Amid shifting power & scrutiny, Chandrasekaran enters the final stretch

Chandra’s decade at Tata Sons now reaches its finish line, marked by growth, costly bets and changing dynamics of powerMUMBAI: Less than a week before Tata Sons’ Aug 18 AGM, the penny dropped for N Chandrasekaran. His extension as chairman was uncertain. For the first time, Chandra lacked a powerful patron just as his largest wagers, Air India and Tata Digital, were bleeding cash and TCS had shed nearly $100 billion in market value in the upheaval unleashed by ChatGPT and the wider AI boom.Chandra’s rise was shaped by his mentors. Faquir Chand Kohli, the legendary founder of TCS, hired him in 1987; Kohli’s successor, S Ramadorai, took him on as executive assistant, COO and, in 2009, CEO.Rise of ChandrasekaranBorn in 1963 to an agricultural family in the small village of Mohanur on the bank