Change of guard at TCS today

Natarajan Chandrasekaran (called Chandra by colleagues and friends) will take charge as the managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of India’s largest information technology services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), from S Ramadorai tomorrow. He’s the third in the line of TCS’ CEOs, after F C Kohli and Ramadorai.

Eighteen months earlier, speculation began to do the rounds on who would succeed Ramadorai. The latter had been the public face of TCS for several years, but was turning 65 in 2009. This is the retirement age for all Tata chief executives. A successor had to be found well in time. Several names began to do the rounds, but research analysts who believed that TCS also stood for ‘Take Chandra Seriously’ were not off the mark.

“One good thing about the Tata Group and TCS in particular is the smooth process of change. When Ramadorai took over from Kohli, it was the same and he managed to take the company to newer heights. In a way, the culture is well set for growth of TCS. Chandra will follow the same culture. One other thing about TCS is that the company is very well-governed by its board of directors. The CEO has to follow guidelines. I think Chandra will work towards taking the company to much larger heights,” said Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities.

Atul Mehra, MD and Co-CEO of JM Financial, concurs: “Chandrasekaran has been a part of the senior management for a long time and working with Ramadorai for over a decade. In that sense, we do not see a major change in strategy or approach, and see a continued focus on the processes and delivery.”

The company’s chief operating officer and executive director till date, Chandrasekaran began to interact with the media more than a year earlier. And Ramadorai, who will become vice-chairman of the company, told Business Standard in an ealier interview that, “I spotted him (Chandrasekaran) way back in 1996, and knew that he had the potential. Leadership decisions are not taken by flipping a coin.” Ramadorai said he was particularly attracted by his (Chandra) “young, energetic and confident personality”.

Chandrasekaran joined TCS on January 27, 1987, after graduating from the Regional Engineering College, Trichy. He started in Mumbai and did stints in California, Stockholm and Britain. In 1993, he moved to the US, where he built a team from scratch, getting deeply involved in customer management, too. He grew a telecom company into one of TCS’ top five global customers.

Chandrasekaran cut his teeth as a programme director, where he had considerable scope to navigate the business in the direction it is now following. After this, for two full years, 1997 to 1999, he worked as Ramadorai’s executive assistant. It was here, many insiders say, that Chandrasekaran was silently groomed under Ramadorai’s watchful eyes.