N Chandrasekaran has been appointed as the new chairman of Indian business conglomerate Tata Sons, four months after the company board abruptly dismissed Cyrus Mistry from the position. Fifty-four year old Chandrasekaran was formerly the CEO at a group business Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a position he had held since 2009.
Chandrasekaran will take over from interim chairman Ratan Tata on Feb 21, according to news reports.
Rajesh Gopinathan is reportedly going to be the next CEO of TCS after Chandra moves to head the parent company.
Here are 10 lesser known things about N Chandrasekaran:
- He is reported to be a trusted aide of Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata. Chandrasekaran has been part of the Tata Group for nearly 30 years and is very much an insider, according to news reports.
- Chandra joined the Tata Group in 1987 after completing a Masters degree in computer applications from the prestigious National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Trichy.
- Chandra holds several other prestigious positions in the Indian business fraternity, important among them is the Chairman of Indian IT industry body NASSCOM, to which he was nominated in 2012.
- Chandra is credited with phenomenal growth of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) during his term at the helm. TCS became India’s largest private-sector employer under his leadership, reportedly employing over 353,000 consultants.
- Under Chandra, TCS reportedly became the most valuable company in India in terms of market capitalisation, which was reported to be $70 billion.
- He has won several awards over his professional career. He was voted the best CEO in 2015 Annual All-Asia Executive Team rankings.
- Chandra is a member of India-US CEO Forum, as well as serves in India’s business taskforces to Australia, China, Canada, Japan, Brazil and Malaysia.
- He was also appointed on the board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2016.
- Though he completed his higher education in India, Chandra’s contribution to the field of business earned him an honorary doctorate from Netherlands’ top business school Nyenrode Business Universiteit.
- As the chairman of Tata Sons, Chandra will be heading nearly 8 lakh employees in India and overseas.
