While Ratan Tata will be remembered mostly for his contribution to business and philanthropy, he also faced multiple challenges during his lifetime. From the Niira Radia tapes to the failed telecom business to the recent public spat with Cyrus Mistry, Tata had his share of controversies. 

Mistry accused Ratan Tata of interfering in the operational decisions of Tata Sons, despite his retirement, and claimed that the governance within the group was compromised. Mistry suggested that many of Tata’s decisions were driven by emotion rather than sound business reasoning. Mistry also alleged favours shown by the Tata group under Ratan Tata to Chennai-based businessman C Sivasankaran for his stake in Tata Teleservices. These allegations led to a bitter legal battle, with Mistry filing a case in the National Company Law Tribunal accusing Tata Sons of mismanagement and oppressive practices. However, in March 2021, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of Tata Sons, dismissing Mistry’s claims. “Among all the controversies he faced, the public battle with Mistry was probably the toughest. Here was a man handpicked by Tata himself to lead the Tata group who had now turned against him. Mistry’s ouster shocked everyone, and the bitter court battle that followed exposed many aspects about the functioning of Tata group companies that not many people knew before,” said an executive who was close to the legal wrangle that unfolded after Mistry was ousted in 2016. 

The other major controversy that hit Tata was the Niira Radia tapes scandal which erupted in 2010 when phone conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and influential figures from politics, business, and the media were leaked to the public. Ratan Tata’s name surfaced in the tapes because Niira Radia was handling public relations for the Tata Group. In the conversations, Radia discussed various corporate matters involving Tata and other prominent business figures. “There was a view then that his reputation was ’tarnished’ but most people would find that an exaggeration. In public perception, he continues to be a respectable man. In his conversations with Radia, he did appear to be a billionaire who was trying to manipulate policy with the help of an able but shadowy hire, but there was a sophisticated restraint in him as though he somehow knew he was being recorded, which was probably not the case at all,” Manu Joseph, former Editor of Open Magazine wrote in a 2016 Huffpost article.

While there have been questions raised about some of the decisions taken by Ratan Tata during his tenure as the Chairman of the Tata Group, one of the major failures was the telecom business under Tata Teleservices.  In 2002, when Reliance started offering fixed mobility services using CDMA technology, GSM-based operators led by Sunil Mittal opposed it saying it distorted the playing field. Ratan Tata was initially with the GSM camp. He would attend industry meetings with the GSM operators to convince the then government not to allow back-door entry to fixed-line operators through CDMA. “But then Tata Tele ended up using CDMA tech. This was a mistake because the CDMA ecosystem was not developed as much as GSM. Later when Tata Tele wanted to shift to GSM, the market had moved on,” said a telecom industry executive. Tata Tele was forced to sell its mobile business to Airtel in 2017. The Tata Group had to pay lenders and the government about ₹50,000 crore to help complete the deal.

But as Ratan Tata himself said, “Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive. Be persistent and resilient in the face of challenges, for they are the building blocks of success.”

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