BENGALURU/MUBAI: TCS has appointed Aarthi Subramanian as its president and COO, overseeing operations of the $30 billion IT firm. This appointment marks a significant milestone as she becomes the first woman COO in the Indian IT sector, where gender diversity at the top is woefully skewed.
She started as a graduate trainee in TCS in 1989 and rose in ranks to earn the moniker "Ms Fixit". She became a dependable troubleshooter to rely upon due to her expertise in delivery excellence, account stewardship, and large-scale programme management. Subramanian later took charge as the head of governance, compliance, and risk management in 2014 and oversaw HR and legal compliances and internal controls at TCS. Before her role as the global head of delivery excellence, she served as the head of delivery for seven years within the TCS retail and consumer packaged goods business unit, where she oversaw many strategic accounts. She was instrumental in setting up the SAP Centre of Excellence in Chennai and drove business excellence, front-ending many customer visits along with the CTO's office.
TCS has expanded its executive framework by bringing in Subramanian from Tata Sons, where she was the group chief digital officer for eight years, driving digital technology, innovation, and AI at the group. “The firm is implementing a contextual reset to remain relevant and connected with customers in an AI-driven world, and Aarthi is the right candidate,” said an industry source. A Tata Group insider described Subramanian as a "very good professional" who commands significant respect within the Tata Group’s ecosystem. She is also a confidante of Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran—both having worked together in TCS and later at Tata Sons—and has his ear, the source told TOI.
In 2017, she was appointed chief digital officer of Tata Sons, transitioning from an executive director of TCS to a non-executive director of the software services company. She also represented Tata Sons—the principal investment company and promoter of Tata enterprises—on the boards of Tata Capital, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Infiniti Retail (Croma), and Tata Electronics. From May 1, the 58-year-old leader will assume the COO position at TCS, moving from non-executive to executive director. This role change requires her to step down from her board positions at Tata Capital, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Infiniti Retail, and Tata Electronics, giving her more time to concentrate on improving TCS' delivery capabilities.
Indian IT firms have had few women executives as presidents of business divisions. Subramanian is the pioneering executive to assume this leadership role. In fact, the role was vacant after its former COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam retired from the firm last year after being with the firm for four decades. “I think it’s a very astute appointment and a powerful statement across the Indian tech industry to elevate more women into leadership roles. My view on succession is that she is now on a platform to demonstrate her leadership qualities,” said Phil Fersht, CEO of US-based IT advisory HfS Research. “Indian-heritage IT services firms have been paying lip service to gender diversity, so this is the first major step in the right direction for the industry and a real example for the other firms to follow.”
TCS CEO K Krithivasan, in the earnings presser, said, “She knows TCS quite well. She was part of the TCS board while also serves as the chief digital officer of Tata Group. She brings extensive experience regarding how the business has performed and how it has adopted technology.” Her COO tenure concludes in 2030 when she reaches 63. The incumbent CEO Krithivasan will retire in 2029 when he turns 65, adhering to the company's retirement policy for managing directors and executive directors.
It's premature to predict what the board of TCS will determine in 2029—whether to elevate Subramanian to the managing director's position or designate a new candidate to succeed Krithivasan. Subramanian is an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, and holds a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Kansas.
She started as a graduate trainee in TCS in 1989 and rose in ranks to earn the moniker "Ms Fixit". She became a dependable troubleshooter to rely upon due to her expertise in delivery excellence, account stewardship, and large-scale programme management. Subramanian later took charge as the head of governance, compliance, and risk management in 2014 and oversaw HR and legal compliances and internal controls at TCS. Before her role as the global head of delivery excellence, she served as the head of delivery for seven years within the TCS retail and consumer packaged goods business unit, where she oversaw many strategic accounts. She was instrumental in setting up the SAP Centre of Excellence in Chennai and drove business excellence, front-ending many customer visits along with the CTO's office.
TCS has expanded its executive framework by bringing in Subramanian from Tata Sons, where she was the group chief digital officer for eight years, driving digital technology, innovation, and AI at the group. “The firm is implementing a contextual reset to remain relevant and connected with customers in an AI-driven world, and Aarthi is the right candidate,” said an industry source. A Tata Group insider described Subramanian as a "very good professional" who commands significant respect within the Tata Group’s ecosystem. She is also a confidante of Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran—both having worked together in TCS and later at Tata Sons—and has his ear, the source told TOI.
In 2017, she was appointed chief digital officer of Tata Sons, transitioning from an executive director of TCS to a non-executive director of the software services company. She also represented Tata Sons—the principal investment company and promoter of Tata enterprises—on the boards of Tata Capital, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Infiniti Retail (Croma), and Tata Electronics. From May 1, the 58-year-old leader will assume the COO position at TCS, moving from non-executive to executive director. This role change requires her to step down from her board positions at Tata Capital, Tata AIA Life Insurance, Infiniti Retail, and Tata Electronics, giving her more time to concentrate on improving TCS' delivery capabilities.
Indian IT firms have had few women executives as presidents of business divisions. Subramanian is the pioneering executive to assume this leadership role. In fact, the role was vacant after its former COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam retired from the firm last year after being with the firm for four decades. “I think it’s a very astute appointment and a powerful statement across the Indian tech industry to elevate more women into leadership roles. My view on succession is that she is now on a platform to demonstrate her leadership qualities,” said Phil Fersht, CEO of US-based IT advisory HfS Research. “Indian-heritage IT services firms have been paying lip service to gender diversity, so this is the first major step in the right direction for the industry and a real example for the other firms to follow.”
TCS CEO K Krithivasan, in the earnings presser, said, “She knows TCS quite well. She was part of the TCS board while also serves as the chief digital officer of Tata Group. She brings extensive experience regarding how the business has performed and how it has adopted technology.” Her COO tenure concludes in 2030 when she reaches 63. The incumbent CEO Krithivasan will retire in 2029 when he turns 65, adhering to the company's retirement policy for managing directors and executive directors.
It's premature to predict what the board of TCS will determine in 2029—whether to elevate Subramanian to the managing director's position or designate a new candidate to succeed Krithivasan. Subramanian is an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, and holds a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Kansas.
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