This morning my eyes popped with disbelief when I read the news of the Tata Group donating a whooping $50 million to America’s Harvard Business School (HBS). This is by far the largest gift ever from a non-US donor to this prestigious school. The very next moment this unusual thought struck me, “Harvard ko Rs.220 crore aur India ko kela?”
Naturally, the above thought came to me as an Indian first. Well, before I write anything against the said donation; the Tata Group – which is involved in most of the business lines ranging from tea to telephone and from cars to hotels – is widely respected for its integrity, benevolence and social cause in India and abroad both. No taking away from the same.
But, I am sure IIT or probably other similar institutes in India could have as well used that money, if given a chance. There is no dearth of top category B-schools in India waiting to get a makeover, aided by such huge sums of freebies. Are Indian institutes saturated for their funding requirements? Or for that matter even increasing the capacity of the existing schools – in an era, when procuring education for a child has become an increasingly expensive affair?
Are you sure that the charity begins at home?? What if your Alma mater is situated abroad – Will you donate overseas or choose to support an institution closer to you at home?
In India, there are number of industry titans that are alumnus of the HBS including Ratan Tata himself. More recently, another well-known industrialist, Anand Mahindra, had donated $10 million to the Harvard’s Humanities Centre – which would help in the task of bringing in a critical and humane concerns into the core values that enlighten the world of business.
Further, in past, even the Murthy family had donated a generous $5.2 million to Harvard to establish a new publication series, the Murthy Classical Library of India, in dual language which aims to serve the needs of general reading public and to enhance scholarship in the field.
In this case, the Tatas will fund a new academic and residential building on the HBS campus for participants in the School’s broad portfolio of Executive Education programmes. Thus, in all the above case, the nature of funding to the HBS university has been under different causes – but has done little to serve the purpose of Indian students directly back home.
Well, detractors might argue that aren’t we forward looking for the donations that come in from those rich people situated abroad? Yes! Rightly so, but, It’s a different proposition when the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet donate their money towards poor nations.
But, for Indian rich people gifting money in favour of well-to-do foreign universities sounds more like a philanthropy – at a time, when millions of children back home are still uneducated and struggling to get a seat in the under-capacitated Indian education system.
No doubt, India is a self-sustaining growth story; but the spread of growth is still not inclusive. India need trillions of dollars to uplift the poor and provide them with the basic healthcare, education, potable drinking water and an infrastructure that could aid in a speedy growth. We have a lots more battle to be fought on our own pitch yet.
Lastly, donation is completely a personal choice and positive gesture. Just that the big honchos need to keep in mind that India has little to boast in terms of world class educational institutions – in which an ordinary middle-class family’s student can fulfil his dreams.
When will Indians learn to donate in India itself? Can’t we make IIMs better than Harvard?
For all those bloggers who are commenting on why Tata donated 220 Crores to Harvard or how it could have been better utilized at home I have a simple suggestion : If you have the capability and the guts to earn 220 Crores yourself, please do so, then spend it on whichever charity you wish. Till then you are not qualified to comment on what a person of Tata’s stature can or cannot or should do with his money. Join the wealthy club and then comment.
In Indiia , If TATA Donate that much money , Half of the Money will be in Pockets of Education Departments Head – High Authorities n many more,
At least in overseas one think is for sure that this donation will be utilize for Genuine Reasons.
That is a magnanimous gesture but, it is a question of who is more needy.
Same though crossed my mind when I heard this long back…
Great article by the way!!
I dont think Ratan ji does any activity unnecessarily !! He is a LEADER !! He knows it better. We need not yell at him/TATAs saying they shud hav donated to Indians. Lemme ask u a question, What the bloody politicians doing with the funds? TATAs r doing philanthropy. Its not their DUTY to do yet they do. Its DUTY of POLITICIANS n yet they DONT DO !!
Learn to apprecuate the people who do good to society before we comment !!
Hats off Ratan Bhai !
Hats off TATA.
Do not pretend that you never studied economics nor Business. 50m is a big thing, creating goodwill is worth this amount. Why TATA’s have name abroad? When it comes to business –Its cut throat! Dear. If you observed, in recession a large amount of Tata group revenue came from EU(some one rightly said that he paid X pounds to LSB). The Top brass Tata employed are not from MAN-U or Chelsea FC? Yeah its LBS again. Forget you have emotions whatsoever guys and then reply.
