The Founder of the House of Tata, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, was born in a family of Parsi priests in 1839. By 1868 he started a private trading firm and in 1874, he floated the Central India Spinning Weaving and Manufacturing Company Limited. However, he went on to launch another textile mill before he stepped on the scene of history.

In 1887, he formed a partnership firm, Tata & Sons, with his elder son Sir Dorabji Tata and his cousin Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (known as ‘R.D.’ and the father of J.R.D. Tata.) His younger son Sir Ratan Tata joined the firm in 1896. By the time Jamsetji was 50 and a man of fortune, he found that business was not his only business - the nation became his business. He wanted to lift India to the level of the most advanced nation of the world and considered imparting technical education as one of the means to attain that objective. He envisioned steel production to give India the technological prowess, and hydro-electric energy as an alternative for a pollution free Bombay because, the city then had over a hundred mills that ran on steam engines.

Jamsetji donated half his wealth, namely fourteen buildings and four landed properties to start a university of research, now the prestigious Indian Institute of Science.

In 1892, he started giving scholarships to deserving students for higher studies abroad. His sons, Dorabji and Ratan too established pioneering trusts geared to building educational, social, cultural and scientific infrastructure for the nation.

When Jamsetji passed away in 1904, it was his eldest son Sir Dorabji Tata who assumed the mantle. It was Dorabji, with his drive and enthusiasm, aided by the resolve of his cousin, R.D. Tata and his brother Sir Ratan Tata, who saw Jamsetji’s projects through to the stage of accomplishment.

Under Dorabji’s stewardship, apart from Taj Mahal Hotel, an integrated steel plant – then the largest unit in the British empire – three electric power companies, a large edible  oil and soap company, two cement companies, one of India's leading insurance companies and an aviation unit pioneered by J. R. D. Tata were added.

After Jamsetji’s death Sir Ratan Tata along with his elder brother Dorab, followed in the footsteps of their father with great ability and zest. A sensitive and artistic personality, Sir Ratan was a man whose ideas were far ahead of his time. Sir Ratan always had in mind the upliftment of the poor and the improvement of social surroundings of his country’s people.

Ratanji Tata (R.D.) took charge of the important departments of the firm and played an important role in steering the House of Tatas after 1916, when the company was going through the most critical financial phases of the world’s post war readjustment placed him in forefront of the great industrialists of the day. Known for his maturity and his role as a stalwart guardian, R.D. Tata continued to look after the trading and financial side of the company by devoting more time at the Head Office in Bombay. He thus played a significant part in realising Jamsetji’s dream projects, especially the Iron and Steel Company, Hydro-Electric Companies and the Indian Institute of Science.