TCS 1970-2013
CFO and ED 2003-2013
Seturaman Mahalingam or “Maha”, as he is better known, started his professional career with Tata Consultancy Services in 1970. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company from 2003 till he retired in 2013. In his 43-year career with TCS, Maha has been involved in myriad aspects of the Company’s operations and growth, before being appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company in February 2003 and as Executive Director in August 2007.
A chartered accountant by qualification, Maha began his career as a Trainee at Bombay(later renamed Mumbai) and he took part in many programming and system design assignments. He went to the UK in 1974 to work on the early software export projects, including development of a Building Societies package for Burroughs Corporation in the UK. This package, which was designed in the UK, was developed on the newly acquired B1726 by a team based in Bombay and thereafter successfully implemented in the UK, making it as one of the earliest on site/off shore work done by TCS. Thereafter he played a major role in marketing TCS services across the globe. He managed the company’s operations in London and New York in the early days of TCS’ global journey. He moved to Madras(later renamed Chennai) in 1983 and he transformed it from being initially focussed on local operations to becoming a large off shore delivery centre. He established the IBM Centre in 1988 with the installation of an IBM mainframe, which provided the necessary platform for attracting large customers such as IBM Research Laboratories and Sega, thus paving the way for substantial expansion of TCS.
As CFO, Maha led the team working on IPO of TCS. TCS had operated as a Division of Tata Sons Ltd until 2004 when it was listed in BSE and NSE.
Maha has played a key role in helping TCS become a $ 11.6 billion global company with over 276,000 employees at the end of March 2013 when he retired from the Company.
Prior to becoming the Chief Financial Officer in February 2003, Maha managed Human Resources function at TCS from 1999 to 2003. In this period of great expansion of TCS, Maha led many initiatives in TCS including enhanced interaction with academic institutions, development of competency framework, introduction of EVA for performance management and Learning & Development programmes. As a CFO, Maha also looked after Administration, Legal, Information Systems and Infrastructure Planning and Development functions.
Maha’s experience, during the formative years of the IT industry in the 1970s and 1980s, has given him significant standing within the IT industry. He has been the President of Computer Society of India. He is a former Chairman of the Southern Region of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), He was also the President of the Institute of Management Consultants of India. He is the Chairman of City Union Bank. He is on the board of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, Kasturi & Sons(Owners of Hindu Newspaper), Lucas TVS , Sundaram Finance, TVS Logistics Services and JSW Steel . He is also on the Board of IIT Madras Research Park and Institute of Financial Management & Research(IFMR). He is the Charman of Bharathi Vidyalaya, Chennai which is a CBSE affiliated school.He is also the Vice President of Society for Rehabilitation of Crippled Children(SRCC), Mumbai which is in the process of building a large Super Speciality hospital for Children, with an orientation towards serving the economically weaker society. Maha is active in the Skill Development area. He is on the Board of National Skill development Corporation and is also the Chairman of the Taskforce appointed by CII National Council on sector Skill Councils and Employment.
Maha was a member of the Tax Administration Reform Commission(TARC) set up by the Government of India under the chairmanship of Dr.Parthasarathi Shome. TARC had been set up to review the application of Tax Policies and Tax Laws in India in the context of global best pratices and to recommend measures for reforms required in Tax Administration to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency. TARC submitted four reports to the Indian Government between May 2014 and February 2015 and the Finance Ministry is in the process of implementing the recommendations contained in the report.
Maha was chosen as the best ‘CFO” in various years by Business Today, International Market Assessment (IMA), CNBC TV18, CFO India magazine and FinanceAsia. He was also the winner “CFO of Year” Award at CFO Innovation Asia Awards 2012.
Maha and Rama live in Chennai. They have a son and daughter and have four grand children..