As other readers have pointed out, the Tata group does a lot for various causes in India.
The donation to HBS, IMO, is clearly a brand building exercise. This makes Tata a powerful brand and embeds it in the minds of the future leaders / managers of major corporations who will be educated in Harvard. As the Indian MNCs continue their expansion globally, such brand building (premium I may add) is essential.
I think the author views are little short sighted here. TATA’s have donated such huge amount of money not purely because of Ratan’s love for the college that taught him Business. TATA is expanding globally at much faster pace than any other company. It needs to recruit highly talented diverse people not just Indians. Donation of such an amount and getting a building in Harvard named after TATA boost the image of an Indian company and India to foreigners.
It’s pure business. Publicity.
Lets not colour it with charity.
Ofcourse its business !! and let me remind me, hardly people do CHARITY wit out expecting PUBLICITY !!
but ratan tata is exception for this Best example is The TAJ Trust he has started for VICTIMS of 26/11. For further info please read THE WEEK Oct 1st week 2010
Thanks
Satya
there is no doubt about the good faith and integrity of TATA and other big corporate houses in India. But then HBS already might have enough funds and if the same money or half of it could have been donated for Indians, it would have been great
http://dailypioneer.com/290488/Carping-on-Tata.html
my reaction and response to viral’s very provocative post feedback welcome at [email protected]
Rohit,
Thanks for sharing the link – It sure is an interesting read !
Rohit,
Thanks for sharing the link. Good detailed info!
And hey, my article was not that procovative, after all. It also comes with due respect to the Tata Group and its ethical sense of view. :)
Hi Arun,
I am regular reader of your articles and am very satisfied with the quality of your articles …i learn a lot of things through them and have not seen any other blog with such good articles…
Great going..Hats off to you..
The above debate was really superb!! am impressed by yours and Srini’s justification!!
Regards
Mukthar
Even if I want to donate in India, a huge amount, I will think if the money is used correctly. There is no proper accounting done here. This is my personal opinion. As far as Tata’s are concerned they are growing business in western countries now. To make a mark they need to go in to the roots. Giving this huge amount will mark their entry and they think that Tata’s are also part of their country.
Their money…their wish
To even have a discussion about their motives is ridiculous. At least they are better than the morons who spend money building religious structures.
There are around 3 million vehicles on this country’s roads, made by Tata. 7 crore mobile connections provided by Tata. And half a million people are employed by this group directly/indirectly. Enough kela for you? :)
I am tired of these outright stupid leftist cliches. Desh ki unnati ke lie kaam karna chahiye. Desh pehle. Abe itna kuch karneke baad bhi agar desh ke lie kaam nehi hua hain to aur kya kare? Aur wo paisa kise de raha hain wo uska niji mamla hain. Wo paisa hamse chhinke nehi le gaya hain, badle mein kuch na kuch provide kia hain.
And at any rate a company should be judged solely by what they add to the economy. What they produce for the people. How many people they employ. It’s absolutely nonsense to judge a company/person by considering how much they ‘donate’. Even if Tata didn’t donate a single paisa to this country that still won’t undermine their importance. Because what their industries add to the country’s economy is million times larger in magnitude than all the donations they have made till date. That’s their real ‘donation’ to this country. Unfortunately people only notice the relatively unimportant but media hyped staff.
Same goes for Bill Gates. The real ‘donation’ he has provided to the world are the softwares and operating systems that today run the majority of this planet’s business. Donations are undoubtedly admirable. But they stand nowhere near in importance when compared to the products his company has provided over the years.
Both your points are thus flawed. Tata group is ALREADY helping this country in a huge way and it won’t make any noticable difference if they donated some money to some particular IIM/IIT. And secondly, Bill Gates donates for the third world, Tata isn’t looking after his own country, so Gates good, Tata bad is meaningless. Both have enriched their respective countries to an enormous extent and other countries as well, to a lesser degree. Donations or no donations, doesn’t matter. I am happy with my Indica.
After reading the article and all the comments, I felt there is nothing more that I can add. However I felt that most of them are missing a small point here. I am not pointing a finger to the readers but just want to put my humble two paisa here.
First of all I would like to say that, its not that one fine morning Tata woke up and decided to give a cheque to Harward for 220 crores just like that.
