Rich Tributes Paid to Prof Lord SK Bhattacharyya: Prof Lord SK Bhattacharyya’s strategy for engineering and manufacturing excellence remains highly relevant to India’s global competitiveness, according to rich tributes paid to him at a Memorial Function organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai.
“In his lifetime, he did what many in their lifetime would like to do, he made a difference. We will come and go but the motivation and the idea of innovation that he created will live on,” said Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Group during the Memorial.
“Kumar stood by me and encouraged me when I took up the risky idea of manufacturing a car in India, and it was though his support that the first Tata car, Indica, came to be,” he added.
Mr N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons Group noted that Prof Lord Bhattacharyya had been long associated with the Tata Group and his contribution to the manufacturing sector, the automotive sector and to forging relationships with the UK had been magnanimous. “He came across as a person who was a visionary and a doer at the same time, vision along with implementation”, added Mr Chandrasekaran.
CII’s collaboration with Prof Bhattacharyya started almost three decades back when Mr Tarun Das and he created the CII Center for Manufacturing Excellence and ever since it has been a wonderful journey,” said Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.
Professor Kumar had a deep involvement and love for creating transformation in the manufacturing industry in India, according to Mr Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited.
Prof Bhattacharyya, Founder and Chairman of WMG at University of Warwick, passed away recently in the UK. He had a strong influence on India’s manufacturing companies in the economic liberalization period since 1991. Well-known for contributing to the Tata Group’s major overseas acquisitions such as Jaguar Land Rover and Corus, Prof Bhattacharyya helped many Indian companies to go global.
“Our relationship went far beyond the work, involving the British India partnership and WMG to a personal friendship. Kumar and I shared pleasure and pain together,” said Mr Tarun Das, Chairman, Institute of Economic Growth & Former Mentor, CII
The memorial also saw Ms Malini Bhattacharyya, the youngest daughter of Prof Kumar, addressing the audience and sharing a personal view of his life. “He taught us to be independent thinkers and resilient from a young age. While every daughter thinks that their father knows everything, in my case it was probably that he did know everything”.
“His focus has always been on growth and innovation keeping in mind sustainability and care,” said Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Enterprise.
On the occasion, CII announced that its office building in Gurugram would be renamed as the Prof Lord SK Bhattacharyya Centre. The building houses CII’s departments relating to technology, innovation, startups, and education, among others, topics where the Professor led global thinking
