Jamsetji Tata facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jamsetji Tata
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Jamsetji Tata
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| Born | 3 March 1839 |
| Died | 19 May 1904 (aged 65) Bad Nauheim, Germany
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| Alma mater | Elphinstone College |
| Occupation | Founder of Tata Group Founder of Tata Steel |
| Net worth | £1 million (1904) (£96,230,000 in 2016) |
| Spouse(s) | Hirabai Daboo |
| Children | 2 (Dorabji and Ratanji) |
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (born March 3, 1839 – died May 19, 1904) was a very important Indian businessman. He started the Tata Group, which is one of India's biggest companies today. People often call him the "Father of Indian Industry" because of his big ideas and hard work.
Jamsetji Tata was born into a Parsi family in Navsari, a city in India. He dreamed of building new industries in India. He wanted to create things that would help his country grow and become strong.
His ideas were so big that even Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, praised him. Nehru said that Jamsetji Tata showed true courage and vision. He helped build modern India.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was born on March 3, 1839. His parents were Nusserwanji and Jeevanbai Tata. His father, Nusserwanji, was the first in their family to start a business. Before him, their family had been priests. Nusserwanji started a company in Mumbai that traded goods with other countries.
When Jamsetji was 14, he joined his father in Mumbai. He went to Elphinstone College and finished his studies there. While he was still a student, he married Hirabai Daboo. He graduated in 1858 and started working for his father's trading company. This was a challenging time because the Indian Rebellion of 1857 had just ended.
Jamsetji traveled a lot for his father's business. He visited places like England, America, Europe, China, and Japan. These trips helped him set up new offices for the company around the world.
Starting New Businesses
Jamsetji Tata worked for his father's company until he was 29 years old. In 1868, he started his own trading company. He began with 21,000 Indian Rupees, which would be worth a huge amount of money today!
A year later, in 1869, he bought an oil mill in Chinchpokli that had failed. He changed it into a factory that made cotton cloth. He called this new factory the Alexandra Mill. Two years later, he sold the mill and made a good profit.
In 1874, he opened another cotton mill in Nagpur. He named it "Empress Mill" on January 1, 1877. This was the day Queen Victoria was declared the Empress of India.
Jamsetji's Big Dreams
Jamsetji Tata had four very important goals for his life. He wanted to build:
- An iron and steel company.
- A world-class learning institution (a university or research center).
- A special hotel.
- A power plant that used water to make electricity.
Only the hotel was finished during his lifetime. This was the famous The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai. It opened on December 3, 1903. It cost 11 million Indian Rupees (which would be billions today!). At that time, it was the only hotel in India that had electricity.
After Jamsetji Tata passed away, his sons and others who followed him worked hard to make his other dreams come true:
- Tata Steel: This company was once called TISCO. It became Asia's first and India's largest steel company. It is now one of the biggest steel companies in the world.
- Indian Institute of Science: Located in Bengaluru, this is a top place in India for studying science and engineering.
- Tata Power: This company was first called Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company. It is now India's largest private electricity company. It makes a lot of power for the country.
Family Life
Jamsetji Tata married Hirabai Daboo. They had two sons, Dorabji Tata and Ratanji Tata. Both of his sons later became leaders of the Tata Group, continuing their father's great work.
Later Years and Legacy
In 1900, Jamsetji Tata became very ill while on a business trip in Germany. He passed away in Bad Nauheim on May 19, 1904. He was buried in England, at the Parsi burial ground in Brookwood Cemetery.
Jamsetji Tata's dream of an iron and steel plant came true in a village called Sakchi in Jharkhand. This village grew into a big town. The railway station there was named Tatanagar. Today, this busy city is known as Jamshedpur, named in honor of Jamsetji Tata. The old village of Sakchi is now part of Jamshedpur.
Jamsetji Tata started the famous Tata family, which has done so much for India.
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata Quotes
- "Freedom without the strength to support it and, if need be, defend it, would be a cruel delusion."
- "In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but, is in fact, the very purpose of its existence."
- "There is one kind of charity common enough among us... It is that patchwork philanthropy which clothes the ragged, feeds the poor, and heals the sick. I am far from decrying the noble spirit which seeks to help a poor or suffering fellow being... [However] what advances a nation or a community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members but to lift up the best and the most gifted, so as to make them of the greatest service to the country."
See also
In Spanish: Jamsetji Tata para niños
