INSIDE THE NIGHTMARISH ETHICS BREACH AT TCS

The story of how greed undermined processes at a company with world-class governance

- Varun Sood & Devina Sengupta

Bengaluru/Mumbai: About eighty minutes into the virtual annual general meeting of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) on Friday, Hyderabad resident and company shareholder Praful Chavda asked the question everyone tuning in had been anticipating.

“Sir," Chavda started, speaking in Hindi, addressing TCS chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, who is also the chairman of parent Tata Sons, one of India’s largest and best-regarded business houses. “There was this news in the media where it was mentioned something was wrong with the recruitment process."

Chavda was referring to the bribes-for- jobs scam at TCS, which was first reported by this paper on 23 June.

“Sir, the strictest of action should be taken and no leniency should be offered. So that no one can ever think of repeating the same." Chavda was not the only worried shareholder; four other shareholders expressed their bafflement over how such an episode could occur.

For Chandra, as he is addressed by colleagues, and for TCS, this was an unusual and somewhat unfortunate moment. The man and the institution in many ways represent the best of Indian capitalism. Chandra, who started as a trainee at TCS in 1987, worked his way up to become not just the company’s CEO, but eventually the chairman of the $128 billion parent, which employs more than a million people.

TCS is as unalloyed a success story as it gets in corporate India. Founded in 1968, it grew to become India’s largest IT services company and a flagbearer for this critical industry. It counts close to 60% of Fortune 500 as its clients. With $27.9 billion in 2023 revenues and $5.2 billion in profits, it’s the crown jewel of the Tata empire. Landing a job at TCS straight out of college, in many parts of the country, is nearly as effective a booster for a young man’s marital prospects as a government job.