Tata’s Chandra ‘steely’ rein is one-year-old

In the past one year, across the 22 listed Tata entities, the value of the stocks has grown by Rs 1,45,000 crore registering a growth of over 17.5 per cent. “The market seems to have liked Chandra’s efforts in closing some of the legacy issues of Tata Steel including its cash guzzling international operations,” said an analyst. 

Chandra, as he is known popularly and also the third non-Tata to head the group, was asked to helm the salt-to- software group with over $105 bn in revenue of which over 65 pc come from outside, during one of the most critical periods in the group’ long history following the acrimony created by the sacking of the previous Chairman Cyrus Mistry on October 24, 2016. Before being named the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company, Chandra was MD-Chief Executive of the group flagship TCS, which commands the highest market valuation at close to Rs 6 trillion.  “One year on, the marathoner Chandra in his typical style seems to have met with some success in leading performance across businesses in a challenging environment. 

“His first year in office has been marked by finding solutions to legacy issues like the Tata Teleservices-NTT Docomo dispute, revamping Tata Motor’s domestic operations and also divesting Tata Steel’s cash burning European operations,” said a Bombay House insider.

One of his biggest achievements would be the now-almost-certain acquisition of the crippled Bhushan Steel by Tata Steel for Rs 36,000 crore.