June 6: Credited with turning around Tata Steel in the 1990s, Mr J. J. Irani, on Monday stepped down from the company board, bringing to an end his 43 years of association with the world’s seventh largest steel making company. “Tata Steel has informed that Mr J.J. Irani has stepped down from the company board on June 2, as he has turned 75 years of age,” the company filing said. A PhD from UK’s Sheffield University, Irani started his career in 1963 as a senior scientific officer at British Iron and Steel Research Association in Sheffield itself and climbed to the position of Head (Physical Metallurgy Division).
Returning back to India, he joined The Tata Iron and Steel Company (now Tata Steel) in 1968 as an assistant to the director in charge of Research and Development. Mr Irani became general superintendent of the company in 1978, general manager in 1979, the president in 1985 and the managing director in 1992. He was appointed the director in 1998 and finally at the top as . He remained at the helm of affairs till his retirement from the company in 2001. A great proponent of quality and affirmative actions, the technologists brought TISCO back to life in the 1990s from the brinks of closure by initiating cost reduction measures and insisting superior quality production at Jamshedpur facility. His view on the steel industry and projections for the future are widely accepted even by Tata Steel rivals. The government in 2004 appointed him as chairman of the expert committee to advise it for drafting the new Companies Act. He was conferred an honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 and was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2007.
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