1904 – 1993
India's first pilot who built companies like institutions.
Born: 29 July 1904, Paris | Known for: Air India, 52 years leading Tata, Bharat Ratna | Famous words: “Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without deep thought and hard work.”
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was born on 29 July 1904 in Paris to an Indian father and French mother. He grew up between France and India, and as a boy in Hardelot, France, his neighbour happened to be Louis Blériot — the first man to fly across the English Channel. Watching those flying machines, young JRD caught a lifelong infection: aviation.
In 1929, JRD earned Pilot Licence No. 1 of India — literally the first Indian licensed to fly. In 1932 he personally piloted a tiny Puss Moth from Karachi to Mumbai carrying mail — the first flight of Tata Airlines, which grew into Air India. In 1948 he launched Air India International, the first Asian airline to fly to Europe. To celebrate his 50th flying anniversary at age 78, he re-flew that original Karachi–Mumbai route solo.
Leading the Tata Group for 52 years (1938–1991), JRD grew it from 14 companies to over 90 — TCS (India's IT pioneer), Tata Motors, Titan, Tata Chemicals, and more. But his obsession was how business behaved: he pioneered the eight-hour workday, paid maternity leave, and provident funds in India — years before laws required them. 'Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without deep thought and hard work,' he insisted, and profits, he believed, must return to the people.
JRD funded India's first cancer hospital (Tata Memorial), TIFR for Bhabha, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1992. When he died in 1993, the usually noisy Indian Parliament stood in silence — for a businessman who had never held office. Geneva, where he died, named a road after him.
Photo: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons