Chandra moves TCS talent to steer growth at Tata Sons

Ever since N Chandrasekaran took over as the Chairman of Tata Sons, he has effected a number of top-level changes within the group.

But a wave of former TCS executives joining Tata Sons could be more than just a sign of a CEO taking his team along with him as he embarks on a transformational journey at the group level. At least five top level appointees in the Chandra-led Tata Sons have been recruited from TCS.

This includes Aarthi Subramanian, executive director at TCS who has been appointed as Tata Group’s Chief Digital Officer. She continues to serve on the board of TCS as a non-executive director. Suprakash Mukhopadhyay, earlier global treasury head and company secretary at TCS, is now company secretary of Tata Sons.

Tanmoy Chakrabarty, as the Group Government Affairs Officer, will be based out of New Delhi. In his previous role, he was VP & Global Head of TCS’s Government Industry Solutions Unit. TCS’s global head of communications Pradipta Bagchi was appointed as the Group Chief Communications Officer for Tata Sons.

“All of these executives have worked closely with Chandra in the past in TCS and continue to be his pillar of support at a time when he’s trying to convince the group about the changes that he’s trying to bring in,” said a Tata executive on conditions of anonymity.

When contacted, a Tata Sons spokesperson said: “There has been an infusion of talent at Tata Sons which has been a combination of recruits from the industry as well as professionals from Tata Group companies.”

The new appointments have been accompanied by a spate of exits of senior executives from Tata Group entities.

Spate of exits

The most recent one was that of Mukund Rajan, chief ethics officer of the group, who quit citing “personal reasons”. Similarly, Tata Powers CEO Anil Sardana resigned recently sighting ‘personal reasons’, three years before the end of his term after spending two decades with the group. Executives at Indian Hotels and Tata Motors have also left. According to sources, there have been 42 new appointments since Chandra took over.

Chandra recently brought in former GE executive Banmali Agrawala as President, Infrastructure, Defence and Aerospace, reporting directly to him. The other major non-TCS hiring was that of Saurabh Agrawal, who has been appointed as Group CFO. He was earlier head of corporate strategy at the Aditya Birla Group.

“Tata group has seen close to a dozen exits of top executives since the time Chandra has taken over as the chairman of the group. Not many executives are happy with the changes that he’s trying to bring about in the company. It is therefore only natural for him to get his team of confidante to ensure smooth sailing,” said Kris Lakshminath, CEO at Head Hunters India.

COMMENT NOW