“Jiss din mann udd jaye, uss din nikal jaane ka!” (When your mind starts wandering, it’s time to leave), said IT major Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) outgoing MD & CEO Rajesh Gopinathan about his decision to leave with four years still left in his current term.
At the press conference on Friday morning, the normally shy Gopinathan was a tad more forthcoming saying that the moment that seed comes into your heart, you’ve got to step out. “This is not the seat to sit on and think about my future plans. This is the seat to sit on and think about TCS’ future. The moment my future starts becoming a part of the thinking process, I think it’s appropriate that I step away and put somebody else here,” he said.
Gopinathan, whose resignation was announced on Thursday, is leaving after a 22-year-long run at the $25-billion IT giant, six of which were spent leading it as MD& CEO. He was re-appointed to the post till February 21, 2027. Ten years ago, he was given his first C-Suite position in the company as its CFO. There’s nothing more challenging than ensuring quarter-on-quarter growth and performance, he said.
“But it’s been ten years of doing that on a relentless basis, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. But sometimes when you get to those milestones, you start thinking, what’s next? That was definitely a big trigger point,” he added.
Saying that he had been having discussions with Tata Sons Chairman and former TCS MD & CEO N Chandrasekaran off and on about leaving, Gopinathan described the decision was made a week ago. The time was right to pull the trigger, he said, as the new financial year is just around the corner and he sees TCS as having attained a fair amount of stability after the pandemic-led volatility. “(I) Can’t tell you how happy and light I feel, it’s amazing. Till a week back it (the decision) was all-consuming. In the last 48 hours, it is just completely liberating. I have no clue what I’m going to do, but I’m just in a different space and very happy. Looking forward to doing that reset,” he said in response to a question about how he decided to leave.
He joined TCS in 2001 from Tata Industries and worked to drive TCS’ newly established e-business unit in the United States. He was Vice President – Business Finance. He was promoted as Chief Financial Officer in February 2013 before becoming the MD & CEO in 2017.
It is unprecedented in the company’s history for a CEO to hand in their resignation before time. “If you have to leave, it’s always best to leave when everything is good rather when everybody is waiting to get you out. So, that’s my perspective,” Gopinathan said.
But first on his plate is ensuring a smooth transition at TCS. The company has had a long-held tradition of promoting insiders to the top job. Keeping with that, President and Global Head of the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Business Group, K Krithivasan, has been named the new CEO designate. And Gopinathan will stay on with the company till September 2023. “With Krithi, I don’t think it’s a challenge at all. If nothing it might even be symbolic. I definitely have no plans to skimp on that. I will be available to Krithi 100% not just during the transition but any point in time in future,” the outgoing CEO said.
But the engineer-manager hasn’t fully thought out what he wants to do next. “After that (transition), I want to take some downtime, take some time with family, sit back and then think. Many ideas are there. Now that the trigger has been pulled, I need to start crystallising what those are,” Gopinathan said.
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