What would be the focus of Mr. Chandrasekharan in the coming five years of his tenure as he has been reappointed as chairman of Tata Sons?

For one, I would believe that many of the current efforts like reduction of debt, focus on shareholder value, realigning of businesses are all work in progress. For a group of that size and complexity it is not going to happen in five years. In a way, Chandra is undertaking the same kind of restructuring that Ratan had undertaken when he took the helm of affairs in the early 1990s. But the big change that Chandra is likely to focus on in the coming five years will be in making the Tata group tech ready and digital ready.

It would be hard for the Tata group to think of a better person than the former head of TCS, N Chandrasekharan, to drive the big technology and digital shift that the group is planning at multiple levels. For starters, the Tata Digital App is already work in progress wherein all retail properties and retail interfaces across the Tata group would be integrated into a single front-end. That is going to be the big project that will take most of Chandra’s bandwidth.

Chandra will focus on transforming the staid Tata group from a process based business house to a technology driven business house. There have been several acquisitions on these lines. Tatas have already acquired stakes in Big Basket and 1MG, the online pharma retailer. One big change that Chandra is attempting in the next 5 years is to bring about better alignment between capital allocation and market value. That will hold the key!