How Ratan Tata bailed out Ford by buying Jaguar-Land Rover, despite the American firm humiliating him years before

The inspiring story of Tata's acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover after a humiliating encounter with Ford in 1999.

The story of two iconic brands Jaguar and Land Rover entering the Tata stable began with an insult Ratan Tata couldn't bear.

Back in 1998, the legendary industrialist launched his dream project, Tata Indica — India's first hatchback with a diesel engine. But sales initially were slow and Tata Motors decided to sell off its fledgling car business within a year of its debut.

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U.S. auto giant Ford was seen as an ideal candidate. The company acceded to a meeting requirement from Ford Motors. Officials of the U.S. firm came to Bombay House for talks sometime in 1999.

During the meeting at the Tata headquarters, the American company evinced interest in buying out the business. To take the deal forward, Ratan Tata and his team flew to Detroit to meet Bill Ford, then the chairman of Ford. The meeting lasted about three hours but did not go well.

The American businessman was condescending and "humiliated" the Indian businessman, according to a person who attended the meeting.

"You do not know anything, why did you start the passenger car division at all," the Ford officials told their guests, and spoke about doing a favour to the Indian company by buying out the latter's business. The deal fell.