From AI and talent disruption to the transformation of Air India, N Chandrasekaran opens up on the big bets shaping the Tata Group’s future. In this exclusive conversation, he discusses Tata’s four major transitions- AI, energy, supply chains and talent along with the group’s approach to innovation, leadership and simplifying complex businesses. He also shares insights into the Air India acquisition and transformation, Tata’s plans to integrate AI across its diverse businesses, and the three-S strategy that strengthened the group. For CEOs and entrepreneurs, his message is clear: opportunities...
What Natarajan Chandrasekaran said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, discussed Tata Group's strengths, including its long-serving workforce and iconic leaders. He projected that by 2025 renewable capacity will exceed coal, and by 2027-28 renewable capacity will double coal, reaching 65-70% of total capacity. He emphasized AI's disruptive potential and the need for regulatory frameworks. On Air India, he said the government's 100% divestment and balance sheet restructuring made the bid comfortable, and he highlighted public support, noting he receives four to five emails daily. He outlined four transformations across businesses: AI, energy transition, supply chain, and talent. He mentioned pivoting to electric vehicles, including electric and hydrogen buses, but noted economics must improve. He spoke about his 'three phases' strategy: strengthening the core, simplifying structures, and synergizing businesses. He advised leaders to be bold, disciplined, and patient, calling it 'inspiration with rigor.'
Key takeaways
By 2025, Tata's renewable capacity will exceed coal capacity, and by 2027-28 it will double coal capacity, making 65-70% of capacity renewable.
Tata Group is doing pilots on AI and machine learning and may set up a group-wide center of excellence.
Air India turnaround benefits from 1 billion people wanting it to succeed, with the executive receiving four to five feedback mails daily.
Tata has pivoted to electric vehicles, including electric and hydrogen buses, but economics of some technologies still need to work out.
Tata Group has a lot of people who serve the group for a very long time. So that's our strength. Our aim is to give a product which every Indian is proud of. Give a service which I don't want a second one which is better than anything else that exists.
I think by 2025 our renewable capacity will be higher than our coal capacity, and by 2027-28 probably our renewable capacity will double the coal capacity. So 65-70% will be renewable.
I would only say that people should continue to be bold. They have to have discipline, and it does take time to build a good business.
Talent is... we are predominantly an inbred company. I think Tata Group has a lot of people who serve the group for a very long time, so that's our strength. But at the same time we need to inject talent and also train our people on new technologies because AI will be a disruptor.
I think we can talk about ChatGPT all day, but it'll be a disruptor and it is real. It's going to change the productive equation by an order of magnitude. It has implications on jobs. It has got implications on skills that are required for the future. It has got a huge regulatory issue because already different governments have started reacting differently, which we have got to take the lead to come out with some kind of a regulatory framework where there is not too much of a difference between... because it's a global world, as much as the geopolitics is making it out to be difficult, but still we are a connected world.
Once the bid process started, once we knew that government is going to divest 100%, and then the government was going to restructure the balance sheet, then we felt comfortable because we knew there will be challenges and there are lots of challenges because we have to fix a lot of things. But the good thing is 1 billion people want Air India to succeed.
Everyone in this country is rooting for Air India. You can't have a better tailwind than that. Okay, there is a mail every day.
Why one mail? There are multiple mails every day. Somebody wanting to work for Air India. Somebody giving me advice. Somebody telling me that I had a great flight. I know the flight was bad but I can see the improvement in on-time arrival and customer service. And also people sending WhatsApp messages how bad the interior is, how the seat didn't work, how something was dirty. So I get about four or five mails on Air India every day, some in WhatsApp, some in email.
Our aim is to give a product which every Indian is proud of, give a service which I don't want a second one which is better than anything else that exists.
From our point of view, all our businesses have to do massive transformation on four dimensions. One is AI. I'm pretty sure Nandan covered a lot of AI, so there is going to be a huge impact of AI. So every company has to do the transition whether it's B2B or B2C. Second is energy transition. Third is supply chain transition. Fourth is talent transition. So this is happening in all companies whether it is steel, whether it is automobile. In fact automobile is very visible. We have pivoted to electric vehicles. Commercial vehicles also we've gone through electric, we've gone to electric buses, hydrogen buses. We already produced the first set of hydrogen buses. But still the economics has to work out in some of these technologies. Similarly in power we are going through a massive transformation. We have pivoted towards renewable.
I think by 2025 our renewable capacity will be higher than our coal capacity. And by 2027-28 probably our renewable capacity will double the coal capacity.
I can't give you a definitive statement, but training is our core competence. We know how to train people and we have already created pilots. We might set up a center of excellence for the group. We are already putting the framework in place. We will put a lot of hero projects across the group on AI and machine learning. We're already doing a pilot in one small company. Can we change all the systems...
Chandrasekaran, N. (2026, August 13). 6 Business & Leadership Rules Every Leader Can Learn From N Chandrasekaran [Interview transcript]. Business Today. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1254278/
MLA
Natarajan Chandrasekaran. "6 Business & Leadership Rules Every Leader Can Learn From N Chandrasekaran." Business Today, 13 Aug. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1254278/.
BibTeX
@misc{chandrasekaran2026_1254278,
author = {Natarajan Chandrasekaran},
title = {6 Business \& Leadership Rules Every Leader Can Learn From N Chandrasekaran},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Business Today. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {aug},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1254278/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
