Four companies of the $72-billion Tata Group?Tata Power, Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) and Tata Communications (Tata Comm)? will have new executives at the helm from February 1. Anil Kumar Sardana, managing director (MD) of TTSL as well as TTML, has been appointed as the MD of Tata Power effective February 1. Prasad R Menon, the current MD of Tata Power, retires on January 31.
Meanwhile, Srinath Narasimhan (N Srinath) who is currently MD & CEO, Tata Comm (formerly VSNL), will take over the reins of TTSL and TTML effective February 1 as their MD. Srinath will be replaced by Vinod Kumar, who is currently Tata Comm’s president and CEO.
In 2006 too, the Tata Group had done a similar rejig, when Prasad Menon, MD of Tata Chemicals, was appointed as MD of Tata Power. Homi Khusrokhan, who was Tata Tea MD, was then brought in to head Tata Chemicals. According to E Balaji, director & president of top human resources firm MaFoi Management Consultants Ltd, such a move among top heads within a large group gives them broader exposure and new perspective, and is practised by firms like General Electric and Unilever. “At the top levels technical expertise is no longer required. What is required is the leadership quality and ability to communicate the vision,” he says.
Sardana has been MD of TTSL for over three years and TTML for the past six months. He took over as MD of TTML from Mukund Rajan, who moved to Tata Capital as managing partner in May last year. Shares of Tata Power, TTML and Tata Comm on BSE were down 0.74%, 0.53% and 1.67% to close at Rs 1346.55, Rs 18.6 and 256 respectively on Thursday.