Subramaniam Ramadorai

Subramanian Ramadorai, CBE ( born 6 October 1945) is the adviser to the Prime Minister of India in the national council on skill development, Government of India. He holds a rank equivalent to an Indian Cabinet Minister. He is also the chairperson of the governing board of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, chairman of Tata Elxsi and Vice-Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS). Earlier, he was CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services from 1996 to 2009^[2] transforming TCS from a company with $400 million revenues and 6000 employees to one of the world's largest software and services company with more than 200,000 employees working in 42 countries and revenues over US$ 6.0 billion.

Early life and education

Ramadorai was born in Nagpur, Bombay Presidency on 6 October 1945 in a Tamil speaking Brahmin family.^[3] His father was a civil servant who served as the accountant general in Tamil Nadu state government while his mother was a housewife.^[3] Ramadorai was the fourth of five sons in the family and his ancestors hailed from Tiruvarur.^[3]

Ramadorai received his primary and secondary education at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Delhi University, a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1993, Ramadorai attended the senior executive development program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.^[4]

Career

Beginning his career with TCS as a junior engineer in 1969,^[5] he rose through the ranks and eventually was charged with setting up TCS' operations in the United States in 1979 in New York,^[6] which has since grown to over 40 offices throughout the country. Since taking on the role of CEO, Ramadorai focused his efforts on building relationships with large corporations and academic institutions, planning and directing technology development and acquisitions and overseeing the company's research and development activities. Ramadorai also spearheaded TCS' quality initiatives, taking sixteen of its Development Centers to SEI's CMM Level 5, the highest and most prestigious performance assessment issued by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). TCS also attained the distinction of being the World's first company to have all Centres assessed as operating at Level 5 of PCMM (People-CMM).^[7]

Ramadorai is the Chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), TATA Technologies Limited and TATA Elxsi.^[8] He is also the chairman of Computational Research Laboratories Ltd. He is also on the Board of Directors of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd, TATA Limited (India), TATA Infotech Limited (India), TATA Internet Services Limited and several other companies.^[9] He is also the Independent Director at Hindustan Unilever Limited.^[10] On June 17, 2013, AirAsia India announced that he has been appointed as the chairman of the airline.

Awards and recognitions

Ramadorai is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), President of the Indo-American Society, Member of the Corporate Advisory Board, Marshall School of Business (USC), and is also on the Advisory and Governing Boards of a number of reputed Indian academic institutions. In 2006, on India's Republic Day, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan,^[11] India's third highest civilian honour. In 2004, he won Business India's "Business Man of the Year" award. During 2003, Ramadorai received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indore Management Association, the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and a Fellowship of the Institute of Management Consultants of India. He has also been honoured with CNBC Asia Pacific's prestigious 'Asia Business Leader of the Year' Award in 2002,^[12] as well as the 'Management Man of the Year' award by the Bombay Management Association. He was named in June 2002, by Consulting Magazine (USA) as being among the Top 25 Most Influential Consultants in the world, the only Indian CEO on the list.^[13] He has been honoured with the position of 'IT Advisor to Qingdao City', People's Republic of China. On 28 April 2009, Ramadorai was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).^[14] On 31 January 2011, TCS Vice-Chairman, Ramadorai was appointed by the Indian Government as the advisor to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for the National Skill Development Council.

Books authored

On 16 September 2011, his book The TCS Story... and Beyond was published, covering his time at Tata Consultancy Services.^[15]

References

References

• Ramadorai, S. (2011). The TCS Story and Beyond. Penguin Books. ISBN 0670084905, ISBN 9780670084906. 

External links

• Website of Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Council on Skill Development