In trusts as big as Tatas or Bill Gates, its not an individual task. There are professional teams who study many proposals and approve few and based on the budget available for that year, they allot certain amount to certain proposal.
From the above point of view, I am sure Tata’s have studied many proposals and weighed its pros and cons and finally arrived at 220 crores to Harward. At the same time we dont know how much more Tatas have donated to other proposals (in India or abroad). We only read about 220 crores to Harward in media and may be thinking on the lines of “why not in India?”, “Why not to IIT/IIM?”, “why not to some thing else?”
As long as we dont know what other proposals they went through before arriving on “220 crores to Harward”, all our “why not this and why not that” will remain this and that only.
More over Tatas never said this is our last donation so that we all get disappointed. I mean to say they keep giving as a trust. So if some issue did not recieve their attention today, its day will come some time in future. Tata’s can not give all their charity to every proposal at once.
Let us wait for the next lucky proposal to recieve funds. Till then I appreciate Tatas for their “220 crores to Harward”
My two paisa.
Its Tata Wish, to spend money as per his wish. He might has his own reason to do it and its entirely upto him. I personally feel, there is no point in debating on a person spending his money.
Further, he is no way spending Tax payer money. In our country, there are so many ways tax payers money goes through to drains, if at all possible lets try to address this one, so that tax payer money are routed to right cause.
Disclosure: I am an employee of the Tata group, but I am not connected to this decision of the Harvard donation and the views below are personal.
Each announcement of philanthropy or donation should not be seen and evaluated independent of a whole program or philosophy of behaviour. Individuals and organizations do multiple things to support and encourage the society around them. Some actions make big news, many go unreported. The totality of behaviour is much more important than each individual act. The Tata group commitment is to be found here: http://tata.com/ourcommitment/index.aspx?sectid=ei6stgDjpgA=
In FY09 – the year for which information is available in public, the Tata group (the trusts and companies) spent over $150mn (a growing number, it was $100mn in FY07) in various programs of social welfare, mostly in India. (See slides 10 & 11 in this 7MB pdf: http://tata.com/pdf/Tata_Group_presentation.pdf)… You may remember that some of the finest education establishments like IISc, TIFR and Tata Memorial Hospital have been set up by Tata grants in India.
It is true that the Tata Group is an Indian group and all stakeholders of the group are proud of that fact, but it is also undeniable that the Tata group’s stakeholders are beyond the geographies of India. Nearly two-thirds of revenues come from markets outside India and (I believe) about a fifth of employees are based overseas. So it has as much a right and duty to make social investments outside India as it does within India.
Finally, there were some comments about why not invest in IITs or IIMs… the reality of the matter is that all the prominent Indian education institutes are Govt. run and controlled. As an alumni of one of these institutes, I am aware that the biggest concern for most alumni when making donations (even much smaller moneys that we can afford as individuals) is how the funds would be put to use. Some illustrious alumni are working towards creating some programs but we are far from getting a satisfactory solution. While not an excuse for individuals or corporate to not donate in India, we must keep in mind some of these ground realities.
It is good to see a healthy debate on this issue, and hopefully this will encourage more corporates and individuals to do more for education and other social welfare in India and wherever else they deem fit.
Srini,
By far, the most balanced comment :)…..
Now, Here is a honest question to you – Do you think this donation has a hint of Business angle to it ? Do you think Tata will leverage this for Business Benefits in America?
Also, if Tata did not have a Business presence in America – Would they still have given this donation ?
Thanks Arun. Your question is well put.
My belief is that if the Tata group had a choice between ‘donating’ in a market where it had business operations and where it did not (unless in the case of calamities, etc.), the preference would be for the first one. One of the Tata values – Responsibility – reads:
“We must continue to be responsible, sensitive to the countries, communities and environments in which we work, always ensuring that what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over.”
So in a sense, it is not just a choice to work with the communities / countries / societies where they have business operations, but an obligation to do so.
Srini,
Nice presentation of actual facts. But, there was no doubt casted on the generosity of the Tata Group and their social ethos.
You’ve raised the bar of this discussion to a new level.
They could do smarter. e.g. donating X amount to Harvard while donating Y amount to India. To avoid controversy and get applauds from both ends It is a matter of timing and PR. May be TATAs need some better PR folks. Cheers.
