Natarajan Chandrasekaran has been reappointed as the executive chairman of Tata Sons for five years. Chandrasekaran, a Tata Group veteran, was the MD and CEO of Tata Consultancy Services, before he was appointed as the chairman of Tata Sons back in 2017, following the unceremonious sacking of Cyrus Mistry.
Tata Sons is the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate. The Tata Sons board, which met on Friday, “commended the performance of the executive chairman and unanimously approved the reappointment of Mr N Chandrasekaran as the executive chairman for the next five years,” it said in a statement.
More importantly, Ratan Tata, the chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, too has given his sign of approval for his performance.
“Mr Ratan Tata who was a special invitee to this meeting expressed his satisfaction on the progress and performance of the Tata Group under the leadership of Mr N Chandrasekaran. He recommended his term be renewed for a further five-year period,” the Tata group added.
Chandrasekaran took charge as the executive chairman of Tata Sons in February 2017, in the backdrop of the sudden sacking of Cyrus Mistry as the chairman and a bitter battle that had ensued between the Tata and Mistry camps.
Chandrasekaran, a long-distance marathoner, had joined the group’s flagship company Tata Consultancy Services back in 1987 as an intern and rose through the ranks to become its MD and CEO in 2009.
Later, in 2016, he was appointed on the board of the Tata Group and made the executive chairman a year later. In 2020-21, the Tata Group reported a revenue of $103 billion (close to Rs 7.7 lakh crore). As of December 31, 2021, there were 29 publicly-listed Tata companies, with a combined market capitalisation of $314 billion (Rs 23.4 lakh crore).
Since taking charge, Chandrasekaran has looked to simplify the group structure and consolidating its various businesses into various clusters. The group has also made several big-ticket acquisitions in the recent years.
Just recently, the government handed over the control of the national airline Air India to the Tata Group, which had won the bid back in October 2021. Under Chandrasekaran’s watch Tata Sons also set up a wholly owned subsidiary Tata Digital, which will focus on building digital businesses. Last year, it also acquired India’s largest grocery e-commerce company BigBasket, as part of the digital push.
“It has been a privilege to lead the Tata Group for the last five years and I am delighted at the opportunity to lead the Tata Group for another five years, in its next phase,” said Chandrasekaran.
As he begins his second term, his task will be cut out. He will have to steer the diversified group through the uncertainties of Covid-19 and a new normal that the pandemic has necessitated.
The acquisition of Air India will give it a sizeable market share in the aviation sector; Air India, Vistara and Air Asia India will together hold around 25 per cent market share. However, all the three airlines remain loss making. Consolidating the aviation business and turning it around, especially the behemoth Air India, and restoring it to its erstwhile glory, will also be high on Chandrasekaran’s agenda.
An e-commerce super app, that will be a digital front for the various consumer-facing businesses of the Tata Group, has also been under development for some time and could be launched in the near future.
