JUST SAY ‘STEEL’, and the affable T.V. Narendran’s eyes light up instantaneously. And if the conversation veers around to Tata Steel, he gets seriously involved. This, after spending more than three decades with the same company. Clearly, the enthusiasm has not dropped even a puny bit for the CEO & Managing Director of Tata Steel. Seated in the second floor of Bombay House, a heritage structure and headquarters of the diversified Tata group, Narendran, 57, is formally dressed, yet informal in approach. The large conference room is quite typical of the group—austere, understated, yet graceful. He sits behind a long table, from a different era, which blends well with a set of modern pushback chairs. At one end of the room are products from several Tata brands, among which are Tetley tea and Himalaya water.
This is where many a strategic discussion takes place, often culminating in critical decisions. It could be for a big-ticket acquisition or for looking at disruptive technologies or just ways to relook at the existing cost structure. Narendran himself has a frenetic work schedule. Travel takes him to Jamshedpur (where its first and biggest steel plant is located), Mumbai and to Europe as well, as he jostles for space to think through a multi-pronged global strategy that is increasingly beginning to hinge on India. It is a life across time zones, but Narendran manages some time to indulge in reading and playing the drums. The latter stems from an interest in percussion and it was well into his corporate career when he decided to learn the instrument. Today, he is part of a small band in Jamshedpur and smiles easily when he speaks of it.
Through all this, the honcho maintains a laser-sharp focus on the domestic market to ensure that Tata Steel makes all the right moves. It is a critical time for the company, “an opportunity of a lifetime”, he says, and the right strategy can set it up for the next couple of decades, if not more.
Why all this brouhaha over India? After all, its European operations—Tata Steel UK and Tata Steel Netherlands BV, which it bought as Corus in 2007—even
