'At TCS, CEO is the first among equals'

Amid global uncertainties and banking turmoil in the US, India’s largest IT services firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has announced changes in leadership. Krithi Krithivasan will take over as chief executive officer (CEO) on June 1. In his first interview, he speaks to Shivani Shinde on challenges, near-term growth opportunities, and his priorities.

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Edited excerpts:

You will take over at a time when the industry is going through challenges. How do you see the macro impacting TCS?

This is my 34th year with TCS. I am long-term positive on the company, and we have seen it grow from strength to strength. This is not the first time such a crisis has emerged. Rather, I would say we have seen worse times too. But each time there has been a crisis, we have overcome that and come up with newer solutions and offers for customers. To give an instance of Covid, our customer intimacy improved because they (customers) liked the way we interacted with them and responded to the challenges … We are on a solid foundation.

Will it be right to assume that the CEO tenure at TCS is coming down?

I do not think we planned it this way. If Rajesh (Gopinathan) had not resigned (as CEO), he would have served longer. The same goes for Chandra (N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons). I do not want to make a comment on the CEO tenure. All of us have enjoyed the growth of the company and one of us gets to be CEO. I believe the CEO at TCS is first among equals. Most of us have put in 15-20 years at the company. You have to see the camaraderie we bring to work.

If we look at the past few years, TCS’ base has grown substantially but the growth pace has been going down. Comments.