Mr. Sumant Moolgaokar is considered to be the architect of Tata Motors. He led TELCO (Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company), the predecessor of Tata Motors, for four decades and laid the foundation for one of the biggest carmakers in India.
There was a time when Mr. Moolgaokar would go missing during lunch hours from the office cafeteria in Jamshedpur. This led to the rumour that he was probably having lavish lunches on the behest of dealers of Tata Motors.
It is also said that a few of his colleagues launched an investigation to get to the bottom of his lunchtime disappearing act.
One day they discreetly followed him during lunchtime. To their surprise and probable embarrassment, they found Mr. Moolgaokar’s car at a roadside dhaba. He had ordered food for himself, and was in conversation with truck drivers. Reportedly he was having lunch with drivers to understand their problems with Tata trucks and how their vehicles could be improved.
He would then bring these points back to the factory and work with his teams to devise better vehicles.
Mr. Moolgaokar was awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumously. But another interesting trivia is that the popular vehicle Tata Sumo was named after him (Su-mant Mo-olgaokar) by his company, such was his contribution.
Sachin Bhandary in https://thestoryco.in/
Tata Motors Limited, founded in 1945, is an Indian multinational automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces cars, trucks, vans, and busses. The company has vehicle assembly operations in India, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, and South Africa.