The Institute - March 2022 - 54

PROFILE
From
Engineering
Intern
to Chairman
of Tata
Natarajan Chandrasekaran seeks
tech solutions to social problems
BY KATHY PRETZ
THERE WAS A TIME when managing
the family farm in India would
have been Natarajan " Chandra "
Chandrasekaran's path, but his love
of computer programming derailed
that plan. After returning home
from the Coimbatore Institute of
Technology with a bachelor's degree
in applied sciences, Chandra (as he
likes to be called) tried his hand at
farming but quickly realized it was
not for him.
His father-who had given up his
own career as a lawyer to run the farm
after his father died-encouraged
54
THE INSTITUTE
MARCH 2022
Chandra to continue to pursue his
passion for computers.
Today the IEEE senior member is
chairman of Tata Sons, in Mumbai,
India, the holding company for the
Tata Group, which encompasses
more than 30 businesses. They
include chemical plants, consultancy
services, hotels, and steel mills.
Chandra chairs the boards of
several of the companies including
Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS), and Tata
Steel. The group employs more than
750,000 people around the world.
Chandra says the ability for his
company to make a difference is the
single most important thing to him.
" We make an impact on our
employees, society, businesses, and-
with our huge ecosystem-on the
markets in which we operate, " he says.
From engineering intern to manager
After graduating from Coimbatore,
in the state of Tamil Nadu, Chandra
returned to run his family's farm
in Mohanur, located in the state's
Namakkal District. After breaking
the news to his father that he would
TATA SONS

https://www.tata.com/business/tata-sons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coimbatore_Institute_of_Technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coimbatore_Institute_of_Technology https://www.tatapower.com/ https://www.tatamotors.com/ https://www.tatasteel.com/ https://www.tatasteel.com/

The Institute - March 2022

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