Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Motors, today announced that a Tata veteran, N. Chandrasekaran, popular as just 'Chandra' will be the new chairman. Chandrasekaran, 53, is currently the CEO and MD of India's most valuable IT company TCS, a position he has held since 2009. The tech flagship of the Tata Group commands a market capitalisation of around $17 billion. TCS today also announced its third quarter results, posting close to 3 percent (sequentially) quarterly profits at Rs 6,778 crore – touching $1 billion mark in profits for the first time.
Later in the day, it was reported in the media that Tata Sons had called an "unscheduled" board meeting at 4 pm, giving rise to speculations that the Group chairman will be finalised.
On October 24, 2016, Cyrus Mistry was replaced at short notice as the chairman of Tata Sons, the position he was appointed to in December 2012. Ratan Tata, the previous chairman was appointed as interim chairman. A panel comprising Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra and Ronen Sen was formed to select a replacement. What followed after the removal of Mistry was one of the biggest corporate governance issues in India, with a long and bitter spat between Mistry and the Tata Sons leadership spilling into the public space.
Cyrus Mistry was the sixth chairman of Tata and had been a director of the company since 2006. In addition, he was also the chairman of some leading Tata Group companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Jaguar Land Rover Automotive and Tata Consultancy Services.
It remains to be seen if Chandrasekaran also becomes the chairman of Tata Motors, as had been the case with both Mistry and Ratan Tata when they took over in the past. However, according to the grapevine, Ralf Speth who is currently the CEO of Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is tipped to be Tata Motors chairman. It may be noted that Speth and Chandrasekaran were recently elevated as Board members.