N Chandrasekaran will take Tata Group to new heights: Ratan Tata

New Delhi: Reacting on the appointment of N Chandrasekaran as new Tata Sons Chairman, Ratan Tata on Friday said that the former TCS CEO will take the group to new heights while protecting the group's values & ethics at all times.

He also added that Chandrasekaran's appointment as Tata group chief well- deserved recognition of proven leadership capabilities. 

"I congratulate Chandra on his appointment as Chairman of Tata Sons and the Group. It is a well deserved recognition of his proven leadership capabilities," Tata said in a tweet.

Expressing confidence on the abilities of the new Chairman-designate, he added: "The job is complex but I am sure he will take the group to new heights while protecting the group's values and ethics at all times."

Chandrasekaran was on Friday appointed the Chairman of Tata Sons, capping two months of the most bitter boardroom battle in the corporate history that followed the unceremonious sacking of Cyrus P Mistry and letting of bad blood ever since.

Popularly known as 'Chandra', the 54-year-old will take charge at the helm of USD 103-billion Tata Sons, the main holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate from February 21. He will be the first non-Parsi chairman of the 150-year old Tata Group.

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 as Chairman.

Ratan Tata was appointed as the interim Chairman of Tata Sons while a five-member panel was formed to search for a successor.

Chandrasekaran has said the responsibility of his new assignment would require "binding the Group together (and its) the three-tier structure" with the "phenomenal" work that Tata Trusts - the majority holders of Tata Sons - has done very silently over a century in contributing to the society.

Interestingly, his predecessor Mistry was sacked for "growing and untenable trust deficit between Tata Sons and the Tata Trusts".

About N Chandrasekaran

Chandrasekaran joined TCS in 1987 and was appointed the CEO of the Tata group's 'crown jewel', software firm TCS in 2009 taking over the helm on October 6 of the same year.

He was appointed as a Director on the board of Tata Sons on October 25, 2016, a day after Mistry's removal.

Born in 1963, he is one of the youngest CEOs of the Tata Group.

Under his leadership TCS has generated consolidated revenues of US $16.5 billion in 2015-16 with the third-quarter result of the company for the FY 2016-17 rising 10 percent to a net profit Rs 6,778 crore.

Chandrasekaran was selected as the chairman of the Tata Sons from a list of high-profile names that included Indra Nooyi, the head of PepsiCo Inc, Arun Sarin, the former head of Vodafone Group, and Noel Tata, chairman of the Tata retail unit Trent.

The appointment of Chandrasekaran comes more than a month before the deadline of February 24 for the five-member to find a new chairman.

Chandra's appointment as Tata Sons Chairman also 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.

The search for the new chairman of the company began when Cyrus Mistry was ousted as the chief of the company on October 24, a move that took the corporate world by surprise.

Following the removal of Mistry, the board had also named a five-member panel comprising of Ratan Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya to look for a replacement of Cyrus Mistry within four months.

With PTI Inputs