The Tata group: Out of India | The Economist

The Tata group: Out of India | The Economist: "ata charitable trusts own two-thirds of the holding company, Tata Sons. Alan Rosling, a former Tata executive who spearheaded the group’s globalisation, liked to say, “We’re making money so that our shareholders can give it away.” The trusts funded worthy causes, from clean-water projects and literacy programmes to the various Tata institutions, to the tune of $97m in 2010. But the commitment to CSR is deeper than this.

Consider Jamshedpur, the home of Tata Steel and perhaps the world’s most successful company town. Tata Steel runs almost all the city’s institutions: these include a 980-bed hospital, a zoo, a giant sports stadium, academies for football, archery and athletics, golf courses and the local utility company. (“They provide you with a house and a car,” jokes Prabhat Sharma, head of corporate affairs for Tata Steel. “The only thing you need to bring is a wife.”) The company also employs 250 people to work with local tribespeople, to improve agriculture, health care and education, and regularly sends a hospital train farther into the hinterland. The city is remarkably well run by Indian standards, with broad avenues, green parks, reliable power and water that you can drink. Tata Steel gently mocks all this corporate philanthropy with the slogan, “We also make steel”."