Much before Nano, Ratan Tata steered success with Indica

Ratan Tata's leadership at Tata Motors in the mid-1990s, remembered for empathy and innovation, left a lasting legacy.

In the mid-1990s, the 26th and 27th floors of World Trade Centre (WTC) in Mumbai’s Cuffe Parade, were abuzz with excitement. The headquarters of Telco (as Tata Motors was then known as) were dealing with the transition of being not just a bulwark in the heavy commercial vehicles space, but also as an aspirational company selling cars.

The Tata Estate, Sierra and Sumo brands were already available in the market. The last-named brand was a runaway winner and production lines in the factories at Pune were hurriedly tweaked to meet the excess demand. It was also a time when the management wanted to segregate the dealerships as a consumer buying trucks is obviously different from the one keen on cars.

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One man shepherded the change, Ratan Tata, who was also equally caught up with his big idea at the time: the Indica. His people’s car idea at the time was pegged on one central theme – the size of an Ambassador at the price of a Maruti 800.

It was a phase when Telco, besides picking the brightest MBAs from management institutes across the country, also began the Officer Trainee (OTs) scheme which recruited post-graduates from the science, commerce and humanities streams of leading colleges. Many of these officer trainees had stars in their eyes as they trooped into WTC, stood in a queue and hailed the lift.

The year was 1996 and at times, Mr. Tata would join the line, and typical of the man, there was no fuss, while a silence borne out of respect would descend within the ascending cubicle. He would wave at the Parsi receptionist and walk towards his meeting. At times, if he was in a rush to get to Bombay House, the Tata headquarters near Flora Fountain, he would hail a regular cab, the kaali peeli as they call it in Mumbaiya slang.

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