New Delhi, Mumbai: India’s salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons Thursday appointed Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chief of its IT services unit, as the new chairman of its board, the company said in a statement.
Chandrasekaran, who currently heads software giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), will take charge from February 21 — replacing former chairman Cyrus Mistry who was ousted by Tata Sons, the holding company of the sprawling $103 billion (Dh378 billion) Tata Group.
“The Board of Directors of Tata Sons, at its meeting today, appointed N. Chandrasekaran as Executive Chairman,” Tata Sons said in a statement.
Popularly known as Chandra, the 53-year-old Tata lifer joined the company in 1987 and has been chief executive of the IT cash cow since 2009.
The appointment is the latest step in an ongoing tussle between former chairman Mistry and group patriarch Ratan Tata.
Mistry was sacked as chairman of Tata Sons in October and the group sought his ouster from operating companies including Tata Steel, Tata Motors and TCS.
Mistry resigned from all group companies but had hung on to his seat as director of the board of Tata Sons.
Last week, Tata Sons cranked up its legal tussle with Mistry and called for a shareholders’ meeting next month to remove him from its board.
The increasingly acrimonious battle saw a fresh twist Friday with Tata’s call for a shareholders’ meeting to remove Mistry as director of the board of Tata Sons, his last remaining foothold within the group.
Mistry’s dismissal shocked India’s business community and saw family patriarch Ratan Tata take interim charge of the sprawling conglomerate that he led for more than two decades. The feud is threatening its reputation and has helped wipe around $9 billion off the collective stock market value of the group’s eight main companies.
TCS new chief
TCS on Thursday named Rajesh Gopinathan as its new MD and CEO, after N Chandrasekaran elevated as Chairman of Tata Sons. The company also appointed N Ganapathy Subramaniam as President and Chief Operating Officer. “[Mr] Gopinathan takes over from [Mr] N Chandrasekaran who has been appointed as the Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, effective February 21, 2017,” TCS said in a statement.
Subramaniam, who is currently President (TCS Financial Solutions) has also been appointed as a director on the board of TCS, it added.
Factbox: TCS beats expectations with $995m profit
India’s biggest IT sourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, boosted by demand for its digital services. The software giant said net profit for the three months to December 31 rose to 67.78 billion rupees ($995 million) from 61.10 billion rupees for the same period last year. “Our strengths in Digital, Platforms and Cloud ... are driving our ability to play a strategic role and make a holistic impact on the business,” TCS chief executive N. Chandrasekaran said in a statement.
He added that its digital business was growing at 30 per cent annually.
The expectation-beating quarterly profits came amid reports that Chandrasekaran was set to become the new chief of India’s salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons, the holding company of the listed Tata Group companies including Tata Steel, Tata Motors and TCS.
