Bengaluru, Aug. 2 -- Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata on Sunday revealed that Tata Motors, today one of India's largest automobile manufacturers, was born out of a financial crisis after Indian Railways-then the sole customer of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO)-failed to make timely payments for locomotives, forcing the company to reinvent itself as a truck maker.
Recounting a little-known chapter in the Tata Group's history, Tata said the transformation of TELCO into Tata Motors was driven not by business ambition but by the need to survive.
Speaking during a fireside conversation titled "From Enterprise to Institution Building: The Tata Philosophy in a Changing India" at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B),...