Ratan Tata: The 'modest' Indian tycoon who died at 86

The businessman led a conglomerate of more than 100 companies, employing some 660,000 people.

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The tycoon led the Tata Group - known as a "salt-to-software" conglomerate of more than 100 companies, employing some 660,000 people - for more than two decades. Its annual revenues are in excess of $100bn (£76.5bn).

Founded by Jamsetji Tata, a pioneer of Indian business, the 155-year-old Tata Group straddles a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel to aviation and salt pans.

The ethos of the company "yokes capitalism to philanthropy, by doing business in ways that make the lives of others better", according to Peter Casey, author of The Story of Tata, an authorised book on the group.

Tata Sons, the holding company of the group, has a "number of companies that includes privately held and publicly traded companies, yet they are in essence all owned by a philanthropic trust", he explains.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11lz4vpr7o

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