Tata Sons' chairman: Names of those in race for top job kept under wraps

TCS meeting a day ago was a giveaway

It was at the TCS House in Fort, Mumbai, that the word got out Wednesday evening that CEO N Chandrasekaran would be named the chairman of the holding company, Tata Sons. A meeting held at the headquarters of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to finalise Chandrasekaran’s successor at the top IT firm gave enough hints to the employees that a change was in the offing, it is learnt. The word spread fast as it was also a day before TCS' Q3 result when activity was at its peak. 

Some hours later, at Bombay House, not too far from the TCS HQ, Tata Sons' directors met in a hurriedly called board meeting Thursday evening to seal Chandrasekaran’s appointment as the chief. The meeting, which was kept under the wraps, had the chairman’s appointment as an agenda, it is believed. Cyrus Mistry, who was replaced as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24 but still remains a director on the board, was not present at the meeting.

While nobody could explain the timing and urgency of the decision, at least 45 days ahead of the deadline, there’s another aspect in the selection process that remained unsaid. The identity of the people who were in the race for the top job at Tata Sons was not revealed to anybody, not even to those who gave the final approval to Chandrasekaran’s appointment. 

Only the five-member search committee including Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya know the names who did not eventually make it as the Tata Sons chairman. It is believed that those in the short list did not want their names to be out. 

Although there was much buzz about a vice-chairman being named at Tata Sons, the group did not take any such decision. But at TCS, there were two appointments. Besides Rajesh Gopinathan as CEO of TCS, banking head N G Subramaniam, Chandrasekaran’s brother, was chosen as the president and chief operating officer (COO). Sources indicated that S Ramadorai, the former chief at TCS, was one of the key advisers for selection of the company’s new leadership.

Both Gopinathan and Subramaniam are seen as TCS loyalists who could lead the company in the years to come, sources said. 

Chandrasekaran’s term as chairman of Tata Sons is for five years, after which it comes up for renewal.