India's Tata Group Endows Harvard with $50 Million for Business Ethics

India’s Tata Group has made the largest international donation in the 102-year history of Harvard University, $50 million devoted to an expansion of Harvard’s leadership programs, this one focused on business ethics, a cause long championed by Harvard’s Indian-born Business School Dean Nitin Nohria.

Tata Group, founded in 1868, comprises about 100 companies, operating in more than 85 countries across six continents, in businesses such as steel, automobiles, telecommunications, tea and information technology. The conglomerate generates a majority of its annual revenue from outside India, with 27 businesses being publicly listed. 65.8% of the ownership of Tata Group is held in charitable trusts.

After taking over as chairman in 1991, Ratan Tata, who attended Harvard’s advanced management program, revamped operations, making Tata Steel one of the lowest-cost producers in the world. Tata Group is now known globally for its emphasis on innovation, awarding prizes for both successful and unsuccessful ideas.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer Sunil Sinha, an executive in Tata Quality Management Services, told a Harvard audience Tuesday (Oct. 12) that the Tata Nano was the result of an unlikely — but public — promise that the company’s leader made in 2003, setting to work a team of engineers charged with rethinking how cars could be designed and made.Today he is known for launching India’s first indigenous car, Indica, which turned around Tata Motors’ fortunes. The group recently produced Tata Nano, hailed as the world’s cheapest car at half the price of its next competitor in India, getting 55 mpg and meeting all of India’s vehicle emissions and regulatory requirements.

Tata Group also owns such well-known international brands like Land Rover and Jaguar.

In this Power Talk, Narayana Murthy and Ratan Tata discuss business development in India with Shekhar Gupta-II.

Ratan Tata | Narayana Murthy | Shekhar Gupta-II

Earlier this month Anand Mahindra, head of Mahindra Group, gave $10 million to Harvard where he earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees.