Chandra, as he is popularly known among peers, is used to stepping into big shoes and creating new records, almost unimaginable. In 2009, when he took over the mantle from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) veteran S. Ramadorai, he had to live up to a lot of expectations. After all, Ramadorai had spent his entire working life in TCS. But, Chandra rose above all expectations and created new benchmarks for himself and for the company.
Between 2010 and 2016, TCS’ revenue grew from $7.6 billion to $16.5 billion. The IT company’s scrip rose 4 times during the period creating immense shareholder value. Dividend from TCS contributed 77 per cent to Tata Sons’ revenue in 2015-16. Most recently, for fiscal ended March 2016, TCS’ net profit grew 14.8 per cent to $3.69 billion compared to last year. Its digital revenues grew 52.2 per cent indicating fast adoption of digital solutions which is imperative for delivering IT services in the modern era. Today, with over 3,71,000 employees, TCS has become the largest private sector employer in India, with the highest retention rate in a globally competitive industry.
Chandra served TCS for three decades as it rose to become the country’s largest IT services company and also the crown jewel for Tata Sons, the holding company of the $103-billion Tata group. He has had a meteoric rise from a regular intern in 1987 to serving as the CEO and managing director of TCS from 6 October 2009 until recently when he took over as the chairman of the Tata Sons on 21 February, 2017.
Chandra succeeded 79-year-old Ratan Tata, who had come back as the interim chairman of the group after an unexpected ouster of Cyrus Mistry as the chairman in October last year. Being the first non-family and non-Tata to lead the conglomerate, Chandra has once again stepped into big shoes. But his track record indicates he is well equipped and also the best man for the job.
Chandra was born in an agricultural family and had five siblings. His father, Srinivasan Natarajan, was a lawyer by profession, but also managed the family farm. Chandra received a master’s degree in computer applications from the Regional Engineering College, Trichy in Tamil Nadu in 1986 after obtaining a bachelor’s of science in applied science from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology.
In acknowledgement of his diverse skill sets, Chandra was also appointed as a director on the board of the Reserve Bank of India in 2016. He has served as chairperson of the IT Industry Governors’ at the WEF, Davos in 2015-16 and has been playing an active role in the Indo-US and India-UK CEO Forums. He is also part of India’s business task forces for Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan and Malaysia.
On 21 February, as Chandra chaired his first board meeting in the capacity of Tata Sons chairman, he said, “In my new role, I will focus on three strategic priorities: bring the group closer together to leverage its enormous collective strength; reinforce a leader’s mindset among the operating companies, and drive world-class operating performances across the group.”
