Tata Consultancy Services’ Chandrasekaran named Tata Sons chief

Popularly known as ‘Chandra’, the 54-year-old was chosen to step into the shoes of interim Chairman Ratan Tata, who took over on October 24 last year after the removal of Mistry. The decision to appoint Chandra, a Tata group veteran, was taken at a meeting of Tata Sons board here, sources said. 

The decision followed a five-member search committee comprising Ratan Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya zeroing in on Chandrasekaran. Chandrasekaran has been heading the Tata group’s ‘crown jewel’, software firm TCS, since 2009. He was appointed as a Director on the board of Tata Sons on October 25, 2016, a day after Mistry’s removal. 

The search panel was given four months to find the new head of the promoter company of the major operating firms of the $103 billion salt-to-software conglomerate, but the decision has been reached even before that. Chandrasekaran had joined TCS in 1987 after completing Masters in Computer Applications from Regional Engineering College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu.

The country’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursdaynamed Rajesh Gopinathan as its new MD and CEO. On his appointment, Gopinathan said, “It is definitely big shoes to fill. With continuous guidance from Chandra and the support of the TCS team, I am confident of continuing this great journey that TCS is on.” TCS also appointed N Ganapathy Subramaniam as President and Chief Operating Officer.