J.R.D. Tata was an adventurer and a visionary with a passion for flying, tidiness and collecting books
FOR ANY TOURIST visiting India, it is hard not to notice the broad spectrum of business interests belonging to the Tata Group.
From motor vehicles to power supplies, tea, internet to hotels, the company's influence and impact run deep across the country.
This is a special year for the Tata Group, which was founded in 1868. It marks the death centenary of its founder, Jamsetji Tata, as well as the birth centenary of J.R.D. Tata, a charismatic industrialist who took Tata Group to the skies to become the Indian subcontinent's first aviation company.
As a child, J.R.D. Tata had been fascinated with the daring exploits of air pilots. One of five children of Ratanji Tata and a French mother, Sooni, a young Paris-born Tata and his family moved to Bombay from France after the first world war broke out in 1914. After he completed a year in the French Army at only 20 years old, he was called back to India to assist in the running of the family business empire.
By 1926, he was head of the family at the tender age of 22 after both his parents passed away.
Three years later, Tata's passion for the sky led him to become the first Indian to get his flying licence in India. When he encountered a business suggestion of creating an air service, the project piqued his interest and Tata Aviation Service soon came into being. The air service sowed the seeds of the nation's aviation industry, which eventually led to the formation of Air-India International in 1946.