From Namakkal to Bombay House: Journey of Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran

A former colleague of N Chandrasekaran (Chandra as he popularly known) at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recounted an incident in New York where both of them came back to their flat after a very long day of making sales pitches to clients. They started preparing dinner at the flat, and even then, Chandra was ever enthusiastic about how they could pitch to the clients the next day. This colleague had to stop Chandra, telling him that he was too tired to listen and just wanted to go to bed after dinner.

This was much before Chandra became the CEO of TCS and it reveals the drive and energy of the man.

It has been a very long and successful journey for Chandra. Born in 1963 in Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu in a family that was engaged in farming, Chandra completed his masters in computer applications from Regional Engineering College Tiruchirappalli now known as NIT Tiruchirappalli.

Chandra joined TCS in 1987 and gradually moved up the ranks before becoming the CEO in 2017, taking over from S Ramadorai. TCS, was always the crown jewel of the Tata Group, providing the much-needed capital in the form of dividends for the various businesses of the group.

It was during his time at TCS that Chandra really proved his mettle by turning this IT services company into the bellwether for the Indian tech industry displacing the rival Infosys. Prior to Chandra, TCS always enjoyed the status of being the largest Indian IT services company in terms of revenue but its net profit was lower than Infosys.

Chandra changed the dynamic where TCS outshone Infosys both in terms of revenue and profit. In fact, it was during his tenure as CEO that the company widened the gap with its peers.

He became the chairman of Tata Sons in 2017, at a time when the Tata Group was undergoing turbulence following the ouster of Cyrus Mistry.

If the visionary leader Ratan Tata gave a new direction to the Tata Group through large acquisitions and foraying into new areas, Chandra took charge at a time when the company needed consolidation.

Since 2017, Chandra has remained focused on building a sustainable business for the Tata Group which meant reducing the debt levels at individual companies like Tata Steel and Tata Motors.

At the same time, there was expansion of business both in steel and automotive. This was done without any large acquisitions. Under Chandra’s leadership, Tata’s consumer business was brought under one roof, giving it a better standing in the marketplace.

One of Chandra’s biggest achievements as Tata Group chairman was the conglomerate’s foray into new areas of technology. A big theme during his tenure was digital, leading to the creation of Tata Digital.

The biggest achievement of Chandra in his tenure as Tata Group chairman was the group’s foray into newer areas of technology and new businesses. Digital was a big theme at the group which saw the creation of Tata Digital.

During his tenure, Tata Group boldly ventured into areas such as semiconductor, aerospace, electronics manufacturing and battery manufacturing. In fact, the Tata Group is one of the key partners with Apple to manufacture iPhones at the plants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

However, the buyout of Air India proved to be a challenging assignment with the airline having a high level of debt and consumers questioning the airline’s service.

The transition of Chandra has been remarkable, moving from managing a single company to spearheading companies of the Tata Group, where he had to work with a broad vision and bring in execution rigour as well. He has scored high on both counts.