RATAN TATA: With HBS Dean Nitin Nohria and Harvard President Drew Faust, presenting the School with a historic, forward-looking gift.

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Ratan Tata (AMP 71, 1975), the chairman of Tata Sons Ltd., has presented HBS with a gift of $50 million from the Tata Companies, the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, and the Tata Education and Development Trust, philanthropic entities of India’s Tata Group.

The gift, the largest from an international donor in the School’s 102-year history, will fund a new academic and residential building at HBS for participants in the School’s broad portfolio of Executive Education programs. The building, to be named Tata Hall, is scheduled for completion in 2013.

“I owe a great deal to Harvard Business School, and it’s a pleasure and a privilege to be able to give back a little bit of what it gave to me,” said Tata. “HBS is the preeminent place to learn about the world’s most innovative companies and to be exposed to the world’s best thinking on management and leadership. By supporting the Harvard Business School’s educational mission, this gift will help the next generation of global business leaders solve management challenges that affect the lives of billions of people.”

Tata was named one of the thirty most respected CEOs in the world by Barron’s magazine in 2007, the same year the Tata family was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. In 2008 he was among 100 individuals named by Time magazine as “the world’s most influential people.” Tata received HBS’s highest honor, the Alumni Achievement Award, in 1995.

Describing Tata as “a global citizen and one of the great business leaders of India,” HBS Dean Nitin Nohria said, “This is a historic gift from a renowned organization respected in India for 140 years. The Tata Group has always been known for its adherence to strong values and business ethics and revered for its significant economic, civic, and philanthropic impact. It is widely respected for integrity and innovation, not just in India but in the variety of business lines that it maintains across several continents.

“We owe thanks as well to former Dean Jay Light, who worked closely with Ratan Tata in making this gift to the School,” Nohria continued. “Tata Hall will serve as a visible legacy of Dean Light’s tenure at Harvard Business School.”

The Tata Group, which employs some 395,000 people worldwide, operates in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products, and chemicals. Based mostly in India, these sectors also have significant international operations. There are 28 publicly listed Tata enterprises, with a combined market capitalization of some $100 billion.

Tata Group companies, taken together, had total revenues of $67.4 billion in 2009–10, 57 percent of which accrued from business outside India.

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