Not Ratan Tata, this man from Pakistan was behind Tata’s Rs 1294000 crore company, also known as father of…., he is…, the company is…

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a pillar of India’s IT sector and the man behind it was Faqir Chand Kohli. He is known as the ‘Father of the Indian IT Industry’. He was closely associated with Ratan Tata, the former chairman of the Tata Group. He was born in pre-Partition India in Peshawar (now in Pakistan).

Faqir Chand Kohli Early Life

He was born in 1924 and completed his education in Peshawar. He did BA and BSc (Hons) at Punjab University, Lahore, where he won a gold medal. Post-Partition, Kohli moved to Canada and graduated with a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University in 1948. He also went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and earned MS in Electrical Engineering while working at Canadian General Electric.

Founding Of TCS

In 1969, J.R.D. Tata, the then chairman of Tata Sons, recognized Kohli’s potential and asked him to lead Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) an IT services company which was launched in 1968. InitiallyKohli was hesitant to take this role  but later made TCS into a global business.

Under Kohli’s leadership, TCS became India’s IT face in the world. The groundwork done by him made India the global IT hub. From banking to utilities, TCS provided IT solutions to clients worldwide. Kohli started partnering with global giants like American Express and faced the Y2K challenge in the 1990s for India. By 2003, TCS had crossed $1 billion in annual revenue with a new era for Indian IT.

Collaboration With Ratan Tata

Faqir Chand Kohli had a good professional relationship with Ratan Tata, who took leadership of the Tata Group in 1991. Under Ratan Tata’s leadership, the Tata Group expanded its reach across 100 countries with a market capitalization of $403 billion (approximately Rs 33.7 trillion).

Kohli’s contributions in it was also major for TCS which became a 12,94,000 crore company. Faqir Chand Kohli passed away in 2020, leaving behind a big mark on the Indian IT industry. 

Kohli’s work was more than building a company as he transformed India’s IT sector.

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