Off hotseat, Ramadorai busy as ever

It has been about two years since S Ramadorai moved away from the day to day running of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Group’s IT services company that under his stewardship transformed into a $8 billion global giant. Shrenik Avlani reports.

It has been about two years since S Ramadorai moved away from the day to day running of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Group’s IT services company that under his stewardship transformed into a $8 billion global giant.

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However, he has not had a day off. He is neck deep in work in multiple roles: adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the National Skills Development Council, vice-chairman of TCS, independent director in non-Tata companies.

Amidst this bustle, he had an idea — to write a book on his erstwhile ward. The TCS Way was released by Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata in Mumbai on Monday evening.

As an adviser to the PM, he is dealing with issues of scale, implementation, monitoring and the use of technology in government job schemes. “A big challenge is how to generate employment that takes you on an upward path so that you don’t freeze in the same job,” he said.

He is in the process of assembling a team to help him in the skills development mission and is working with central ministries and state-level skill missions, NGOs and the Union finance ministry-funded National Skills Development Corporation.

Tata Sons has other IT companies, including Tata Elxsi and CMC, in its folds. Ramadorai, who is chairman of Tata Elxsi and CMC, feels it does not make sense to bring all of Tata’s IT companies under one umbrella as they work in specialised areas and are also independently listed companies.

At 67, Ramadorai has little free time, but does manage 7-8 km walks every day. It’s a long road.