Tahiliani was born and brought up in Mumbai in extended
Sindhi family. His father Admiral
R H Tahiliani, was with the Indian Navy, thus his family including sister Tina Tahiliani were posted to various locations in India. After studying initially at
Campion School, Mumbai, His father, later served as the
Chief of the Naval Staff of the
Indian Navy between 1984 and 1987 and as the
Governor of Sikkim between 1990 and 1994. His mother Jaswanti Tahiliani was the first female engineer in Mumbai, who studied at
VJTI, Mumbai. She died of cancer, while he was still studying at Doon School, a few years later his father remarried. While studying in US, through a common friend, he met Sailaja (Sal), an economics student at the University of Pennsylvania, and his future wife. They married soon after his return to India. Sal, who was brought up in New York, had a short modelling career wherein she even modelled for Pierre Cardin, before heading Tahiliani retail operations. The couple have two sons. On returning to India, he first joined the family business in oil-field equipments. Tarun also worked with
Save the Children India to urge the government to increase the health budget to 3 per cent ahead of the budget announcement. ==Works==