20X in 20 years: How Ratan Tata helped Indian retail investors make this return from a Tata company shares
TCS shares and got allotted have seen their wealth become 20 times in 20 years, if they have held on to the shares. And they have to thank former Tata group chief Ratan Tata for that. TCS had issued shares at Rs 850 to investors in its IPO in 2004. And since then, it has issued 1:1 bonus shares twice: First time in 2009 and later in 2018. So if an investor got 1 share allotted in TCS IPO, he holds 4 shares after two bonus issuance. Currently, TCS shares are trading around Rs 4200 in Mumbai market, making investors 20 times wealthier in 20 years.
After the death of Ratan Tata last month, former TCS CEO S. Ramadorai, who was at the helm when the company went public, shared how Ratan Tata made the wealth creation possible for Indian retail investors. Ratan Tata had served as the chairman of Tata Group from 1991 to 2012 and later in interim interim chairman from October 2016 to February 2017.
Speaking to Rediff.com, Ramadorai highlighted Ratan Tata’s vision during the landmark TCS listing in 2004, emphasizing Tata's commitment to empowering retail investors across India. While many suggested international listing, Tata insisted on listing TCS exclusively within India. His focus was on ensuring that small investors, regardless of how many shares they could afford had access to TCS’s growth potential. Tata believed in setting a share price that would allow for future appreciation, rather than pricing so high that it left investors with limited gains, the former TCS CEO said.
Ratan Tata's approach was rooted in the
