Tata Sons Head Chandrasekaran Gets France’s Highest Civilian Award

NEW DELHI, (IANS) – Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran has been honored with France’s highest order of merit, Legion d’Honneur, for bolstering relations and building business between India and France.

The award was conferred on Chandrasekaran, 59, on May 16 at the Foreign Ministry in Paris by Minister Catherine Colonna, Minister of Europe, and Foreign Affairs.

He was accompanied by his wife Lalitha and son Pranav.

The Legion of Honor is the highest French order of merit, both civil and military. It was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. France is one of India’s largest scientific partners, with over 25 R&D centers, 15 joint Indo-French research laboratories, and 500 collaborative projects in India. There are currently 10 Tata group companies operating in France.

The Tata family has deep-rooted ties with France right from JRD Tata who was half French and born in Paris to Simone Tata who was incidentally one of the founders of IFCCI, an Indian official said.

Last year, Chandrasekaran got a five-year extension as the chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of more than 100 Tata operating companies with aggregate annual revenues of more than $100 billion.

He also chairs the boards of several group operating companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages, Indian Hotels Company, and Tata Consultancy Services, of which he was chief executive from 2009-17.

In addition to his professional career at Tata, Chandra was also appointed as a director on the board of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, in 2016.

He was appointed on the International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development Board in 2018.