The patriarch of a powerful family, his Tata Group put an indelible stamp on Indian life while acquiring British brand names like Tetley Tea and Jaguar.

It's hard to imagine many Indian households that aren't somehow touched by the $100 billion conglomerate named for the family of Ratan Tata, who died this week at the age of 86. Tata has been a mythical name in Indian consumers' imaginations for generations.