After working in his father's export-trading firm and recognizing opportunities in the cotton industry during a business trip to China, Tata founded a trading company in 1868.

Tata's legacy includes the city of Jamshedpur, named in his honor, and a lasting impact on India's industrial and social landscape.

Tata's contributions were recognized posthumously, including being ranked first in the "Hurun Philanthropists of the Century" (2021) by total donations of $102.4 billion (in 2021 prices) with the start of his key endowments back in 1892.

[9] Unlike other Zoroastrians, Jamshedji Tata had a formal Western education because his parents saw that he was gifted with special abilities in mental arithmetic from a young age.

[9] He joined his father, Nusserwanji, in Bombay at the age of 14 and enrolled at Elphinstone College completing his education as a "Green Scholar" (the equivalent of a graduate).

After graduating from the Elphinstone College in Bombay in 1858, he joined his father's export-trading firm, and helped establish its strong branches in Japan, China, Europe, and the United States.

However, when Tata travelled around China, he began to realize that the cotton industry was booming and there was a chance of making a great profit.

Later, in 1874, Jamshedji Tata floated the Central India Spinning, Weaving, and Manufacturing Company in Nagpur because it seemed like a suitable place for him to establish another business venture.

[5] He had four goals in life: setting up an iron and steel company, a world-class learning institution, a unique hotel and a hydroelectric plant.

[12] In 1885, Tata floated another company in Pondicherry for the sole purpose of distributing Indian textiles to the nearby French Colonies and not having to pay duties; however, this failed due to insufficient demand for the fabrics.

His sister Jerbai, through marriage to a Mumbai merchant, became the mother of Shapurji Saklatvala, who Tata employed to successfully prospect for coal and iron ore in Odisha and Bihar.

Saklatvala later settled in England, initially to manage Tata's Manchester office, and later became a Communist Member of the British Parliament.

He died in Bad Nauheim[22] on 19 May 1904, and was buried in the Parsi burial ground in Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, England.

It would seem, indeed, as if the hour of his birth, his life, his talents, his actions, the chain of events which he set in motion or influenced, and the services he rendered to his country and to his people, were all pre-destined as part of the greater destiny of India."