could look past short-term profits and consider the horizon beyond.

There is no finer legacy than what Jamsetji Tata has left behind, and it is for us to grasp the essence of his vision, his values, his fortitude and his humanen ess as we strive to make our efforts count. Jamsetji set the mandate for the group to look beyond profits and serve the comm unities in which Tata companies functioned. More than a hundred years later, his vision remains the group s guiding force. he lives on in the memories of oldtimers, and the history of the town is intimat ely interwoven with that of the Parsi community he belonged to. Underlying the controversies was the priests fervent wish to protect their faith.

Brought up in his boyhood in a community possessing such traits, it is perfectly intelligible what influence heredity and environments must have exerted on Jams etji Tata, who all through his life was preeminently distinguished for this grea t force of character and perseverance. The holy fire, first consecrated in Sanjan, was later kept alight in Navsari for nearly 300 years. Jamsetji Tata s vision and business acumen would have been enough to mark him as a n extraordinary figure, but what made him truly unique, the quality that places him in the pantheon of modern India s greatest sons, was his humaneness. Jamsetji was more than an entrepreneur who helped India claim a place in the lea gue of industrialised nations. He was a patriot and a humanist, a man of his times and beyond, whose ideals and vision shaped an exceptional business conglomerate. Those passions would, though, soon take a backseat to what he quickly understoo d was the true calling of life: business. From about 1880 to his death in 1904, Jamsetji was consumed by his three great ideas for India: setting up an iron and steel company, generating hydroelectric power, and creating a world-class educational institution that would tutor Indians in the s ciences. Officious government policies, the complexities of prospecting in barely access ible areas and sheer bad luck made matters worse. Today that seed sown by Jamsetji has grown into the Taj Group, a 120-property h ospitality chain with a presence across the globe. For India to climb out of poverty its finest minds would have to be harnessed. Jamsetji Tata was a man ahead of his times. He laid the foundation of an institu tion that is now spread across seven business sectors, 100 countries and six con tinents.