Number of words: 539

Amidst such turbulent times, Jamsetji passed away in 1904 and the burden of completing all the projects fell on his two sons, Dorabji and Ratanji. They set out to work in earnest, and one more Tata stood with them to share the responsibility. That was Jamsetji’s partner and cousin, R.D. Tata. He also had his own company and Jamsetji had his own. Ratanji and RD later decided to dissolve both these companies and establish a new entity called Tata Sons.

Just when things were looking up for the newly established Tata Sons, Ratanji passed away suddenly in his forties in 1918. Owing to Ratanji’s death, Dorabji and R.D. Tata’s responsibilities increased considerably. They were still establishing Tata Steel, and arranging funds was the biggest challenge. Many a time they had to put in capital from their personal wealth. Even that wouldn’t prove enough and Dinshaw would then come to their rescue.

Dinshaw invested 1 crore in Tata Steel and, when the Tatas were setting up their power company, he invested another 1 crore in it. It was impossible for the Tatas to return such large sums, and hence they gave him shares of the company in return. Consequently, Dinshaw held a 25 per cent stake in Tata Steel, Tata Power and other Tata companies. At one point, he held more shares than the Tata family. But this did not cause concern because Dinshaw was like family to the Tatas.

In 1926, RD died, followed by Dorabji in 1932. After Dorabji’s death, the reins went into the hands of Nowroji Saklatwala. When Dinshaw also died in 1936, it was a major setback for Saklatwala, to whom Dinshaw had been of huge support and guidance.

Dinshaw’s assets were passed on to the Framroze Edulji Dinshaw estate (later transferred to Nusli Wadia). Dinshaw’s bungalow in Poona, built by Pallonji, was converted into the office of the Tata Administrative Services. Dinshaw’s shareholding in the Tata group would have gone to a separate trust but somehow ended up with Shapoorji Mistry. How it happened was not clear because nobody ever spoke about it.

JRD was quite upset when he heard of this and he did not approve of Shapoorji meddling in the internal matters of the Tata family. He couldn’t understand how Saklatwala, who was holding the reins of the Tata group and the family, could not see what was happening. Meanwhile, Shapoorji’s relations with Saklatwala had strengthened and he was building a house for him.

Another shock awaited JRD. It turned out that at one point his younger brother Darab had, following a tiff with JRD, sold off his shares to Shapoorji. In 1938, it was ironic that when JRD took over the group, Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry was the largest shareholder in Tata Sons with 17.5 per cent shares.

Shapoorji, aware of his limitations, was sensible enough to allow JRD to run the business his way. As a board member, he never meddled in the affairs and remained behind the scenes, to the extent that his face was never seen in newspapers nor did he attend public events. This policy of non-interference proved eminently successful.

Excerpted from Pg 131-132 of Tatas: How a family built a business and a nation by Girish Kuber