Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937, to Naval Tata, the adopted son of Ratanji Tata, and Sooni Commissariat. He studied at Mumbai's Campion School till class 8. He attended The Cathedral and John Cannon School in Mumbai, The Bishop Cotton School in Shimla and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University College of Architecture with a bachelor's degree in architecture. He returned to India in 1962 when his grandmother Navajbai fell ill and joined the company steel plant in Jamshedpur where he spent a couple of years on the factory floor before becoming the technical assistant and later reaching a managerial position.

In 1991, Ratan Tata took over as chairman of the Tata Group from JRD Tata. He remained in this position for 21 years until 2012. He became the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons and returned as interim chairman in 2016 after Cyrus Mistry was sacked as chairman of the Tata Group. He remained in that position until 2017, when N Chandrasekharan was made the chairman.

During Ratan's reign, Tata's income grew ten-fold. In 2011-12, there was an increase of $100.09 billion from just $10,000 crore in 1991. There were many notable acquisitions during Ratan's tenure. It started with Tata Tea Tetly for $450 million and moved to Tata Steel in 2007 and Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover in 2008. The company launched the Tata Nano the following year.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008. Ratan Tata was also one of the world's greatest philanthropists, donating 60-65 per cent of his income to charitable causes.