Who was Jamsetji Tata?

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (March 3rd 1839 – May 19th 1904) was an Indian pioneer industrialist who founded India's biggest conglomerate company. He was born to a Parsi Zoroastrian family in Navsari, then part of the princely state of Baroda.

Jamsetji Tata is regarded as the legendary "Father of Indian Industry".

He devoted his life to four goals: setting up an iron and steel company, a world-class learning institution, a unique hotel and a hydro-electric plant. Only the hotel became a reality during his lifetime, with the inauguration of the Taj Mahal Hotel at Colaba waterfront in Bombay (now Mumbai) on December 3rd 1903 at the cost of 42 million rupees (about 11 billion or 1100 crore rupees at 2010 prices)

By the time the Taj Mahal Hotel was completed in 1903, it was the finest luxury hotel and the first building in India that used electricity. The Taj Mahal Hotel boasted numerous supreme luxury items from across the world. American fans, German elevators, Turkish baths, English butlers and numerous other innovative delights that the Indian people had been deprived of.

With the establishment of his steel plant, he made a quantum shift in the nature of his business. British India stepped into a world of industrialization which marked the glorious chapter of a new era.

The many companies started by Jamsetji Tata came to be known as the Tata Group, currently India's largest private sector business house.