Rajan,
That’s another part of the solution too. Tata’s could have as well donated $25 million each for Harvard and Indian institutions. No matter the sum gets divided into two – but Indian institutions could have still benefitted from the Rs.100 crore-odd contribution.
Thanks!
Mr. Tata is using his Own money. Who are we to ‘justify’ about his wishes? Where do we stand vis-a-vis his caliber & stature to publicly question his decisions, that too about his money? And if donating to India is a concern, why forget other hundreds of crores his company-trust donate regularly. Completely disagree!
Sagar,
This blog is all about our analysis of things and how we look at it…and like it is amply evident everyone has his/her point of view.
Ok, “justify” is probably a strong word to use…I agree…but we are voicing our displeasure…thats all…
Sagar,
Thanks for your valued comment.
I’ve never questioned the calibere and status of Mr Tata, nor have I under-mined the contribution of the Tata Group towards the social cause in India. Due credit is explicitly provided to the Group’s efforts towards the homeland, in the first half of the article.
But, just that views dont match on this front… and hence expression through blogging. We’re no body to barr him from using his personal money – It’s his choice. It’s just a debate… you dont agree with the supporting points, but many others do as can be read in the comments.
So, both views are invited – be it against or supportive – as part of blogging. And, your point of view is an elite part of the process :)
This is an article in the right direction. However, Viral, if you’re making a statement, really go out and state it. This is a business blog and I feel the ending could have been stronger; maybe throw in some numbers.
I’m appalled at the comments coming in. It stinks of hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness.
I agree Tata is the greatest company India has; they have believed in nation-building like no other company. Heck, my family members have worked in Tata companies for well over 20 years, and still do. Ratan Tata is a wonderful man and his gesture to the 26/11 families is unsung and tremendous.
But, 220 crores can transform many things in India:
1. The Indian education system. Forget B-schools or another IIM, do you know that less than 10% of children complete high school?
2. The police force. Policemen are amongst the worst paid in the country. We can never progress till we achieve police reforms.
3. Healthcare. Give doctors scholarships to go practice in rural areas. Build hospitals and clinics for the poor.
I can go on.
As a nation, we’re hardly raising questions over the 70,000 crores of taxpayers’ money that has been sunk into the Delhi CWG. And I can see the attitude of shrugging off the blame here too. How can I tell Tata where to spend his money? I am a consumer of Tata products and India is the main theatre of operations for the Tata group, and as an Indian and a Tata consumer, I have every right to voice my opinion.
If everybody feels he did right by contributing to his alma mater, why Harvard? Why not his school where he first studied? Why not build his own school for the poor and dedicate it to Harvard? Or, as a compromise, buy land in India and gift it to Harvard so that they can come to India?
I hope you understand that I am not trying to slander Tata or Harvard. I’ll be checking back frequently for replies. I hope you guys are willing to start a dialogue.
Rags,
Excellent comment and thanks for some of the numbers you provided there…I am in complete agreement that THERE ARE 100s of areas in India which need money more than Harvard right now.
Tata’s have been forefront in Philanthropic activities and have done a lot for India – No one doubts about that. Infact, we have ourselves sung praises on Mr. Ratan Tata innumerable times earlier on this blog.
Having said that – This donation is NOT something that has gone down well with me…no question about that…
I hate it when I go to a 5 star and people comment how I’m wasting money on extravagance when thousands of Indians are starving.
I hate it when I donate money and someone comments on how their charity is better.
How I spend my money is my business. And how Tata spends their money is their business. You don’t like it that they donate to Harvard instead of some Indian institution – thats understandable. Quite patriotic of you. But will you be so agreeable when folks comment against your spending habits?
I for one am of a libertarian bent when it comes to such topics. You should not sentimentally coerce others towards your point of view.
Nice stats Rags ! :)
Being a loyal reader and follower of Vivek Khandelwal’s comments on various topics ranging from Ratan Tata to Rotten Tomatoes, I am very disappointed indeed. I expected slightly better from Vivek and that was my fault.
Vivek Khandelwal should have noted that the blogosphere, incudinng trak.in, has produced excellent articles. In fact the family of trak.in founder could indeed be counted as one of the families which produced excellent bloggers and will do so in future. Let us not raise eyebrows on such bloggers who have, as you yourself admit, made excellent contributions in the form of blogs with quality articles and analysis (I quote your own words).
