BS People: N Srinath

A feather in his hat

It might just help that N Srinath has an exhaustive collection of hats. At work, too, this 48-year-old mechanical engineer from IIT-Madras will be wearing two different hats: That of MD & CEO of Tata Teleservices and as non-executive director of Tata Communications.

In his 28-year stint with the Tata group, Srinath has worked with Tata Teleservices as general manager and COO in Hyderabad. He is back again to take over the telecom business at a time when margins in the industry are shrinking and the company is engaged in a war of words with the ministry and other telecom operators.

But Srinath has tackled tougher situations at Tata Communications. When the Tata group took over government-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), it seemed like a safe option with an international long-distance calls monopoly.

But a few months into the acquisition, the government ended the company’s monopoly, prompting a share price crash. Any other group with lesser men would have crumbled. But Srinath changed the business line and entered submarine cables. The company now boasts one of the largest such networks.

No wonder his working style is equated with that of cricketer Rahul Dravid — tougher the pitch, the better his bat. However, Srinath’s favourite sport is Formula 1 racing, and if time permits he travels all the way to F1 venues to watch it live.

Srinath, a management graduate from Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta, joined the group as a probationer in 1986. He is also credited with handling joint-venture projects with Honeywell and IBM. He was responsible for setting up new projects in process automation and control, information technology and telecommunications.