On Ratan Tata’s Death Anniversary, Recalling The Rs 1 Lakh Tata Nano Idea That Left His Team In Shock

On the first death anniversary of Ratan Tata, the Indian industrialist who redefined India with his vision and humility, it is important to revisit some of his greatest ideas.

One of Ratan Tata's most ambitious ideas was to build the world's cheapest car.

The idea was simple - build a car worth Rs 1 lakh so that an average citizen can at least dream about owning a vehicle.

The car was unveiled in 2008 and it certainly didn't take long for the Tata Nano to attract global attention, with many hailing it as the "people's car". But one of Tata's most critical decisions behind the making of its car was its manufacturing location. Tata, for his part, chose Singur, West Bengal, as the site for Nano's manufacturing plant.

It was a decision that was both strategic and sentimental. West Bengal, after all, had long struggled with industrial stagnation and needed an impetus.

But little did Tata realise that the company's plans in Singur will turn into a political slugfest, eventually becoming the turning point for a certain politician called Mamata Banerjee, who stood by thousands of farmers that accused the Tata Group of "taking their land unfairly".

There were attempts to calm down the Singur protests, but it eventually spiralled out of control, ultimately prompting the Tata Group to announce the withdrawal of the project in 2008. The plant was dismantled, with the Tata Group moving to Sanand, Gujarat, which has since evolved into a manufacturing hub.

Speaking to NDTV Profit last year, Tata's former associate at the time, Niira Radia opened about the the legendary businessman's decision to choose the Singur plant and the trauma he had to deal with during the whole fiasco. Radia's firm, Vaishnavi Communications, was managing Tata Group's public relations during the nano project.

“When it was first mentioned that Ratan Tata wanted to make a Rs 1 lakh car, we all looked at him in shock. He wanted to provide an affordable four-wheeler option for the common man — to keep middle-class households out of the rain," Radia told NDTV Profit.

The lobbyist went on to explain why Tata opted for Singur as the ideal location for Tata Nano's production and the reason was both political and strategic.

Radia said Singur was specifically chosen because the area was represented by an opposition leader at the time, Rabindranath Bhattacharya of the Trinamool Congress. “He always wanted to take everybody along with him," she said.

Radia added that from an economic perspective, Tata also believed that building a plant in Singur would have taken the burden off of Kolkata.

She added that if the project had proceeded in Singur, the entire road from Kolkata to Singur would have seen significant development, similar to how Sanand developed. "Today, Sanand is like Gurgaon," she concluded.