TCS : The billion dollar path

Tata Sons Limited, the
30 July 2004

TCS, India's largest IT company, is all set to create stock market history with its initial public offering

Tata Sons Limited, the Tata Group's holding company, started TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) in the year 1968 as a strategic initiative based on the insight that management problems in Indian industry would be mitigated, perhaps even resolved, through effective use of information technology.

With this objective, under the leadership of FC Kohli, TCS pioneered the Indian effort to create a globally recognisable brand for the Indian software industry. And today it is a Rs5,012 crore (US$1.04 billion) company.

The first decade of TCS was devoted to establishing its base in Mumbai. Throughout this period, strong links with academia underlined the intellectual underpinnings of the consulting business. Participation in the activities of professional societies, peer recognition and in-house training prompted professionalism within the company.

At a time when hardly any city of India initiated into the software business, TCS started its 'specialty centers' in Chennai and New Delhi. The pattern of best practices in Mumbai's 'center' and Tata's governance was replicated in these new offices.

Through the decades of 1980s and 1990s, TCS invested deeply in software engineering practices and standards, software quality assurance, software project management, software process and allied metrics, and research & development in software engineering.

TCS is the single largest software services exporter from India, servicing clients in more than 50 countries around the world. The company is expanding its international presence, particularly in Europe and the Americas. With over 100 offices outside India, it is now truly global in character and reach. TCS employs more than 22,000 consultants and serves hundreds of clients, providing information technology and business consulting services to organisations in government, business and industry around the world.