Myths and legends of Bombay House

"We are rats, get trampled when elephants fight.” This is what a Tata 'luminary' once told me more than a decade ago, reminding me of the futility of getting involved in a mighty ego tussle that the old Bombay House had with a media house. Rats may not be a sound analogy for professionals, but it was the best way, according to him, to articulate what employees meant for the two big institutions. I didn’t believe in his Machiavellian philosophy, but nodded in silent acquiescence, sipping my favourite masala tea, on the third floor of the global headquarters of the Tata Group as elegantly attired Parsi women on the floor pretended to have ignored our small talk.

Am not sure if Tata’s headquarters still serves their famous masala tea, but you can surely sip a Frappuccino at the cafeteria on the ground floor of the recently-renovated iconic building. Old blemishes left by the 'luminary’, an aborted take-off under a previous chairman, a ravaging fire, a scuffle with photojournalists outside Bombay House, and a few storms called Tata Finance and Niira Radia have all been nearly scrubbed clean and the façade has regained its majestic look. The 94-year old George Wittet-designed structure is now ready to take on the future.

The boardroom on the fourth floor, which witnessed a mutiny nearly 20 months ago that finally led to a non-Parsi taking over the reins of the $152-billion group (in m-cap), has also undergone renovation (or restoration or refurbishment, or a mystifying mix of all, as the chairman says) with some inimitable technology additions. A digital museum on the ground floor, Tata Experience Centre, surely showcases Tatas’ long history and their PR-handling expertise at its best.

The staid look inside the Edwardian neo-classical structure that reporters are familiar with has given way to grandeur. On every floor, the cabins and the wooden partitions that separated the formidable secretaries from the cattle-class of officers have all been dismantled, creating graceful open spaces, in line with the tech-savvy chairman’s idea of a future office. Each floor has digital meeting rooms. Technology surely plays a vital role in Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s world.

The quintessential Tamilian from Namakkal has now completed one-and-a-half-years as the chairman and has skillfully frittered away some of the hotspots of the group already, while it’s work-in-progress for several others. Chandra knows that today’s darling could be tomorrow’s hotspot in a fast-evolving marketplace. For instance, JLR, which contributed its might to Tata Motors’s bottomlines for long, is facing a “perfect storm”. Post the joint venture with Thyssenkrupp, Tata Steel will surely benefit from a lighter balance-sheet, especially after the transfer of a massive debt to the JV, while the combined profitability is expected to show a marked improvement. But it is still fraught with several challenges. Tata Power is facing rough weather too. So Chandra has a long unfinished, rather ever-evolving agenda. But the ethos, ethics and values of the group are safe in his hands.

Chandra, with his marathon practice-shaped body, stands tall. His former baby, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), may not be as overarching as Apple, the first $1 trillion company (roughly Rs 68.7 lakh crore), or Microsoft, but has retained the crown of the most valuable company in India with Rs 7,57,043 crore in m-cap.

A decade later, Bombay House will surely rewrite India’s corporate folklore once again.

The writer is editor, DNA Money.
He tweets @AntoJoseph