‘Legend, giant who changed the face of tech forever.’ India Inc, leaders mourn FC Kohli

Indian tech industry descended into mourning after the news of Faqir Chand Kohli’s demise was announced. The nonagenarian, considered the father of India's information technology industry, commanded huge respect and adulation from tech titans, industry and policy experts, and politicians cutting across ideology and party lines.

Kohli, who passed away in Mumbai on Thursday at the age of 96 following a heart attack, was the longest serving chief executive officer (CEO) of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that he helped set up in 1969. The Padma Bhushan winner, who served as the deputy general manager of Tata Electric Company until 1967 after returning to India from the United States of America, stepped down in 1996 as the TCS boss.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran mourned the loss of Kohli whom he called “a true legend who laid the very foundations for India’s spectacular IT revolution and set the stage for the dynamic modern economy we enjoy today.”

The 57-year-old top boss, who became the CEO of TCS in 2009, recalled his association with Kohli who had himself hired him as a trainee.

Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, posted a throwback picture with Kohli and paid tribute to his rich legacy.


Debjani Ghosh, too, shared a picture with Kohli from 2018 right after she took over the reins as Nasscom president. Kohli, she wrote, had sat her down and explained to her why the tech “industry and Nasscom mattered.”


For Accenture India Chairperson Rekha Menon, the tech titan would always be the “giant tree under whose shadow the India software industry flourished.”


The Mahindra group, too, mourned the loss. Chairman Anand Mahindra, calling him a Titan, put things in perspective as he wrote that “today’s Indian IT whiz kids—mainly millennials & GenZ-ers—have little idea that without the vision of the late F.C.Kohli, they would neither be enjoying the careers they have nor living the lives that they do.”


C P Gurnani, his colleague at Tech Mahindra, remembered him as “not just the 1st CEO of TCS but someone who laid the foundation of India's greatest growth story.”


India’s political circles, too, were united in their grief. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, his work and efforts to institutionalise tech in the country was mentioned.



BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar mourned the loss of a “true giant who was at the forefront of institutionalising a culture of innovation and excellence in the tech industry”, while Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called him the “Bhishmapitamaha of the Indian software industry.”


Adman Suhel Seth, calling him a Bharat Ratna, recalled his interaction with Kohli and how he would come away “impressed at the man’s intellect and desire for India and every Indian to succeed. He was and remains a true Bharat Ratna.”