Chandrasekaran back at Tata helm for fresh term
The board of Tata Sons unanimously approved the reappointment
The board of Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt to software Tata group, reviewed the last five years and considered the reappointment of its executive chairman N Chandrasekaran, the company said in a statement on Friday.
Chandrasekaran who was appointed to the chairman post in 2017, will continue in his role for another five years. His appointment to the post of Tata group chairman came after a messy boardroom battle that saw the ouster of previous chairman Cyrus Mistry.
Under his term, the market capitalization of all listed Tata group companies has risen from ₹8.16 trillion as of end of January 2017 to ₹23.46 lakh crore as on Friday.
Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six per cent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, and art and culture. The trusts are helmed by Ratan Tata.
Ratan Tata who was a special invitee to this meeting expressed his satisfaction on the progress and performance of the Tata Group under the leadership Chandrasekaran, the statement said. The Tata Sons statement added that the board members commended Chandrasekaran’s performance as executive chairman and unanimously approved his reappointment.
“It has been a privilege to lead the Tata Group for the last five years and I am delighted at the opportunity to lead the Tata Group for another five years, in its next phase,” Chandrasekaran said.
In 2020-21, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, stood at $103 billion (₹7.7 lakh crore). These companies collectively employ over 800,000 people. There are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of $314 billion (₹23.4 lakh crore) as on 31 December. Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata
Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Indian Hotels, Tata Digital and Tata Electronics.
Under Chandrasekaran’s leadership, the group recently took control of the loss-making national carrier Air India.
His term has seen the group increase its focus on digital businesses where it is building an ecommerce superapp, while also exiting some of its struggling businesses such as wireless telecom business.