Overview:
Tata Group is one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates, comprising 98 operating companies (out of which 28 are listed companies) in seven industrial sectors viz. IT systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. Tata Aviation (now Air India) were the first to operate commercial passenger services in India. The group has operations in more than 85 countries and its companies export products and services to 80 countries. The total employee strength is around 246,000.
Tata Sons, the premier promoter company of the Tatas was established as a trading enterprise by Group founder Jamsetji Tata in 1868. It is the promoter of all companies of the Tata Group and holds the bulk of shareholding in these companies. The chairman of Tata Sons has traditionally been the chairman of the Tata Group.
A section of the Tata family tree can be found at this link. Currently, Ratan Naval Tata is the chairman of the Tata Group.
The Tatas: Jamsetji, J.R.D. and Ratan
Ratan Naval Tata was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Bhushan on the occasion of the 50th Republic Day of India. He serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. He remains single.
Nearly 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the families of the sons of Jamsetji Tata.
Sir Ratan Tata Trust was established in 1919 and it supports efforts in the development of society through institutional grants in areas of rural livelihoods & communities, education, enhancing civil society & governance, health, arts & culture. Besides institutional grants, the Trust also makes individual grants for education and medical relief. Since inception, the Trust has disbursed over Rs. 335 crores to various institutions and individuals.
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust was established in 1932 and has pioneered leading institutions with endowment grants. Some of them are Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment, Mumbai; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; Tata Agricultural and Rural Training Centre for the Blind, Phansa; National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai. Like Sir Ratan Tata Trust, it offers grants for development in areas like education, health, livelihood, natural resources management, etc. It also administers 7 other smaller Tata Trusts.
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai
The Tatas’ philanthropy and contribution towards social development need to be commended. Hence, the two thirds of the shareholding in Tata Sons can be waived since the income from it goes for improvement of the society.
Let us now analyze the Tata family holding in some of the listed companies. The source for the data is BSE and it is as on September 30, 2007.
The Tata Sons Limited has no stake in Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC), Tata Coffee, Tata Metaliks, Tata Sponge and Tin Plate Company of India, though these belong to the Tata Group. For example, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) holds 51.12% stake in CMC and it is listed as a Promotor of CMC.
The following table gives the market value of the shares held by Tata Sons in the other listed companies. It is to be noted that the prices are as on November 9, 2007 and the source for the price data is NSE.
| Company | No. of Shares | Price 09-Nov | Market Value |
| Indian Hotels | 71684878 | 139.65 | 1,001.08 |
| Nelco | 2500 | 103.70 | 0.03 |
| Rallis India | 900750 | 438.00 | 39.45 |
| Tata Chemicals | 33174323 | 323.95 | 1,074.68 |
| Tata Elxsi | 12491881 | 244.20 | 305.05 |
| Tata Invest | 13936641 | 684.30 | 953.68 |
| Tata Motors | 84487717 | 694.80 | 5,870.21 |
| Tata Power | 66773052 | 1,214.00 | 8,106.25 |
| Tata Steel | 168263040 | 834.00 | 14,033.14 |
| Tata Tea | 14087207 | 789.85 | 1,112.68 |
| Tata Teleservices (Mah.) | 338065478 | 42.60 | 1,440.16 |
| TCS | 743568728 | 985.25 | 73,260.11 |
| Titan | 3937418 | 1,583.00 | 623.29 |
| Trent | 5060969 | 505.25 | 255.71 |
| Voltas | 78731780 | 198.90 | 1,565.98 |
| VSNL | 24260497 | 481.85 | 1,168.99 |
Total market value of Tata Sons holding = Rs. 110,810.48 crores
Tata Family holding = 110,810.48 / 3 = Rs. 36,936.83 crores.
Or say about Rs.37,000 crores.
Conclusion:
The Tatas have a much longer family history and diversified business profile compared to the Ambanis. Nearly two thirds of their portfolio’s market value comes from TCS, which has lost almost 26% from its highest ever close price of Rs.1326 on January 15, 2007. The Reliance group companies have gone up in the last two months; similarly Tata Steel, Tata Power etc. have also gained well in the last few weeks.
From the above analysis, it is clear that the market value of Tatas’ family portfolio in Tata group is about 9 times that of Ambanis’ family portfolio in Reliance (Mukesh and Anil put together).