TCS: The Accidental Crown Jewel | Intermission E05 | The Ken
2 hr 40 min
On 12 August 2026, N Chandrasekaran, the TCS intern who became the first non-Parsi chairman of Tata Sons, said he was done. He wouldn't seek another term. Five weeks later, the board brought him back. On 17 September, it voted to reappoint him for five more years, starting in February 2027. Noel Tata's Tata Trusts, the majority shareholder, calls the vote illegal. Tata Sons says it followed the rules. Shareholders still have to approve it at an AGM due by 31 December, and this could end up in court. That chair matters because of the company that produced him. From 2000 to 2026, TCS supplied close to 80% of Tata Sons' dividend and buyback income, roughly Rs 2.7 lakh crore. That money has paid for almost every big Tata bet you can name, from Air India to semiconductors. TCS was never meant to be this. It began in 1962 as an in-house unit to centralise the group's data processing, and Tata companies refused to hand over the work. To survive, it had to navigate the License Raj, when computers were taxed like toasters, and a 1978 attempt by its own parent to fold it into a joint venture with Burroughs. Along the way, it stumbled into the model that built India's IT industry: build in India, deliver to the world. Its tools helped build institutions like the National Stock Exchange. It worked through hundreds of millions of lines of Y2K code. And it turned small-town graduates into a global professional class. Now AI, a $100,000 H-1B fee, and the rise of GCCs are threatening the pyramid TCS was built on. This is the story of two small communities, the Tamil Brahmins and the Parsis, and the company that built India’s IT export industry and bankrolled the Tatas. Now it has to save itself. Tune in! --------- We also have an interactive companion page to explore the history of TCS with reading lists, infographics and source notes: https://the-ken.com/intermission/the-accidental-crown-jewel-tcs/ ---------- Credits: Hosts: Rohin Dharmakumar, Seetharaman G Director: Vijay Sub...
