata is said to be in critical condition in a Mumbai hospital, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The reports come after the 86-year-old posted on his social media on Monday that there was no cause for concern regarding his health and that he had been undergoing tests for age-related medical conditions.
“I am currently undergoing medical examinations due to my age-related medical conditions,” said Tata, who led the Tata Group from March 1991 to December 2012 as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate.
“There is no reason to worry. I remain in good spirits,” he said, urging the public and the media to refrain from “spreading misinformation.”
Tata took over as the Chairman of Tata Sons in March 1991 and retired on 28 December 2012. During his tenure, Tata Group’s revenue grew manifold, totaling USD 100.09 billion in 2011-12 from a turnover of just 10,000 crores in 1991.
He led the group in some notable acquisitions, ranging from Tata Tea’s Tetley for US$450m in 2000 to Tata Steel’s £6.2bn steelmaker Corus in 2007 and the iconic Jaguar LandRover in 2008 d. for USD 2.3 billion from Tata Motors.
As a result of the acquisitions, more than half of the group’s salt-to-software revenue was derived from outside the country.
After his retirement, Tata faced a boardroom battle with his successor Cyrus Mistry, who was sacked as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016.
He returned as interim group chairman after Mistry was removed and handed over the group baton to N Chandrasekaran in January 2017 and moved into his role as honorary chairman of Tata Sons.
(With PTI inputs)
