After 68 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India rejoined the Tata family.

BIRTH AND INTERESTS:

J.R.D. Tata, full name Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904 — November 29, 1993), was an Indian businessman and aviation pioneer who founded India's first airline and oversaw the rapid expansion of India's largest industrial conglomerate, the Tata Group. Tata was born into one of India's most prosperous families, but his mother was French, and he spent much of his childhood there. He initially met aviation pioneer Louis Blériot on a summer vacation, and the encounter piqued his interest in planes, which grew into a lifetime passion. Following studies in France, Japan, and the United Kingdom, Tata spent one year in the French army. He had intended to study engineering at Cambridge University, but was forced to return to India in 1925 to take up his position in the Tata family firm. The Tata Group, founded by Tata's great-grandfather in 1868, was one of India's major business enterprises.

TATA GROUP:

Tata succeeded his father as director of Tata Sons, the group's flagship company, within a year after his father's death. In 1929, Tata gave up his French citizenship and became one of the first Indians to obtain a commercial pilot's certificate. Tata Air Mail, a courier service connecting Karachi, Ahmadabad, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Madras (now Chennai), was founded in 1932. Tata was the youngest member of the Tata Sons board of directors when he became chairman of the Tata Group in 1938, at the age of 34. He renamed his airmail service Tata Airlines, establishing it India's first domestic airline, then changed the company's name to Air India in 1946.

Tata expanded the group's activities to include chemicals, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and information technology during the next half-century, strengthening core industries such as steel, power, and hotels. Tata was kept as chairman of Air India after it was nationalised in 1953, a post he held until 1978. At the age of 87, he stood down as chairman of Tata Sons; the Tata Group's more than 80 enterprises earned almost $4 billion in yearly revenue.

WORLD WAR II:

In 1938, Tata changed its name to Tata Airlines. When World War II broke out, the British Indian government took control of all of Tata Airlines' aircraft. Previously, Tata had been having problems with the government when it came to running the aviation industry.

JRD Tata rebranded the airlines Air India and went public as a joint-stock business when World War II ended and he regained control of the planes.

TATA-GOVT COLLABORATION:

Tata's relationship with the government changed after independence. In October 1947, the Tata Group proposed to the government that Air-India International be floated.

The government planned to own a 49 percent part in the Air India business, with the option to buy another two percent. The Tatas were to own 25% of the company, while the balance would be owned by the general public. Within weeks, the proposal was approved by the Nehru government.

With a Bombay-London flight the following year, Air India began its first international service. It was on this trip that the Maharaja, the company's famed mascot, was deployed.

NATIONALISATION:

The British rule of India was only a question of time once WWII ended. Privately owned airlines in India were being discussed for nationalisation by 1946.

In an interview with the Associated Press, JRD, however, downplayed the idea, saying, "There is an overwhelming case against nationalising Indian airlines."

Nonetheless, the Nehru government opted to nationalise Air India five years after Tata agreed to give the government a 49 percent ownership. JRD Tata was caught aback and expressed his "indignation" at the government's treatment of the airline business. The rest of Air India's equity was purchased by the government for Rs 2.8 crore in 1953.

AIR INDIA BACK TO TATA:

The winning bidder for the national carrier Air India was declared by the Indian government on October 8. At 4 p.m., the government's DIPAM Secretary and Civil Aviation Secretary held a news conference to announce that the TATA had won the Air India bid. After a 68-year hiatus, Air India will return to the TATA after the Indian government approved its proposal for the divestment sale. At Rs 18,000 crore, Tata Sons emerged as the winning bidder.

The TATA Group would own a 100% ownership in Air India and a 100% stake in Air India Express, a low-cost carrier focused on short-haul international operations, especially in the Middle East, following the acquisition. The TATA also get a 50% ownership in the joint venture Air India SATS as part of the deal with the Indian government.

Ratan Tata expressed his delight at the debt-ridden carrier's return to the TATA fold by recalling Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, who founded TATA Airlines in 1932 and later became Air India in 1946. "If Mr. JRD Tata had been in our midst today, he would have been pleased," he remarked.