Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services, was named the new Chairman of Tata Sons. Chandrasekaran's appointment comes less than three months after the removal of Cyrus Mistry as Chairman.
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Natarajan Chandrasekaran has been heading the Tata group's 'crown jewel', Tata Consultancy Services, since 2009. At 46, he was one of the youngest Tata Group CEOs at the time of his appointment.
Chandrasekaran was born in 1963. He, his wife Lalitha and son Pranav, live in Mumbai.
His appointment as Tata Sons Chairman was hailed as "a great choice," by Infosys co-founder N R Narayan Murthy. "He is all the time learning with people, he is all the time sharing with people. I have no doubt the entire industry will be celebrating today," Murthy said.
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Chandrasekaran earned a Bachelor's degree in Applied Sciences from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, and a Master's degree in Computer Applications from Regional Engineering College, Trichy (both institutions in Tamil Nadu). He has received honorary doctorates and degrees from several universities.
He joined TCS in 1987. During the time he has spent at TCS, he has seen its revenues grow to $16.5 billion (over Rs ? 1,12,257 crore), with 371,000 consultants and a market cap of over $70 billion (over 4,76,435 crore).
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During his tenure as CEO, TCS' net sales jumped more than three times to Rs 1.09 lakh crore by FY 2016, from Rs 30,029 crore in FY 2010. Profit, too, grew to Rs 24,375 crore from Rs 7,093 crore.
After Cyrus Mistry's ouster, Chandrasekaran joined the Tata Sons board on October 25 last year.
Chandrasekaran was the Chairman of the IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies in 2012-2013.
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He has also been a member of several task forces of the Indian government.
Chandrasekaran likes photography and long-distance running. He has participated in marathons in several cities, including Amsterdam, Boston, Berlin, Mumbai, New York, and Tokyo.