CHENNAI: Endurance and stamina are prerequisites for a marathon runner. An enthusiast, it is no surprise that Natarajan Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services, has made it to the top — first in the company and then the group — that he joined 30 years ago.
Tata Sons on Thursday said the selection committee in charge of finding its next chairman unanimously named the 53-year-old as chairman of the $103 billion salt-to-software conglomerate.
He will officially take charge on February 21, picking up the reins from interim chairman Ratan Tata, at a time when the group has been embroiled in an acrimonious tussle between ousted ex-chairman Cyrus Mistry and the Tata establishment. The fight has seen both sides continue to hurl allegations of fouling Tata values and corporate misgovernance. “We believe,” Tata Sons’ board said on Chandrasekaran, “he will now inspire the entire Tata group to realise its potential… always in keeping with our value system and ethics and adhering with the practices of the Tata group...”
“Tata Sons met today with a single point agenda to name Chandra,” BloomberyQuint quoted Ishaat Hussain, interim chairman of TCS as saying, “I strongly supported the candidature of Chandra.”
Chandrasekaran pointed out that it was a “privilege” and an “honour” that he has been named chairman. But he will be steering the group through troubled waters. The group has taken a huge dent to its image from the Mistry ouster and consequent court cases, a problematic steel and telecom business, and flagging domestic fortunes of its auto arm.
While Chandrasekaran, hailing from the district of Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, is only the third chairman from outside the family, in all other aspects he is a quintessential Tata insider — rising up from a software engineer in TCS in 1987 to CEO of the company in 2009 to chairman of the group. The fact that he is an insider might also help him navigate through the storms ahead.
“At the Tata group, we are at an inflection point. I am aware that this role comes with huge responsibilities. It will be my endeavour to help progress the group with the ethos, ethics and values that the Tata group has been built on,” he declared on Thursday.
Chandra, as head of one of Tata Group’s most vibrant businesses globally, also has an international standing that is set to be valuable to both the group’s dented image and business prospects. His one limitation might be that he has not had experience in manufacturing. The Tata Sons’ board has not yet decided on Chandrasekaran’s tenure.