We as readers (and readers of readers comments) do not have the experience to teach the blogger what he should do with his own blog. Had the donation been made to the Govt of India towards the great CommonWealth Game play, perhaps Vivek would have reacted with even more disgust.
With one whole reader less, trak.in is now unlikely to achieve any coveted rankings. An article on Katrina Kaif would have done wonders to the flagging statistics of the trak.in blog. But unfortunately the blogger chose to talk about taboo subjects and lost a commenting reader forever. That too, not Just Another Reader !
Just Another Another Reader
I do not share the views of Mr.Viral Dholakia. This is donation is in the tradition set up by Sir Ratan Tata, who donated 14,000 pound to London School of Economics long back in 1912 though Sir Ratan Tata was not a student of London School of Economics. Sir Ratan Tata Trust set up in 1918 has funded hundreds of social, developmental, educational and health projects in India. Secondly, nearly 65 % current earnings of Tata Group is from abroad, so there is justification of donations to foreign institutions.
First things first, and this is for Arun – The quality of articles on Trak.in has degraded to the lowest levels from the past few months. Being a loyal reader, I am disappointed.
This article is one of those many articles that I personally believe degrade the blog’s quality and content overall. Here are some of the reasons why what Ratan Tata did is justified –
1. The philanthropy efforts of Ratan Tata – in India are well known. Tata’s are of those few families who have defined philanthropy. Let’s really not try to raise eye brows about their contribution back home in India. You might want to see the efforts taken by Ratan Tata for the victims of 26/11.
2. Contributing to your alma matter is a very strong feeling. You would be able to understand this, if you have even been part of an close knit community- read IIM,IIT, or any other school college where culture and communities are very strong. It’s a pity that not a lot of us really understand the dynamics of belong to such close communities. All students belonging to such elite institutes will go out of their way to contribute to their alma matter- So did Ratan Tata. Why make a blog post out of it ?
3. We really do not have the experience to teach him what to do with his money. Had the money been spend onto a private jet, I would have been reading a post on Private Jet Market in India.
There was a reason I had subscribed to Trak -which was quality articles and analysis. I don’t see any value in visiting the site or reading the feeds.
Just Another Reader
Thanks Vivek for your candid comment and I respect your views. Trak.in is about 3.5 years and more than 2000 articles old. Over this period, I have received fair share of applauds as well as criticism – And one thing I have noticed is, when the articles do not match the readers point of view they are disappointed. I have become thick skinned…
The beauty of blogging is, one can freely express his or her opinion without worrying about anything much. Even the regular writers like Viral and others are given free-hand on expressing their point-of-views – Yes, I review their articles, but I go ahead and publish them even if they do not share the same opinion on the subject as I do.
Now coming to the over all quality of articles, here is a fact (and I am not making this up) – In last one month over 50-55 people must have either mailed me, messaged me or told me personally that they are increasingly liking our articles and on the other side…there are handful of people who have expressed disappointment.
It is not always possible to satisfy every-one’s taste – Often times it happens that a certain article that I feel is one of the best, is not even understood by majority of people.
Anyways, your point is taken and this is not the first time you are showing your displeasure – I think a month back you did mention the same of twitter as well.
I just hope that our future articles appeal you….
Liked your spirit of taking things in a right manner & desire to improve!
@Vivek,
The quality of the articles have gone up in the last 3-4 months… there are wider topics discussed… more authors and more points of view.
As to your particular objection to this article – chill man! If you want to see your point of view reflected in a blog, may be you should write your own blog and if people share the views they will read it. However, there are some posts that may not be of interest to me, but they may be to the others. So relax and it go by. Read and participate in posts that seem relevant to you. Does that make sense?
@Arun – while I agree that not every article and every point of view can be acceptible by all – I’d really like to see trak.in focusing on a particular line.
