The Story of Tata Sumo

In the early 1940s, JRD Tata saw an opportunity to establish an engineering giant in India and launched Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (Telco). In 1949, he brought in a Director-in-charge, Sumant Moolgaonkar.

During his time, all of Telco's top executives used to eat lunch together every day, with the exception of one leader, Sumant Moolgaokar, who would abruptly leave during lunch and return to work hours later. Others wondered if he went out to eat at fancier restaurants and avoided their company.

One day, a few colleagues followed him out at lunch time, and they saw his car parked in front of a highway dhaba where he was chit-chatting with the truck drivers who were eating lunch there. During these meals, he would engage with the drivers, discussing the issues and challenges they faced while using Tata vehicles. After gathering their insights, he would return to the office and relay the necessary improvements to Tata's design and R&D teams.

Moolgaokar's hands-on approach earned him recognition as the driving force behind Tata's success. He grew Telco from its beginnings as a manufacturer of boilers and engineering products to a leader in heavy vehicles including trucks and buses over the course of the four decades that he headed it.

Years later, his vision and strategic approach was instrumental in modernizing Telco, and launching Tata Sumo, a ground-breaking multi-purpose vehicle that catered to the diverse needs of Indian consumers, under Ratan Tata's leadership, at a time when Maruti 800, 1000, and Esteem were the most popular choices. The introduction of the Tata Sumo marked a significant milestone in the company's journey and firmly established its presence in the Indian automotive market.

The initials of his name, Su-mant Mo-olgaokar, inspired the name of the iconic Tata Sumo SUV. It has nothing to do with the Japanese wrestlers, which is what most people associate it with.