This year Tata Group lost one of its greatest leaders, Ratan Tata. Now the group will enter the year 2025 without him. Chairman N Chandrasekaran, in his year-end note, emphasized the resilience of the Indian economy and expressed optimism for the year 2025. He highlighted India’s strong talent pool and growing manufacturing capabilities, which position the nation to thrive amid global geopolitical uncertainties.
In an emotional note, he said, “Though it is difficult to begin a new year without Mr Tata, there is comfort in knowing that the business he devoted his life to continues to thrive. Big strategic bets, made with his encouragement, are bearing fruit, particularly in hi-tech industries and manufacturing where our footprint continues to expand.”
Chandrasekaran shared the group’s ambitious goal of generating 5 lakh manufacturing jobs over the next five years. This initiative underscores the Tata Group’s commitment to contributing to India’s economic growth and addressing employment needs. The note detailed the group’s ‘big strategic bets’ across key sectors, including manufacturing, telecom, retail, and hospitality.
The Chairman revealed that construction is in progress at over seven new manufacturing facilities. These projects include India’s first semiconductor fabrication unit in Dholera, an electronics assembly plant in Karnataka, an automotive plant in Tamil Nadu, MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) facilities in Bengaluru, and battery cell manufacturing factories in Gujarat. These initiatives reflect the group’s focus on advancing India’s manufacturing prowess.
Beyond manufacturing, the Tata Group aims to create significant employment opportunities in retail, technology services, airlines, and hospitality. These efforts align with the group’s vision of holistic growth, addressing diverse economic sectors to drive sustained progress.
Chandrasekaran’s note conveyed confidence in India’s ability to navigate the complexities of the global landscape. By leveraging its talent and expanding its manufacturing footprint, the country stands to gain a competitive edge in the evolving world economy.
The Tata Group’s strategic initiatives and investments are poised to make a lasting impact, reinforcing its role as a key driver of India’s economic and industrial advancement.
In his New Year message to employees of the salt-to-software conglomerate, Chandrasekaran termed it as “a new manufacturing golden age for India” and said he was looking ahead to 2025 “with a sense of hope and optimism” after 2024, a year marked by the loss of Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata.
“While AI-led breakthroughs in healthcare and mobility can help the whole of humanity, manufacturing has the potential to transform our economy in India,” he wrote.
Elaborating, he said, “Global supply chains continue to shift in India’s favour as the world’s largest businesses strike a new balance between resilience and efficiency. What might have seemed like a short-term reaction to the pandemic has proved much more enduring.”
Amid relentless geopolitical instability, Chandrasekaran said, “The equation has tilted firmly toward resilience and India, with our vast talent pool and growing manufacturing capacity, is poised to benefit.”
He said ground-breaking ceremonies and construction began at over seven new manufacturing plants, including India’s first semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat, and a brand new semiconductor OSAT plant in Assam.
“There is the electronics assembly plant in Narasapura, Karnataka, an automotive plant in Panapakkam, Tamil Nadu, and new MRO facilities in Bengaluru, Karnataka,” Chandrasekaran said.
He further said, “We also have new battery cell manufacturing factories in Sanand, Gujarat, and in Somerset, UK. We inaugurated the C295 final assembly line (FAL) in Vadodara, Gujarat, and began solar module production in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.”
The five lakh new jobs will be “in addition to the many services jobs we expect to introduce across retail, tech services, airlines, and hospitality, among other sectors”.
“Such moves are exciting for our group and for India, but more importantly, they give hope to the one million young people who enter our workforce each month. Thankfully, manufacturing has powerful multiplier effects; indirect employment opportunities from sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing are substantial,” Chandrasekaran noted.
“It is with a sense of hope and optimism that I look ahead to 2025. India’s economy is strong and the great trends of the age are in our favour,” he said.
“AI can transform healthcare in other profound ways, not only enhancing how we understand and treat diseases but also how we diagnose them. Machine learning is being used more in environmental research, while large language models hold the potential to significantly expand access to clinical care,” the Tata Sons Chairman said.
He further said, “We will continue to see significant acceleration in the use of AI in fields like healthcare and mobility.”
(With inputs from PTI)
