The year 2004 was a significant year for the Tata Group. It marked the death centenary of the Founder, Jamsetji Tata and the hundredth birth anniversaries of JRD Tata and Naval Tata, leaders who have left an indelible mark on the Tata Group, on industry and on the country. According to Jamsetji Tata, wealth and the industry which led to wealth were not ends in themselves but a means to an end to stimulate the latent resources of a country and elevate it in the scale of nations. It is this ethos, coming down through the generations, that has made Tata a trusted household name today.

Tata Steel is driven by its leaders and believes that leadership is not just about the creation of wealth, it is about the creation of a better world for tomorrow and the building and growing of people, because business is and always has been about people; its primary concern is the privilege of making someone more happy and more useful.

Tata Steel subscribes to the thought that there is a difference between making money for oneself and creating wealth for others and will therefore, not rest on its great achievements alone, however splendid they are, but as trustees of this wealth will administer and utilize it for the common good. Among the most significant developments arising out of Tata Steel’s decision in 1979 to spawn an independent agency for rural development was the willingness among funding agencies to implement projects through the Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS).

As the Society has grown from an operational area of 32 villages then to over 700 today, it has identified the needs of the people it serves and seeks innumerable partnerships from across the world to undertake collaborative projects to mitigate the hardships of many. Today these partnerships are its greatest strength and asset.

Over twenty five years, the long standing associations that TSRDS has forged with the people of rural India, and the Central and State Government, has earned it accolades at the national and international level. Therefore, every year as more and more organizations engaged in socio-economic development and empowerment from across the world, seek an implementing agency, they instinctively turn to TSRDS to carry forward their mission.

In the past year, each of the eight units of TSRDS has shouldered the responsibility for several such collaborative projects in its endeavor to fulfill the Tata Group Mission and Vision 2007 of “Improving the quality of life of the communities we serve.”

B Muthuraman