Three decades ago, three brothers would share the same apartment in Chennai, and a scooter to travel. Now, the trio hold top positions in corporate India--Tata,TCS, and the Murugappa Group. N Chandrasekaran, who was named Tata Sons chairman on Thursday, is the youngest of the three brothers. His eldest brother N Srinivasan, is the group finance director at Murugappa Group. The other brother, N Ganapathy Subramaniam, was made the COO of TCS on Thursday as well.
The three brothers have come a long way from their humble beginnings. In the 1970s, when they would walk three kilometres each day to their Tamil-medium government school in Namakkal, about 415 kilometres west of Chennai.
Later, Chandrasekaran would complete his Masters degree in Computer Applications from Regional Engineering College in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. His first job was in TCS in 1987, and he lived with his brothers. "He used to be the first to leave home for office, often by 7am, and the last to return, sometimes way past midnight," Srinivasan told The Times of India. Even though he wasn't "academically brilliant" according to Srinivasan, "but was an above average performer who would put his mind and heart into his duty."
The ascent of all three brothers has been swift. While Srinivasan worked in top leadership positions in various organisations like The United Nilgiri Tea Estates Company Limited, Parrys Sugar Industries Ltd, Peria Karamalai Tea & Produce Co. Ltd., and Carborundum Universal Limited, until he was made Group Director of Finance in Murugappa in 2007, Subramaniam spent over 34 years working for TCS and the Indian IT industry to become President of TCS Financial Solutions, a strategic business unit of the company, until his most recent elevation to COO.
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