India's salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons Thursday appointed Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chief of its IT services unit, as the new chairman of its board, the company said in a statement. Chandrasekaran, who currently heads software giant Tata Consultancy Services, will take charge from February 21 - replacing former chairman Cyrus Mistry who was ousted by Tata Sons, the holding company of the sprawling $103 billion Tata Group.
"The Board of Directors of Tata Sons, at its meeting today, appointed Mr N. Chandrasekaran as Executive Chairman," Tata Sons said in a statement. Popularly known as Chandra, the 53-year-old Tata lifer joined the company in 1987 and has been chief executive of the IT cash cow since 2009. The appointment is the latest step in an ongoing tussle between former chairman Mistry and group patriarch Ratan Tata.