Tata group
In 1930, he joined the Tata Sons as a despatch clerk-cum-assistant secretary and soon rose to be the Assistant Secretary of Tata Sons Ltd.[3] In 1933, he became the Secretary to the Aviation Department and five years later, he joined as an executive in the Textiles Department. In 1939 he became the Joint Managing Director of the Tata Mills — the controlling company of the textile mills run by Tatas and became its managing director in 1947.[3] On 1 February 1941, he became a Director of Tata Sons.[3] He took over as the managing director of Tata Oil Mills Co Ltd in 1948.[3][4] He was also the chairman of the Ahmedabad Advance Mills, a Tata Group company based at Ahmedabad.[8]
Over the years he became chairman of the other textile mills and the three electric companies. From an active director he later became the Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons. He was directly responsible for the management of the three Tata electric companies, the four textile mills and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.[3][4] He was the longest serving colleague and close associate of JRD Tata on board of Tata Sons.[9]
Other activities
Naval Tata went on to become an internationally recognised authority in labour relations, becoming a member of the International Labour Organization's governing body in 1949.[4] His involvement with the International Labour Organisation for over three decades was very fruitful for India. Naval holds the record of being elected to the governing body of the International Labour Organization thirteen times.[9] He was founder of ILO's family planning programme.[9] He is author of reports like — In Pursuit of Industrial Harmony: An Employer's Perspective by Naval H. Tata (1976), A Policy for Harmonious Industrial Relations (1980), On Wage Problem and Industrial Unrest by Naval H. Tata, C. V. Pavaskar, B. N. Srikrishna (1982).
In 1966, he had been appointed a member of the Labour Panel of the Planning Commission set up by the Union Government.[3]
He contributed to sports, was associated with a host of other activities, and held senior offices in social, educational and welfare work. He was President of Indian Hockey Federation for fifteen years and was at helm when Indian hockey team won Olympic Gold in 1948, 1952 and 1956.[9]
He served many other institutes like the Indian Institute of Science, the Bombay State Social Welfare Council, Swadeshi League, and the National Safety Council.[3][4]
As a philanthropist, the Indian Cancer Society was established in 1951 by Naval Tata and Dr. D. J. Jussawalla, which is India's first voluntary, non-profit, national organisation for awareness, detection, cure and survivorship of those affected with this disease.[11] He served as Chairman of the Indian Cancer Society for over 30 years.[3]
He was also the President of the Auxiliary Forces Welfare Association and trustee of several philanthropic trusts.[12]
He was President of the Employers Federation of India for several years.[12] Having been associated with the organisation for four decades, on his retirement as its president, he was made its "President Emeritus".[12]
