Ratan Tata’s close aide Shantanu Naidu gets top role at Tata Motors

Shantanu Naidu, a close confidant and former manager of the late Ratan Tata, announced a major career move on LinkedIn. Naidu, often seen as Tata’s shadow in his later years, shared a post about joining Tata Motors as general manager, head - strategic initiatives.

Reflecting on his deep-rooted connection with the company, he wrote, “I remember when my father used to walk home from the Tata Motors plant in his white shirt and navy pants, and I would wait for him at the window. It comes full circle now.”

He accompanied his post with a photo of himself alongside the Tata Nano, a car emblematic of Ratan Tata’s vision for affordable mobility in India.

Naidu’s bond with Ratan Tata went beyond professional ties—it was deeply personal. The industrialist included Naidu in his will, underscoring their rare connection. As per The Times of India, Tata relinquished his stake in Naidu’s companionship startup, Goodfellows, and waived his education loans.

An engineer from Savitribai Phule Pune University and an MBA graduate from Cornell, Naidu joined Tata as his assistant in 2018.

Ratan Tata, a towering figure in Indian business, passed away at 86, marking the end of an era. Following Tata’s passing on October 9, 2024, after a brief hospitalisation in Mumbai, Naidu shared an emotional tribute. "The hole that this friendship has now left with me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill. Grief is the price to pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse," he wrote, alongside a picture of them together.