A Tata lifer, Chandra is a perfect fit as Tata Sons' chairman: Deepak Parekh, HDFC

In a chat with ET Now, Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC, says Chandra has broad shoulders and he will do a good job for the Tatas and it is an excellent choice. Edited excerpts:


What is your view on elevation of N Chandrasekaran as the chairman of Tata Sons?

Chandra is a perfect choice. He is a true professional. He is a Tata lifer and he is very bright. He is honest to the core. Integrity has been unquestionable. He is a leader. He had led TCS very successfully all these years and in TCS he has exposure to multinational companies, the fortune 500 companies across the globe. He has had experience with getting businesses from foreign companies and he is the ideal choice. I congratulate the selection committee for appointing an insider and a young person. He is still 53, he has many years to go and he will enhance the name of the Tata empire.

You mentioned the word insider and that is something which is very relevant in the current scheme of affairs because the Tata Group would have wanted a sense of continuity. Chandra has been working in Tata empire for more than 30 years and recently also joined the board of Tata Sons. What do you have to say about the fact that this is perhaps the first appointment of the top boss of the Tatas and it is not a Tata, it is not a minority shareholder and perhaps he is the first non-Parsi as well. What does this tell you about the manner in which this conglomerate has evolved in terms of choosing its leadership?

You are going to see more and more of this. The family businesses are going to be run by professionals. Already we have seen a number of Indian families are letting professionals run the company. This is happening all over the world and why not in India. The beginning has come and this is another example of that that you do not need to be a Tata to run the Tata empire.

You have been a very closer observer of the fallouts post the board meeting wherein Cyrus Mistry was asked to step down. Clearly there are lot of challenges for Chandra because he is going to take over a very important responsibility,. Brand Tata to a great extent has been hit and has been impacted because of the board room battle. What do you think are the other big challenges that is facing Chandra today as the executive chairman and also how do you think he will look at blending in with the ethos and the Tata way of doing business?

Well, Chandra is a Tata man. He is used to the Tata values and the Tata ethos of doing business. So for him, it is going to be a seamless activity and I know there are number of issues that he will have to tackle because the industries are not doing well, certain sectors are not doing well, some difficult and hard decisions will have to be taken but he is a very seasoned business. I have never seen him lose his cool. I have known him for more than 20 years. He is always calm. He is always smiling. He has broad shoulders and he will do a good job for the Tatas and it is an excellent choice.

You hit the nail on the head. Chandra is definitely a very affable and humble human being. But if I were to ask you a macro question, in terms of the kind of impact this will have on India as an investment destination, there is finally no lack of clarity regarding who is going to take over the Tata empire into the next generation. They have chosen the top boss. From a global investor point of view, what kind of an impact do you think it will have on investor sentiment because the ripple effects of this board room battle have been felt in overseas jurisdictions as well?

This announcement will probably help the investors in different Tata Group companies and India Inc to say that we have problems. Everywhere there are problems but solutions are equally found quickly and things move on. So this will be viewed positively and though the committee had four months, they came out with someone in two months. So they knew about the urgency of the situation and to have a leader in place ASAP and it will be viewed positively.

According to me, the investor community will view this positively because he is known to them. The Tata Consultancy has the largest listed market cap in India and it is a significant part of Tata Sons market cap and he used to go for road shows to meet investors. There is a large amount of foreign holding in TCS and so he is known internationally, not only with the fortune 500 companies but also with the investor community, the fund managers and the sovereign wealth funds. So for him, it will be easy to step into the Tata Sons’ chairmanship.