Exclusive Reception with Mr. Ratan Tata

Business executives, entrepreneurs and senior government officials gathered at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto on February 19, 2010 to attend a cocktail reception honouring Mr. Ratan Tata that was hosted and arranged by the Canada-India Business Council.

Mr. Tata, Chairman of The Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate, was visiting Toronto for the first time and even though he spent about only eight hours in the city he agreed to be guest of honour at the C-IBC event. And the response was extremely enthusiastic.

Six organizations — RIM, Heenan Blaikie LLP, KPMG, MaRS, Torys LLP and Tata Consulting Services — immediately stepped up as sponsors. The 200 tickets available sold in less than 48 hours. Mr. Tata’s response was most gracious as he wanted to meet all those in attendance.

Tata spent time in a private reception with the sponsors and some C-IBC board members, then joined the main reception where he met and chatted with everyone before appearing on stage to give a speech. While shaking hands and having his picture taken with guests, hors d’oeuvres and drinks were being served and a jazz trio provided background music.

In his remarks Mr. Tata said that The Tata Group was looking for opportunities to expand its presence in Canada, pointing out that mining and technology are of interest. He reiterated the group’s corporate philosophy when he added, “We will have more presence here but it will not be intrusive. We would like to be the good corporate executives that we have been”.

The air of excitement in the room demonstrated how happy everyone was to meet Mr. Tata while having the opportunity to network at the same time.