Tata's small car Nano is a stroke of genius by Ratan Tata, on poor with a similar more by Henry Ford almost exactly a century ago. The motor car industry in the US, in fact the whole world, is almost synonymous with Ford, and that is what Tatas are going to be after Nano.
Tatas have been a household name in India for as long as one remembers, but until I saw Mr. Tata and Mr. Birla together at a meeting in Bombay, I thought they were related to each other or at least worked together, like Laurel and Hardy. At that Bombay meeting sixty years ago, I realized that they were different persons and there was nothing in common between them except that they were both businessmen and very very powerful and wealthy.
Before the last war, JRD Tata and Ghanashyam Das Birla were members of a group which was responsible for bringing out a development plan for the post-independence India. The plan was known as Bombay Plan. There were also other plans, including one known as People's Plan. We took Bombay Plan seriously because there was money behind it and was backed by Tata and Birla.
The plan was released at a meeting in Bombay where I first saw the two tycoons. Most of the talking was done by a gentleman called John Mathai, who was a Tata man, but also an economist in his own right. He later became finance minister in Nehru's government, but resigned soon afterwards because of differences over, guess what, the first Five Year Plan on which Nehru was very keen.
After the meeting, I asked GD whether he expected his Bombay Plan to receive support from the government to be formed after independence. “I don't think so”, he said matter-of-factly, “but there is no harm trying.”
I did not meet JRD for some years, by which time we had all forgotten about the Bombay Plan and John Mathai, and Indian businessmen had come to terms with Nehru & Co. But not JRD. He kept on hammering at Nehru's planning, though the two remained the best of friends. JRD also went about his business, but, although he made trucks, he never said he wanted to make passenger cars big or small.
It has fallen to his nephew to do what he perhaps wanted to but could not do. Twenty years ago Ratan Tata would have been stopped in his tracks, even before he had come out with a model. Things are different now. The government is not in the picture and there is none to stop you.
At one lakh rupees, the small car will cost no more than what an imported bicycle cost before the war. I myself bought one for 300 rupees which is worth about a lakh today. Tatas don't have to worry about demand.
At least half the families in India are potential customers. They had bicycles before the war; now they will have cars.
When I first set eyes on the Tata-Birla duo at that meeting in Bombay, I had traveled all the way in a tram from my house in south Bombay, and paid an anna, or about six paise, for the ticket. Next time I see Ratan Tata, I shall drive to Bombay House in a Nano, if somebody will please clear the roads for me, for by the time Nano arrives, all roads will be jammed!
This article was originally published on February 29, 2008.
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