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Dorabji stationed himself in London, meeting investors, bankers and anyone willing to listen to his story. He got a lot of encouraging words but no money! London and the world markets at large were in a bear phase and all investors were shy of investing in long-term capital. Dorabji was not in favour of foreign investors to begin with. The winds of nationalism were blowing strong in 1906-07 thanks to the fiery speeches and writings of leaders such as Lokmanya Tilak. Dadabhai Naoroji, having returned from Britain, stoked the idea of using the manganese ore mined in India for Indians rather than it being sent to England. Aurobindo Ghosh was busy igniting the fire of the Swadeshi Movement.
The overwhelming angst against Indian resources being used to make the British rich was spreading across Bengal. This woke up the handful of rich businessmen in India to the need of supporting the Tata project. Dorabji rode this wave of patriotic fervour and appealed to all Indians, ‘Don’t you want to participate in the first such project in India?’ He formed a limited company on 26 August 1907 and opened a public issue worth 23 crore. His own investment was nearly 25 lakh. The shares available to the common man were worth ` 15 crore.
The very next day saw long queues outside the Tatas’ Navsari Mansion in Bombay. The rich picked up their lots while the common man invested in small amounts. Nearly 8,000 people had invested within two weeks. The news reached the Maharaja of Gwalior, who put in a princely sum of £400,000! Dorabji was convinced that his father’s dream would see the light of day. He said, ‘It feels so nice that for the first time in our country we are seeing a project that is for the Indians, by the Indians and of the Indians.’
It was the first time the name Tata was being used for any of the group’s businesses. The company was named the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO; Tata Steel today). The earlier businesses were Empress Mills, Swadeshi Mills and Indian Hotels Company Ltd; they did not have the Tata name. But from 1907, the Tata name was to be intrinsically linked to steel.
Excerpted from Pg 32-33 of Tatas: How a family built a business and a nation by Girish Kuber