R.M. Lala is the author of eleven books, including the bestselling The Creation of Wealth, a book on the Tatas, and the Beyond the Last Blue Mountain, his biography of J.R.D. Tata. He became a journalist at the age of nineteen and entered book publishing in 1951, establishing and managing the UK division of Asia Publishing House, the first Indian publisher to be established in London. In 1964 he became co-founder of the newsmagazine Himmat Weekly, which he edited for the next decade. He was director of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Tata's premier charitable foundation, for eighteen years. He is also co-founder of the centre for the Advancement of Philanthropy and was its chairman from 1993 to 2008. His books have been translated into various languages, including the Japanese.