Of all the possible candidates, the credentials of TCS' N Chandrasekaran was hard to be ignored for panel. Chandrasekaran, 53, popularly called Chandra, heads the group's most valuable company. And of all the chiefs of Tata companies, which is present in around 100 businesses, perhaps only JLR boss Ralph Speth, 61, a German, can claim to rival Chandra's performance. TCS along with JLR are not only the cash cows of the group, but also the only two consistent performers in the group.Spearheading TCS since he took over as CEO and MD in 2009, Chandra has shown he can take tough business decisions and challenge the status quo.Under his watch, TCS has jumped three fold from Rs 30,000 crore ($6.34 billion) in 2010 to Rs 1.09 lakh crore ($16.5 billion) in FY16. Profits also jumped more than three times from Rs 7,093 crore to Rs 24,375 crore. The company, the country's largest software services exporter, today employs more than 350,000. That makes it the largest private sector employer in India and the second largest among listed entities, behind Coal India.TCS now accounts for 60% of the Tata Group 's combined market cap of $116 billion, besides contributing 70% to Tata Sons’ revenue, which comes from dividends of its listed entities. Chandra has also made TCS the biggest cash generator for Tata Sons—contributing almost 90% to the Tata Sons coffers in 2014-15.Chandra has also proved to be an able leader, often departing from established norms. For instance, he broke down what was once a monolith into 23 business units to make service delivery, operations and execution work smoothly for the company. Later, he consolidated the units under eight groups, the heads of which report to him. The strategy of creating small, focused business units was replicated by competitor Infosys this year. Sarabjit K Nangra, VP research, IT, Angel Broking says, “Chandra made a difficult job easy. TCS was always very big, but Infosys was seen as the benchmark for management, profitability and so on. Chandra leveraged Tata brand strengths to change that.Harish HV, partner, Grant Thornton, an accounting and consulting firm, says Chandra has provided the push and energy to make TCS among India's largest market cap companies. "He has kept everything going, despite the challenging post 2008 global business environment. He has built the brand globally."These credentials apart, Chandra also happens to be a Tata insider and veteran at that, unlike Speth. Speth, a BMW and Ford veteran came into Tata fold following the group’s JLR acquisition from Ford in 2008. Under Speth JLR's revenues have increased 3 times to 22.2 billion pounds in FY16 from 6.5 billion pounds in 2010. Speth is Tata Group’s highest paid CEO with an annual package of 4.7 million pounds.Chandra also has international exposure and familiarity with global economic conditions, according to Tata insiders. TCS counts some of the largest global companies among its clients such as GE, JP Morgan, Wal Mart, Home Depot, Quantas, Electronic Arts, ABB, Cisco and Vodafone, among others.For a sprawling business group like Tata, for which the international market still accounts for two third of overall revenues at $70 billion, that could be handy.Avinash Vashistha, ex-chairman and MD, Accenture India, says Chandra has delivered and has ample experience of servicing global companies. Gurgaon-based research and advisory firm Greyhound Research CEO Sanchit V Gogia adds, "he has very strong digital capability, a huge plus given that all business today are digital."Chandra, who is a regular at many global marathons, is also a hands-on leader and has a reputation for a sound cross-industry, cross vertical grip. Starting as a software programmer in 1987 at TCS, he has risen steadily at TCS. He was elevated to the TCS Board and named COO in 2007. He led the company to one of its largest acquisitions—Citigroup’s back office— for $500 million in 2008. He remains one of the youngest CEOs of the Tata Group.TCS, whose exports reached landmarks of $10 billion and $15 billion under his watch, is set to scale $20 billion sales in the next few years. In September 2014, Chandra got a five year extension as TCS boss.And despite his hectic schedule at TCS, Chandra has emerged as an statesman of the IT industry in India. During his chairmanship of industry lobby group Nasscom in 2012, he set the industry's vision 2020. Sangita Gupta, senior VP, Nasscom, says Chandra has the perfect combination of operations and vision. "Despite a demanding schedule at TCS, he made himself frequently available for industry activities."The only problem with Chandra's elevation will be what happens to TCS. "It could be a short-term loss for TCS," says Gogia.And though Chandra has frequently delivered, his lack of manufacturing experience and lack of conglomerate experience may prove to be the Achilles Heel to steer the $103 billion group.