The Friendship Of Ratan Tata And Shantanu Naidu

A tale of friendship and trust was brewed between a young and old man in the Indian business world: Ratan Tata, an Industrialist and Shantanu Naidu, a young CEO of Tata Trust. Their friendship has captured the attention of many and fascinated by the unusual friendship the two shared. 

Tracing the Journey of the Young CEO and His Relationship with Ratan Tata.

Shantanu Naidu and Ratan Tata met in 2014 when Shantanu began to work as an engineering intern with the Tata group. Before they met, Shantanu was a dog lover and had been designing a glow in the dark collars for stray dogs to help drivers to see them and avoid accidents. But Shantanu’s dream needed funding to grow and the decision was made to write Ratan Tata a proposal letter.

To Shantanu’s surprise, his letter was acknowledged two months later and  Ratan Tata invited him over to Mumbai to work with him. What Shantanu didn’t know back then was that Ratan Tata was also a dog lover. Hence, the fast response to his letter – who knows! Their love for animals made them work closely to help launch Shantanu’s company “Motopaws”. 

The good relationship between the young and old friends motivated Shantanu to also launch Good Fellows, a startup that connects the elderly with young companions. On the website , Shantanu wrote  “I don’t know when it began, but I’ve always had a sense of affection for the elderly. Looking back, I realise many of my friends have silver hair and gold hearts,”.  

During the COVID 19 pandemic, Shantanu released his first book ‘Came Upon A Lighthouse: a short memoir of life with Ratan Tata’ based on the life lessons he learnt from his boss. “He’s been a hard boss, a core mentor as well as an understanding friend,” 

In the book description, Shantanu wrote  “I told him that when I write a book, I would write about another side of him and not just historic events or business milestones. I would write about us and our adventures together, and how I saw him, colours and shades of him unknown to the world. Life beyond the great steel wall of industry doyen, ”

Shantanu Naidu Bids Farewell To His Long Time Buddy 

Business Tycoon Ratan Tata passed away on Wednesday night 9 October, 2024 due to old age illness at 86. Hearing the demise of his millennial Dumbledore, Shantanu shared a heartfelt note on Linkedin dedicated to their friendship. “The hole that this friendship has now left with me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill. Grief is the price we pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse.”  with a picture of him with Ratan Tata taken inside an aeroplane.