Subramaniam Ramodorai,
Managing Director,
Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) dream debut on the bourses hit the headlines time and again, as did photographs of its low-profile managing director. But Subramaniam Ramodorai remained the least-quoted man in the much-written about TCS initial public offering.

That is quite in step with his style. Ramodorai is not a man who likes basking in the arc lights. Till over two years ago, after the Tata group decided to list TCS, the information technology (IT) powerhouse’s CEO seldom granted media interviews. He was the iron man who quietly ran the company away from the headlines.

But colleagues seek to dispel the notion that Ramodorai is reserved to a fault. Says N Chandrashekaran, executive director at TCS and his colleague of eight years: "He is not reserved but is very down to earth. He loves listening to classical music and watches movies for entertainment."

Chandrashekaran may have a point. At a dinner at Pune several months ago, he spoke quite openly to Business Standard on TCS’ China plans, displaying sharp wit on occasion.

Born in Nagpur, Ramodorai spent most of his early years in Delhi, where his father worked in the Indian Audits and Accounts Service. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree from Delhi University in physics, he went on to do another degree in communication technology from the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore.

The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) was his next stop — he acquired a master’s degree in computer science, after which he joined NCR, then the third largest computer company in the US.

The reason he returned to India was personal rather than professional. "There was a major recession in the US in 1970s, much like what we saw in 2002. And my parents wanted me to return to India, quite unlike nowadays when most people would like to see their children remain in the US," he told Business Standard at a lunch last year.

Ramodorai was able to fulfil his parents’ wishes about two years later. In 1971 the then Voltas chairman A H Tobaccowala, who was also in charge of Tata Inc, the group’s New York outfit, offered him a job. By January 1972, Ramodorai was back in Mumbai at TCS.

Ramodorai would not have been heading TCS today if he had shifted to the Tatas-Burroughs joint venture (now Tata Infotech) that was hived off from TCS in the late 1970s.

"I was one of the few people who stayed back despite being a key member of that team," he said at the lunch with Business Standard. In 1996, he was rewarded when he succeeded Fakir Chand Kohli to get the top job at TCS.

At TCS, Ramodorai shifted the seat of power (during the Kohli days all decision-making was central) down the line.

"The fundamentals of TCS are the same. But now we have more of a team approach. I try and make the core team as visible as possible. The age profile has come down, the hierarchical structure is much broader and decision-making is spread all over the organisation," he said.

The 30-year TCS veteran Tamil brahmin is also believed to have introduced more southern spice in the organisation over the years.

True to his southern origin and simple tastes, in an incident often retold, when asked about how a TCS event was organised Ramodorai is believed to have said, "It was fine except no thairsadam (curd rice) was on the lunch menu."