How Ratan Tata turned Pimpri-Chinchwad into an industrial town

While Tata Motors (then Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. or Telco) set up its first commercial vehicle manufacturing unit at Pimpri in 1964, it was largely after Ratan Tata assumed the company’s leadership in 1991 after his predecessor, JRD Tata, passed away in Geneva, Switzerland, that Tata Motors evolved from producing commercial vehicles (trucks) to passenger cars such as the Tata Indica.
As Tata Motors developed under the leadership of Ratan Tata, so did the economy of the twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwad which is today known as India’s auto hub as it is home to several smaller units producing auto spare parts and other such.
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The world-class commercial vehicle manufacturing unit at Pimpri – which came up on rocky and barren land – propelled the growth of ancillaries, and continues to flourish till date, providing employment and contributing to the growth and progress of the area residents.
On a huge plot of over 1,000 acres, adjacent to the manufacturing unit, a lake capable of holding 60 million gallons of water, which also supplied over 1 lakh gallons of water daily to the trees that had been planted, was created. What came up next to the lake was a bungalow – the Tata Lake House. A dense forest also came up around the lake through a massive afforestation programme. With the trees fully grown, the Tata Motors’ manufacturing complex in Pune began to look more like a park than a factory site.
After the first commercial vehicle manufacturing unit came up at Pimpri, another manufacturing unit was set up in neighbouring Chinchwad a few years later.
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For many years after taking charge of the Tata Group in 1962, Ratan Tata would address the Tata Motors’ employees from the Tata Lake House which is now reserved for the group’s senior executives and prominent overseas visitors, according to former director-general of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, Anant Sardeshmukh.
“The Tatas began their journey in Pimpri by producing trucks and eventually moved to producing passenger cars like the Indica,” said Sardeshmukh.
According to Sardeshmukh, Telco, along with Bajaj Auto, which came up during the same period at Akurdi, began majorly contributing to the economy of Pimpri-Chinchwad which is now known as India’s auto hub.
During the late 1990s, Tata Motors, still known by its former name Telco, started producing Tata Indica cars from the Pimpri unit. The Tata Indica’s success was deeply personal for Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, as it represented a pivotal opportunity for the company to break into the mainstream and become a dominant force in India’s rapidly expanding automobile market. Ajit Paygude, general secretary, Tata Motors Union, Pimpri-Chinchwad, said, “There are many plants of Tata Motors but the Pune (Pimpri) location had a unique identification. When Ratan Tata used to come here, he would express his desire to meet the union.”
Former head of corporate communications, Tata Steel, Yogesh Joshi, who worked for the Tata Group for 35 years in various prominent roles, expressed condolences on the passing away of the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. “There is no replacement for the doyen of Indian industry and the vacuum left cannot be filled. Even after my retirement, I was regularly in touch with him. He expanded the foundations laid by the JRD Group to new frontiers and horizons. At the time of JRD Tata’s death in 1993, the Tata Group had a turnover of ₹10,000 crores but today, the group turnover is around ₹6.50 lakh crores. Last year, six more companies were amalgamated into the Tata Group and this company alone has a turnover of ₹3.50 lakh crores which is more than the budgets of some states. It is Ratan Tata’s visionary leadership which took the company to global heights. It was misinformation which brought the wrong name to Nano. He stayed and behaved like a common man and took care of each employee of the Tata Group,” Joshi fondly recalled.