Meet Caroline Emmons, Ratan Tata's 'first love' with whom he couldn't marry due to...

In the 1960s, industrialist Ratan Tata experienced his first serious romance with Caroline Emmons, the daughter of a U.S. architect. Despite a strong connection, their relationship was cut short due to the circumstances surrounding the India-China war. This story, along with other lesser-known aspects of Tata’s life, is explored in a new biography.

While studying in the U.S., Tata met Caroline, whose father, Frederick Earl Emmons, was a business associate of Tata’s father and co-founder of the architectural firm “Jones & Emmons.” Caroline and Tata were drawn to each other from the start, with Caroline recalling, “I liked Ratan at first sight.” Her parents also approved of Tata, but the relationship faced an unexpected end. In July 1962, Tata returned to India to visit his ailing grandmother. Soon after, the India-China war erupted, and Caroline’s plans to join him were disrupted by heightened geopolitical tensions. Eventually, the two parted ways, with Caroline later marrying architect Owen Jones, a man she felt had similarities to Tata. Owen passed away in 2006.

Nearly 50 years after their separation, Tata and Caroline reconnected. Caroline, who had kept track of Tata’s rise as Chairman of Tata Sons, reached out to him. In the following year, she spent several weeks in India, meeting Tata in Delhi and rekindling their old friendship. Caroline continued to visit India regularly, including for Tata’s 80th birthday in 2017 and again in 2021. Tata would also take her out for dinner whenever he visited the U.S., preserving a cherished bond that, though shaped by time, endured across decades.