Ratan Tata - 'Automotive Man of the Year'

Well known industrialist Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, spoke to NDTV Profit on the occasion of the 'NDTV Profit Car and Bike Awards' ceremony in Mumbai yesterday. Delighted at being conferred the 'The Automotive Man of the Year 2009' award for his contribution to the Indian automobile industry, Mr. Ratan Tata expressed his appreciation for NDTV Profit's initiative to recognize the best auto brands even in the current economic slowdown.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ratan Tata said, "Let me express appreciation for the honour you have bestowed on me. I cannot tell you how important this is to me and I do not say that lightly.This is a tremendous boost to my morale."

Commenting on his dream project, Nano, he said, "I think that Nano has been something that was a great challenge, an enjoyable challenge because it involved doing things that people said could not be done. And it has been done (despite) major hic-ups that we (won't) go into. But today I think we have overcome that. The car will be out soon and I hope it will live up to the expectations everyone has from it. What stands out as an issue of pride is that a group of young engineers did something that most people said could not be done. They did it as Indians. They attracted global attention for what they did and my role was to only support it and drive it through those critical and unbelievable days."

Speaking on his initiative to nurture a British brand in India, he said, "(About) this Jaguar Land Rover, I think that there were two brands that were coming as brands in their own field. They had become available for sale and we had our eyes wide open. The companies were on the cusps of recovery and were it not for this downturn, we would have equipped ourselves. There is a great deal of technology in those companies and the brands. I think that they can be nurtured to their original glory and I hope we can do that. I hope we can sustain ourselves through this difficult period and thereafter, looking back, people could say an Indian group nurtured the British brands, kept them British, kept the tone of the company, the heritage of those companies and put them back in the world market with the glory that they deserve."