As the caption says “India Business Blog” – it will be great if trak.in sticks one news sector and not span across a lot. While I am not going to argue if this particular article falls under this category or not but I remember reading articles related to politics as well..
it make it much easier, cleaner and crisp to have focussed discussion. For example I know I will get the latest silicon valley tech news if I read techcrunch.com and will get business news on Wall Street Journal.. so…
unless you guys are envisioning trak.in to be somethign of a general news/blog site like CNN.com or retuers…
hope it makes sense.. :)
Mayavi,
Thanks for your views. I agree that we are spreading out a bit…but the core of Trak.in has always been “analysis and PoV’s on Buzzing India centric news”. We are not aiming to be a generic news blog, but under “Business”, there are lot of categories. Like this one…it has a Business angle to it as well… Apart from few personal rant posts, most of them have a “Business” thread.
Having said that , we will surely try to avoid treading from the core objective of trak.in.
Thanks for taking time and writing to us..
Vivek,
Thanks for your comment – and as Arun said, we welcome your views; we don’t shrugg it off even if it opposing to that of ours. That’s how it should be.
Undoubtedly, contributing to alma mater is a strong feeling – no denying that fact. Why do you feel that this article is degrading the blog’s quality? If you feel, you’re a loyal reader on this blog; let me point out I am a loyal contributor on this blog – so even I would not like to write articles which malign the reputation of this elite blog.
Any topic has 2 side of theory to it – positive and negative – and that’s where the debates arise from. Any other topic on a given day, I could have written positively on it depending on the view I hold. But, over here I held different views and hence expressed it.
But, I’ve not forgotten to provide appropriate credit to the Tata Group for what they deserve (at the start of the article). The above article view is limited to this particular instance of donation and not a negative reflection of any sorts on the integrity of the Tata Group.
completely justified. Ratan tata has donated his money to his alma mater. Nandan Nilekani did a similar contribution to IIT Powai , his alma-mater. There is just no confusion here. If anything, other successful people should stop for a second and think about what is their contribution to their alma mater, society and community.
Very positive act by Tata.
why we want to dictate were and how a rich and successful people should use their money?who are we and who has given us this right?
Tomorrow if any one comes and dictate or comment how u should spend your hard earn salary or income HOW IT WILL FEEL?
Abhi,
Not dictating… Just a point of view.
No offence to any party there in. Just a constructive debate.
it is a message to the world that Indians have arrived and instead of getting and begging for grants we are giving grants to western institutions.
To be honest, my first thought was also the same why give it abroad when the same money can be used to facilitate better education here which I guess is badly needed :)
Then again its their money they can use it as they wish and come to think of from a different prespective giving money to one of the top most schools also makes India shine. When one has centers, etc. dedicated to them it puts the spotlight on the individual and also the country where they made it big. In a way it gives one’s brand name the publicity to people from all over the world, why would anyone give that a miss? It can be said as a win-win situation for the individual and his nationality.
Jay,
Your point of view throws light on the other side of the theory. Nice to read it as well.
Excellent article. But one should never forget that TATA is probably the only company in India who is doing so much social work for the people without any marketing intentions.
Jose Tinto,
Agreed with you. It’s not questioning their ethics – which is explicitly noted at the start of the article itself.
If it was any other school i would have been aghast since it was TATA we can tolerate it .
The Tatas have already done enough for Indian society(Jamshedpur is a model business town) so they should have the liberty to donate to whoever they want to but if it was any other business house i would have demanded them to donate the same to IIT,IIM ,Arts schoolsetc
Balaji Yadav,
The point your’ve raised is quite genuine and logical way of thinking. The Tata Group has served no less towards the social cause of the Indian society. If I’m not wrong, you mean to say.. Serve the country frist, and then go outside. That’s a good point.
But, over here, the point of contention could as well be that Rs.220 crore of donation is too big an amount for the Indian institutes to have been missed, for once.
yeh true…the 11th IIm could have come up mumbai needs one…
In my opinion, the Tata group has always done above and beyond any other corporate in India in terms of addressing their responsibility towards society, and they should be free to exercise their right to put their own money wherever it pleases them.
Besides, it is at least assured that the funds going to HBS will be used in an efficient, transparent and fair manner.
Shrey Goyal,
There is no question on the ethics and integrity of the Tata Group. Moreover, it has been one of the most respected business conglomeretes around the country. Though, over here, the difference in opinions crops-up on the issue of what comes first – Alma mater or the Country?
And, of course, highly debatable topic. Your views are justified from the point of former school of thought. :)
http://dailypioneer.com/290488/Carping-on-Tata.html
for your reading pleasure. AND THANKS FOR YOUR PROVOCATIVE POST.