Visionary leader JJ Irani laid foundation of modern Tata Steel: Muthuraman

People in this steel city mourned the passing away of Jamshed J Irani, former managing director of Tata Steel, who they described as a hard taskmaster with a heart of gold. Irani, who died here on Monday night, is widely credited with steering TISCO through difficult times after liberalisation opened up the market and the steel industry cycle saw profits of most steel makers falling.Dr Irani laid the foundation of modern Tata Steel.

People in this steel city mourned the passing away of Jamshed J Irani, former managing director of Tata Steel, who they described as a “hard taskmaster with a heart of gold.” Irani, who died here on Monday night, is widely credited with steering TISCO through difficult times after liberalisation opened up the market and the steel industry cycle saw profits of most steel makers falling.

''Dr Irani laid the foundation of modern Tata Steel. He was MD of Tata Steel during its most difficult time from 1992 to 2001. He led Tata Steel's transformation from a company with high cost, low employee morale, poor technology and poor operating practices to a leading steel player,“ former Tata Steel Vice Chairman B Muthuraman told PTI.

Irani had a tough exterior but was very soft inside, said Muthuraman who began his journey at Tata Steel in 1966 as a trainee engineer and rose to the position of managing director.

JJ Irani was also a politically savvy person. When he realised that the then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu was unhappy with the Tatas as he believed that Irani had a role to play in the group not taking over IISCO, he sought a meeting with the veteran Marxist leader, which was initially refused.

Said Sujay Nag, former country head for Tata International, Bangladesh: “Dr Irani knew that my parents were both communists and knew the chief minister for many decades. He asked me to get him an appointment. Basu persisted in his refusal and I requested him to listen to the other side of the story before taking a call.” ''A meeting was fixed in New Delhi in February 1993 and Irani singlehandedly explained the Tatas’ position to Basu for 45 minutes. That meeting repaired the group’s relationship with the powerful chief minister,” Nag said.

Former chief of Tata Steel corporate communications, Sanjay Choudhry, recalled him as ''a hard taskmaster but with the heart of gold ''.

''He was the saviour of Tata Steel in the early days of liberalisation in the 1990s and to make it future-ready in all respects - technology, quality focus and painless downsizing of manpower which was unheard of anywhere in India or abroad.

“He managed to bring down the manpower from 80,000 which was killing the company to 40,000 by offering a unique VRS scheme in the mid-1990s,'' Choudhry said.

Setting up a Cold Rolling Mill in Tata Steel was the brainchild of Irani, Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Vijay Anand Moonka said.

“We have lost a gem,” Moonka said.

Tata Steel grew very fast when Irani was at the helm, Adityapur Industrial Area president Santosh Khetan told PTI.

“I can recall that he has changed SMS (Steel Melting Shop) furnaces to LD (Linz-Donawitz) which transformed Tata Steel,” he said.

His contribution to the development of the Adityapur Industrial Area in Jamshedpur was tremendous and he was always happy to help MSME grow in this area, Khetan told PTI.

“We will always remember him as a great corporate leader with vision,” he added.

Industrial bodies used to call Jamshedpur a ''dead city'' due to lack of new investment after liberalization but Irani’s policies helped Tata Steel sail through that phase, National Secretary of Confederation of All India Traders, Suresh Sonthalia, said.

Irani was not only concerned with the development of industries but also worked for the welfare of the deprived section of the society, said Laghu Udyog Bharti President Amlesh Jha.

Laghu Udyog Bharti is a nationwide organisation of small-scale industries.