100th Annual Report 2006-2007 - Tata Steel

Within three weeks of the announcement of the
first issue, 8000 subscriptions had been issued. For
the first time in the financial history of the country,
the Indian people - ordinary folk, the affluent and
even Maharajas – had come together to put up the
first truly Indian enterprise.
“Bumper earnings; production 30% above
original design; costs lower than ever
before, and capable of further reduction
by extensions; ready and willing markets
capable of yet more expansion because of the
diversifi cation of products; order-book full to
bursting, overfl owing into 1917 and for some
products, far into 1918.”
– Chairman Sir Dorab Tata’s note on Tata Steel’s
progress after less than five years’ of production
in1916.
There was an enthusiastic
demand for the fi rst Tata Steel
issue. The Tata offi ce was
besieged, and the scene has
been compared to that of a
fi rst night outside a London
theatre: ‘the people lined up in
front of Navsari Mansions like
Londoners waiting for fi rst-night
seats in the pit, some of them
with stools and lunch-boxes’.
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