From a surprise CEO resignation to a jobs-for-bribes scandal and allegations of IP theft, India's biggest IT company lost some sheen this year
(File) Rajesh Gopinathan (R), chief executive and managing director of India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Krithi Krithivasan, CEO-designate, attends a news conference to announce company's annual earnings results, in Mumbai on April 12, 2023.
Image: Indranil Mukherjee / AFP
The narrative about Tata Consultancy Services in 2023 could have been about growth, large order books, more brand recognition and IT bellwether status. Some of that happened, of course, but India’s biggest IT services company found itself in multiple negative news cycles due to events, some of which it didn’t control, and others it couldn’t have foreseen.
Here are some that come to mind as we head towards the holiday season in the IT sector’s biggest markets.
Gopinathan was CFO when his mentor N Chandrasekaran, chairman of the board of Tata Sons, picked him for the top job. The manner of his departure raised several questions, including if he had fallen out with his long-time mentor.
In the days that followed, it was given out that talks were on to find Gopinathan a role within the Tata Group, but that seems to have come to nothing. Times of India reported last week that Gopinathan had taken a senior advisor’s position at the consultancy Boston Consulting Group.