Tata Nano : Why Ratan Tata's Hope of Creating a Cheap Car for the Masses Was Only Half Fulfilled

In 2009, Ratan Tata started the Tata Nano Project to provide an affordable means of personal transportation for the middle class in India.

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Ratan Tata, On October 9, the former chairman of Tata Group, passed away. On Monday, the 86-year-old industrialist was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai in a critical condition. The Padma Vibhushan recipient was best known for his capacity to realize visions. His legacy extends well beyond his businesses. The Tata Nano car is perhaps the best illustration of his economic understanding of Indian society.

A two-wheeler once slid in front of my car in Bangalore. The whole family was on the road. Ratan Tata said, "I thought we needed to do something," in a 2020 interview with National Geographic India. Additionally, Tata Nano was born from "that something."

Tata Nano and its Bumpy Ride for Ratan Tata 

The Tata Nano was introduced by the Tata Group in 2009, with the intention of improving the situation for India's expanding middle class. It offered low-cost personal transportation for a family of four to five, particularly for those considering switching from a two-wheeled vehicle to a four-wheeled one. The car's low price and compact design made it a worldwide hit shortly after it was introduced.

Ratan Tata's journey from an idea to reality, on the other hand, was not an easy one. Because industries were moving away from the east, he made the decision to establish the car's manufacturing facility in Kolkata. The government of West Bengal, led by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, granted Tata Motors nearly 1,000 acres of land in the district of Singur in 2006. The unit was intended to accelerate the state's industrial development.

However, people didn't like the move, especially farmers. The land acquisition was opposed by a group led by Mamta Banerjee, a young political leader at the time. Additionally, small parties protested the attempt to acquire the "fertile" cropland, including the communist Socialist Unity Centre of India and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of India.

Police guarding a plant is not an option. We can't operate a plant with crumbling walls. We can't manage a project when bombs are dropped. In October 2008, Ratan Tata stated, "We cannot run a plant with people intimated." Consequently, we have chosen to relocate the Nano project from West Bengal, he added. Thus, the gathering chose to move the consideration producing unit to Sanand, Gujarat.

In addition, the Supreme Court threw out the land deal between the West Bengal government and Tata Motors in 2016. In addition, the court demanded that the state government return the lands to nearly 9,117 landowners and declared the land acquisition in Singur "illegal."

At the Tata Motors plant in Gujarat, the concept began to take shape after much debate. However, Ratan Tata's larger goal of meeting the traveling needs of the wider middle class did not translate into sales. Therefore, Tata's efforts to meet the needs of the people were the ones that dealt the real blow, not the Indian government or the court. The Tata Nano was promoted by the marketing team as the car with the lowest price, around Rs 1 lakh. In the end, Nano was forced out of business as affordability and safety took a back seat.

Ratan Tata stated in an interview, "The salespeople in Tata Motors branded the car as the cheapest car rather than the most affordable car for the people." He added that people didn't want to be seen in the cheapest car, so the marketing pitch had a negative effect on the market.

Nearly a decade after its debut in 2018, Tata Motors halted the car's production, ending a journey marked by numerous lows. The Nano project's demise is still Ratan Tata's half-realized dream.

Tanishq, a brand that build itself by revealing fraudulent practices of other jewelers 

In the 1990s, India's expanding middle class provided retail businesses with an opportunity. As chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata capitalized on the Indian population's adoration for gold jewelry by establishing Tanishq, the first retail jewelry brand, in 1994. The brand called attention to the practice of some jewelers selling fake gold jewelry, and Karatmeter used an instrument to show the fraudulent practices. The karatmeter became one of the most important features in every Tanishq location, and the brand developed around trust.

Tata Power ventures in renewable energy sector

The Tata Group, led by Ratan Tata, diversified their offerings to meet the needs of the sustainable energy sector as India moves toward a more clean and green economy. The company has made significant investments in things like storage solutions, infrastructure for EV charging, home automation, and rooftop solar. In addition, the organization has committed to achieving "carbon net zero" by 2045 through the reduction of other greenhouse gas emissions and the use of electric vehicles and green energy.