Dataquest It Person of the Year 2020

Rajesh Gopinathan is one of the youngest CEOs in the Tata Group and is seen as a personification of TCS’ commitment to a culture of customer focus and exceptional service quality. He was elevated to the CEO role in February 2017 after serving TCS as its Chief Financial Officer since 2013. His astute leadership saw TCS quickly adapt to the new normal not just helped the company weather the pandemic, but also step into its next wave of growth, with an improved services portfolio in the digital realm and endless opportunities for new innovations with clients.

- Shubhendu Parth

RAJESH GOPINATHAN MD & CEO, TCS

THE GLOBAL IT INFLUENCER

Under his stewardship, TCS embraced a new operating model that prioritised the health and wellbeing of its employees, while enabling it to continue supporting its customers not just in their mission-critical operations, but also in their growth and transformation journey. Its Vision 25x25 and pioneering work around talent clouds have reinforced Gopinathan’s credentials as a thought leader on the future of work, and a trendsetter in the industry.

He has also been instrumental in crafting the second round of restructuring driving empowerment deeper inside TCS to help the company’s next wave of growth. The company’s agility, resilience and responsiveness during the crisis earned it tremendous goodwill from customers and enhanced its standing in the market. This enabled TCS become a USD 22.1-billion global giant by end of March 2021. With over 488,000 consultants, it also became one of the largest private-sector employers globally and was recognized as a Global Top Employer for the fifth consecutive year, with the highest retention rate.

Driven by Gopinathan, TCS achieved the USD100-billion market capitalization in April 2018, becoming the most valuable company in India. TCS was again recognised as the fastest-growing brand in the IT industry in 2020. In 2021, the company’s brand value soared to USD14.9 billion, further consolidating its position among the top three most valuable IT services brands globally, according to the Brand Finance 2021 report.

A fiercely capable business leader, Gopinathan has quietly become one of the most powerful forces and an influential voice of the country’s IT services and digital technologies sector as well as a global influencer.