Ratan Tata joined $5 billion Tata Group in 1992 and today it's a staggering $113 billion group today. Under his tenure, Chorus group, Jaguar and Land Rover were acquired. He has made a statement of authority to the world that India is a growing market and a land of opportunity.

Despite all the acquisitions globally, he has been a shining example of humility and philanthropy. 

Ratan Tata has helped establish and finance numerous research, educational and cultural institutes in India, and received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.Some of the institutes established by the Tata Group are:

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
The Energy and Resources Institute (formerly known as Tata Energy and Research Institute), a non-governmental research institute
The JRD Tata Ecotechnology Centre
National Centre for Performing Arts
Tata Center for Technology & Design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology[13]
Tata Centre for Technology & Design at IIT Bombay[14]
Tata Cricket Academy
Tata Football Academy
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Tata Management Training Centre
Tata Medical Center, inaugurated on 16 May 2011 by Ratan Tata
Tata Memorial Hospital
Tata Cancer Hospital
Tata Trusts, a group of philanthropic organisations run by the head of the business conglomerate Tata Sons

In 2008, Tata Group donated US$50 million to Cornell University for "agricultural and nutrition programs in India and for the education of Indian students at Cornell.

In 2010, Tata Group donated ₹ 2.20 billion ($50 million) to the Harvard Business School (HBS) to build an academic and a residential building for executive education programmes on the institute's campus in Boston, Massachusetts, now Tata Hall, which is the largest endowment received by HBS from an international donor.

In 2014, Tata Group endowed the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and formed the Tata Center for Technology and Design (TCTD) to develop design and engineering principles suited to the needs of people and communities with limited resources. They gave ₹950 million to the institute which was the largest ever donation received in its history.

In 2017, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a Tata company, donated an unprecedented $35 million grant to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the largest ever industry donation to CMU, to collaborate on promoting next-generation technologies that will drive the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including cognitive systems and autonomous vehicles .

In 2017, Tata Football Academy won the bid to form the Jamshedpur FC, a football club based on Jamshedpur of Jharkhand in the 4th edition of the Indian Super League.

Tata Group, under the leadership of Ratan Tata formed the MIT Tata Center of Technology and Design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a mission to address the challenges of resource-constrained communities, with an initial focus on India

In 2020, The Tata Group,Tata Trusts and Tata Sons,is the joined the fight against coronavirus and will together donate ₹1,500 crore towards coronavirus relief fund.