Tata Consultancy Services CEO Rajesh Gopinathan Leaving After Transition Period

Rajesh Gopinathan, a 22-year TCS veteran, plans to leave the company later this year after a six-year run as managing director and CEO to pursue other interests, during which he will help transition TCS’ leadership to his designated successor, K. Krithivasan.

Rajesh Gopinathan

Rajesh Gopinathan, who has led Tata Consultancy Services as managing director and CEO for six years, will be leaving the company later this year.

TCS Thursday said that Gopinathan has decided to leave the Mumbai, India-based global IT consulting giant to pursue other interests.

TCS also named K. Krithivasan as its CEO designate as of Thursday. Krithivasan will work with Gopinathan on the transfer of TCS’ leadership role until sometime during the next financial year when he is slated to be appointed as permanent managing director and CEO.

[Related: TCS North America Chairman: Our ‘Talent Cloud’ Continuously Upskills Employees]

TCS, ranked No. 2 in the CRN 2022 Solution Provider 500, has a financial year that runs from April 1 to March 31.

TCS was not able to offer more insight into the planned departure of Gopinathan by press time. However, the company told CRN via email that Gopinathan and Krithivasan will hold a media briefing early Friday morning.

This is the second major executive shakeup of India-based global consulting companies unveiled this week.

This past weekend, Mumbai, India-based digital engineering services and solution provider Tech Mahindra said that Infosys president Mohit Joshi is planning to join Tech Mahindra as its new managing director and CEO. Joshi is slated to take over the CEO role after current Tech Mahindra CEO C.P. Gurnani retires on December 19 of this year.

Krithivasan currently serves as president and global head of TCS’s Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Business Group. He joined Tata Consultancy Services in 1989, and has held leadership roles in the company’s delivery, customer relationship management, large program management, and sales organizations.

Gopinathan, who expects to remain with TCS until September 15, 2023, is leaving the company after a 22-year run, the last six of which were as managing director and CEO.

Gopinathan appears to be leaving TCS on good terms with the company. TCS Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, in a prepared statement, said that Gopinathan always distinguished himself with exemplary performance.

“Rajesh [Gopinathan] has provided strong leadership as the MD & CEO and has laid the foundation for the next phase of TCS’ growth with significant investments in cloud, agile and automation to help clients accelerate their transformation. I am deeply appreciative of Rajesh’s enormous contribution to TCS. I wish him the very best for the future,” Chandrasekaran said.

Gopinathan, in his own prepared statement, said he has thoroughly enjoyed his 22 years at TCS and working with Chandrasekaran. “The last six years of leading this iconic organization have been most enriching and fulfilling, adding over $10 billion in incremental revenues and over $70 billion increase in market capitalization,” Gopinathan said.