The Overachievers: N Chandra & Siblings on Top of Corporate India

One of N Chandrasekaran’s brothers is the COO of TCS, and the other is group finance director at Murugappa Group.

For this family of three brothers who used to walk three km daily to their school at Mohanur village in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu, it was indeed a proud moment on Thursday. N Chandrasekaran was appointed Chairman of Tata Sons, his brother N Ganapathy Subramaniam became the new COO of TCS while eldest brother N Srinivasan is currently the group finance director at Murugappa Group.

On hearing the news, their father S Natarajan said, “God has been very kind to us.”

Following the ugly verbal spat and subsequent ouster of former chairman Cyrus Mistry in October last year, Ratan Tata had been working as the interim chairman of Tata Sons. N Chandrasekaran who has been on the board of the company as a Director since 25 October 2016, was announced as Chairman on Thursday at the firm's board meeting held in Mumbai. He will officially take over on 21 February.

“His standout quality is his commitment. He will invest commitment and time to achieve anything that he sets out to do,” said eldest brother N Srinivasan on his achievement.

Chandra, as he is popularly known, joined TCS in 1987 as a final year college student and has not worked for any other company. He has been conferred honorary degrees and has been the recipient of several awards from the business community.

He was not an academically brilliant student but was an above average performer who would put his mind and heart into his duty, added Srinivasan.

N Ganapathy Subramaniam, who is the elder brother of Chandrasekaran, has been associated with TCS for over 34 years and has been appointed chief operating officer (COO). He currently serves as President of TCS Financial Solutions.

“I sincerely thank the TCS Board for this honour. Chandra has provided a great platform through his visionary leadership. I look forward to working with Rajesh and the rest of my colleagues and contribute to TCS’ future growth,” said NGS as he is known to his colleagues.

Rajesh Gopinathan who was the former chief financial officer (CFO) has been elevated to chief executive officer (CEO).

Speaking on his brother's appointment, Chandrasekaran said that NGS has been managing financial services business for a long time and customers have high level of confidence in his leadership.

The eldest of the three brothers, N Srinivasan has been the Director, Finance of the Murugappa group since January 2007. He has over 25 years of experience in corporate finance, legal and general management. He is a certified chartered accountant and is a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.