Sir Jehangir Ghandy
(November 18, 1896 – April 17, 1972)
Jehangir Jivaji Ghandy was born on November 18, 1896, Mumbai, Maharashtra. He first attended New High School in Mumbai, and later, joined St. Xavier’s College and Wilson College, Mumbai. He completed his graduation with Honours in Physics and Chemistry. He completed his post graduation in Business Administration from Columbia University, New York. After which he went to study Metallurgical and Steel Works Engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Sir Ghandy joined Tata Steel in 1917. In 1918, he left for USA for further studies and rejoined the Company in 1921 as Metallurgical Engineer.
Sir Ghandy was appointed as General Manager of Tata Steel in 1938. He was the first Indian to achieve this feat. Sir Ghandy’s significant contribution was towards the historic agreement signed between the Management and Tata Workers’ Union in 1956, which laid the foundation for a closer association between the employees and the management of Tata Steel. This led to the formation of three-tiered system of Joint Councils of management and employees. They were responsible for the promotion of the welfare and safety measures and improvement of working conditions of the employees. He retired from Tata Steel as Director-in-Charge in 1964.
He also carried out several other key roles including Director of Tata Locomotive & Engineering Co. Ltd. (TELCO, now Tata Motors), Director on the Board of the Tinplate Co. of India, Tata Industries and Tata Sons, to name a few. He was also the first Asian to be elected as President of the International Organization for Standardization in 1964.
Sir Ghandy was made Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1941 and knighted in 1945. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1958.
Sir Ghandy passed away on April 17, 1972, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
Tata Steel remembers Sir Jehangir J Ghandy on his 126th Birth Anniversary
Did You Know?
Xavier School of Management (XLRI) has an award ceremony named after him called the Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial and Social Peace.
Established in 1949, the library at XLRI, was renamed after late Sir Jehangir Ghandy in 1972, in his honour.