His role in producing the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, has earned for Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is chancellor of that ancient seat of learning, conferred on Tata the Doctor of Law degree on June 21, 2010, as per a report in the online edition of The Economic Times dated June 26. Tata was among eight individuals similarly honored.
Dr Rupert Thomson from the Faculty of Classics read out the citation for Tata which was in Latin. The citation read: "Buying a car was once an expensive affair, which the majority in India could scarcely imagine. But then our honorand came along and produced the Tata Nano, the cheapest car ever built.”
Ratan Tata: helping people in need
"We have always tried to help people in need,” responded Tata, recalling his family’s and group’s contribution to India. "One of the tenets of the Tata family has been you acquire wealth to distribute it.” A large percentage of the dividends of the holding company go to charitable trusts for distribution to the needy, a practice that has been in operation for a hundred years, he explained.
The Hindu of July 22, 2010 reported that Tata was described by the spokesperson of Cambridge University as a "modest and private man... I fear that it would cause him embarrassment if I were to mention the thousands who have received relief from natural disasters, the many young scholars whose studies have been supported in India and abroad, or the Tata Professorship of Metallurgy established here at Cambridge.”
While in Cambridge, Tata and his colleagues from the Tata Group met a number of academics, including Prof Harry Bhadeshia, the Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy, and other members of the Cambridge-India Partnership. The delegation was taken on tours of the electrical engineering division and the institute for manufacturing where latest research was showcased, The Hindu mentioned.