2016-05-19 Thu

The father of Indian Industry – Jamshedji Tata passed away on 19th may 1904. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was an Indian pioneer industrialist, who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company.

Born in the family of Parsi Zoroastrian priests, Jamshetji Tata was the first businessman of the family. He started with a small cotton mill which he developed in one of the bankrupt mills at Mumbai and slowly established a strong cotton trading industry.

He had four goals in life: setting up an iron and steel company, a world-class learning institution, a unique hotel and a hydro-electric plant. Only the hotel became a reality during his lifetime. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1904, leaving his industry and dreams behind which were achieved by his successors.

Tata's iron and steel plant were set up at Sakchi village in Jharkhand. The village grew into a town and the railway station there was named Tatanagar. Now it is a bustling metropolis known as Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, named in honour of him.

The Government of India honoured his contribution by releasing a series of commemorative stamps. A stamp with the value of INR 0.15 was issued featuring a portrait of J. N. Tata. Besides, on 50th and 100th Anniversary of Tata Steel Industry India post issued special commemorative stamps. Both the stamps bear a portrait of Jamshetji.

On 175th Birth Anniversary of Jamshetji, a silver proof commemorative coin of Rs.100 was issued featuring Bust of JN Tata over dates 1839-2014, surrounded by the legend in English and Devnagari.