TCS chief Chandrasekaran named Tata Sons Chairman

January 12, 2017

Mumbai, Jan 12: Over two months after the unceremonious sacking of Cyrus Mistry, USD 103-billion Tata Group today named TCS chief N Chandrasekaran as the new Executive Chairman of Tata Sons that saw a lot of bad blood recently in the country's most bitter boardroom battle.

Chandrasekaran pti

Popularly known as 'Chandra', the 54-year-old will take charge at the helm of Tata Sons, the main holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate from February 21.

"The Board of Directors of Tata Sons, at its meeting today, appointed N Chandrasekaran as Executive Chairman. This is as per the unanimous recommendation of the Selection Committee," the company said in a statement.

He was chosen to step into the shoes of interim Chairman Ratan Tata, who took over on October 24 last year after the removal of Mistry. The announcement did not mention Chandrasekaran's tenure at the top. It also had no word on what role the group would give to Ratan Tata, who was made interim chairman after Mistry's ouster.

At TCS, Chandrasekaran would be succeeded by Rajesh Gopinathan, currently the company's chief financial officer. Announcing his appointment, Tata Sons board said: "Mr Chandrasekaran has demonstrated exemplary leadership as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services.

"We believe he will now inspire the entire Tata group to realise its potential acting as leaders in their respective businesses, always in keeping with our value system and ethics and adhering with the practices of the Tata group which have stood it in good stead."

Chandrasekaran was the CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services, the cash-cow for the group, since 2009. A Tata lifer, he had joined the company in 1987. He was appointed as a Director on the board of Tata Sons on October 25, 2016, just a day after Mistry's removal.

The decision to appoint him followed a five-member search committee comprising Ratan Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya zeroing in on Chandrasekaran.

The search panel was given four months to find the new head of the promoter company of the major operating firms of the conglomerate, but the decision has been reached even before that.

Chandrasekaran's appointment as Tata Sons Chairman comes at a time when the company is fighting a legal battle at the National Company Law Tribunal with Mistry, who has challenged his ouster.

Yesterday, Mistry family-owned two investment firms had filed a contempt application at NCLT against move by Tata Sons to remove him as director and sought an order to restrain the company from going ahead with its planned EGM on February 6 called to remove him.

In one of the biggest board room battles in history of India Inc, Tata Sons board had removed Mistry as Chairman citing loss of faith in his leadership and for the good of the future of the group, while his predecessor Ratan Tata was brought back as an interim Chairman.

Mistry, on the other hand, had alleged that Tata and other trustees of the Tata Trusts ran alternate power centre and he was reduced to a "lame duck Chairman".

Chandrasekaran had joined TCS after completing Masters in Computer Applications from Regional Engineering College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu.

Under his leadership, TCS generated consolidated revenues of USD 16.5 billion in 2015-16. The company remains the most valuable company in India as of 2015-16 with a market capitalisation of over USD 70 billion.

Outside his profession, Chandrasekaran is an avid photographer besides being a passionate long-distance runner who has completed several marathons around the world, including Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Berlin, Mumbai, New York, Prague, Stockholm, Salzburg and Tokyo.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 27,2024

keralaCMdaughter.jpg

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan, her IT company and some others to probe a case of alleged illegal payments made by a private mineral firm to her and the company, official sources said Wednesday.

The agency has registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is expected to summon the people involved, the sources said.

The ED case has been booked after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), an investigative arm of the Union corporate affairs ministry, they said.

The case stems from an Income Tax Department investigation that alleged that a private company called Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL), made an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore to Veena's company-- Exalogic Solutions-- during 2018 to 2019, even though the IT firm had not provided any service to the company.

The Karnataka High Court had last month dismissed a plea filed by Exalogic Solutions against the probe initiated by the SFIO.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 22,2024

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday produced Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before the Rouse Avenue court and sought a 10-day custody in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. "Kejriwal was the kingpin of the scam," the ED reportedly told the court after the AAP chief was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja around 2 pm amid tight security. 

ASG S V Raju was appearing for the agency, while Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi is representing Kejriwal. 

Raju in his argument said Kejriwal was "directly involved in formulation of the (liquor) policy... he was involved in handling of proceeds of crime as well in the Goa election campaign."

"The expert committee was constituted but it was a sham committee. The policy was made in such a manner that it would enable the taking of bribes and recoupment of people who gave the bribes," the ED counsel said. 

Kejriwal was produced in the trial court shortly after he withdrew from the Supreme Court his plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal's counsel said he would contest the remand proceedings before the trial court and then come back to the apex court with another petition.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 14,2024

kovindpanel.jpg

The high-level committee on simultaneous elections, chaired by Ram Nath Kovind, on Thursday met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted its report on 'One Nation, One Election'. The report comprises 18,626 pages.

Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at Rashtrapati Bhawan when Kovind led panel submitted the report.

"Simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held in first step, followed by local body polls within 100 days in second step," reported PTI quoting the panel.

"Synchronised polls for all three tiers of government to improve governance architecture, in line with quest of aspirational India," it added.

The report has been submitted 191 days after the constitution of the panel on September 2, 2023.

It's further reported that the proposal also puts focus on having a singular electoral roll for holding Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.