Mr. Ratan N Tata has been chairman of Tata Sons, the Tata promoter company, since 1991. He is also chairman of other Tata companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels, Tata Teleservices and Tata AutoComp Systems.

In 1981, he was named chairman of Tata Industries, the second Tata promoter company. Mr Tata is also the chairman of two of the largest philanthropic trusts in the private sector in India.

Mr Tata is president of the court of the Indian Institute of Science and chairman of the Council of Management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is a member of the board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern California and of the Foundation Board of the Ohio State University. Additionally, he is a member of the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS and the Programme Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS Initiative.

The Government of India honoured Mr Tata with its second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008. Earlier, in 2000, he had been awarded the Padma Bhushan. He has also been conferred an honorary doctorate in business administration by the Ohio State University, an honorary doctorate in technology by the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, an honorary doctorate in science by the University of Warwick, and an honorary fellowship by the London School of Economics.