N Chandrasekaran’s resignation earlier today effectively closes a nine-year tenure that changed the shape of India’s largest business house. He will continue in office until his term formally ends on February 20, 2027, but has told the board that he will not seek reappointment. 

After what seems like almost a year of turbulence at the Tata Sons board, the exit sets the stage to take at the key achievements under his tenure. Chandrasekaran had taken over the Tata Sons board at a very critical juncture in 2017. 

His tenure saw the Tata Group achieve several milestones, including the big bet on chips and batteries, a decade-old shareholder dispute resolution, and a group that grew several-fold across multiple avenues spanning from tech to steel and cars. 

N Chandrasekaran’s journey from TCS chief to Tata Sons chairman 

Chandrasekaran joined Tata Consultancy Services almost 40 years ago in 1987. He was eventually named its chief executive and managing director in 2009. Under him, TCS overtook its peers to become India’s most valuable company, with its market value roughly tripling and net profit more than quadrupling over his time as CEO, as per Business Standard. 

That record made him the board’s choice to succeed Cyrus Mistry at Tata Sons in 2017, following a bitter and public boardroom battle. He became the first chairman from outside the Tata family to lead the group, a break from a century and a half of tradition.

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Tata Group’s acquisitions and mergers under Chandrasekaran 

Chandrasekaran’s most visible decision was bringing Air India back into the Tata fold. The airline, founded by JRD Tata in 1932 and nationalised in 1953, returned to Tata ownership in January 2022, ending a decades-long absence from the sector for the group.

The turnaround was not left to Air India alone. Chandrasekaran pushed through a merger of Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture, into Air India, consolidating the group’s four airline brands into one full-service and one low-cost carrier. Singapore Airlines invested fresh capital into the combined entity and took a stake in it as part of the deal.

The bet has come at a cost. Air India’s rebuild has needed years of heavy investment in fleet renewal and network expansion, and it remains one of the businesses whose losses Tata Trusts has questioned in recent months.

In his tenure, N Chandrasekaran also combined Tata Tea’s beverages business with Tata Chemicals’ pulses and salt to create Tata Consumer Products. As of today, the company commands a market capitalisation of Rs 1,04,937 crore. 

Apart from that, the auto finance business of Tata Motors was merged with Tata Capital. While Tata Motors separated its passenger vehicle business and its commercial vehicles arm.

Tata Group’s semiconductor, battery and digital expansion 

Alongside aviation, Chandrasekaran steered the group into sectors it had never operated in before. Tata Electronics moved into semiconductor assembly and electronics manufacturing. The group also began building battery giga-factories for electric vehicles, and expanded its presence in digital retail through the Tata Neu super-app.

Chandrasekaran and the Tata Sons-Shapoorji Pallonji shareholding dispute 

Chandrasekaran also had to manage the long-running relationship with the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a minority shareholder in Tata Sons since 1930 and the family of ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry. 

Negotiating the terms of that shareholding, without forcing Tata Sons to list, was one of the quieter but more difficult items on his agenda through much of his tenure.

Tata Group revenue, profit and market value under Chandrasekaran 

Tata Sons’ own annual report for FY26 sets out how much the group grew under Chandrasekaran, measured over the six years from FY20 to FY26. 

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On a consolidated basis, Tata Sons’ total revenue rose 17% to Rs 6,61,399.21 crore, though consolidated profit after tax fell to Rs 26,615.72 crore from Rs 40,985.19 crore in FY25.

N Chandrasekaran’s Tata Sons salary and remuneration 

Chandrasekaran was among the highest-paid corporate executives in India through much of his tenure. His total remuneration for FY26 came to Rs 158.66 crore, up from Rs 155.81 crore the year before, according to Tata Sons’ annual report.

Most of that was not salary in the conventional sense. Of the FY26 total, Rs 17.97 crore was salary and other compensation, while Rs 140.69 crore came from a profit-linked commission. That commission, the report notes, is due to be paid only after this year’s annual general meeting.

What comes next

In his statement, Chandrasekaran said leading Tata Sons over the past decade had been an honour and a responsibility. He asked the board to settle on a successor soon, to ensure what he called a proper transition.