Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons, was on Monday, 14 March, appointed as the chairperson of Air India, recently taken over by the salt-to-software conglomerate.
Chandrasekaran was appointed as the seventh chairman of Tata Sons Ltd in January 2017. He had joined the Board of Tata Sons in October 2016. Before that, Chandrasekaran had worked for 30 years at TCS, and had served as its CEO from 2009-2017.
In addition to TCS, the new Air India chairperson also chairs the boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, and Tata Power.
The appointment comes nearly two months after the Air India divestment process completed on 27 January, with the Tata Group officially taking over the national airline.
"Today is the beginning of a new chapter. The entire nation's eyes are on us, waiting to see what we will achieve together. To build the airline our country needs, we need to look to the future," Chandrasekaran had said at the time.
Previously, the Tata Group had announced that Turkish Airlines chairperson Ilker Ayci would be the chief executive of Air India. However, Ayci, on 1 March, turned down the Tata Sons' offer, after his appointment was met with opposition in India.
Stating that since the announcement, some sections of the Indian media have been “attempting to colour my appointment with undesirable colours,” Ayci had said:
“As a business leader who has always prioritised professional credo and more importantly, the happiness and well being of my family above all else, I have come to the conclusion that it would not be feasible or an honourable decision to accept the position in the shadow of such narrative.”
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