Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran is one of the most prominent names in the Indian business ecosystem and he spoke at BT Mindrush 2023 in Mumbai and spoke about the plans for Air India, Tata Neu super app among other things.
Chandrasekaran got the 'Business Icon of the Year' at BT Mindrush event on Wednesday for leading the $128-billion conglomerate with 30 companies across 10 verticals and hundreds of subsidiaries.
Speaking at the BT Mindrush 2023 event, N Chandrasekaran, or ‘Chandra’, as he likes everyone to address him as spoke about EVs, advice to start-ups, the Tata Neu app, and more.
Talking about Indian start-ups, he said: “People will hit me but people have to worry about cash flows. They have to build a business model where they can show cash flows. Everything else will come automatically.”
He also addressed concerns around some start-ups failing to make a mark at the stock market. “You cannot time the market. You should never say it was a mistake. If you are doing business, you should make mistakes.”
The industry veteran also shed light on how the salt-to-steel conglomerate is investing in the Indian consumer story with Tata Digital and especially, the Tata Neu app.
Chandrasekaran said: “We are not exiting enterprise business but we believe in the Indian consumer story. The Indian consumption story is very strong and it is a big opportunity which is set to become bigger in the next 30-40 years.”
He also spoke about how Tata made its electric vehicle model in 6 months. He also said that he's "an India bull" and he sees every company of the conglomerate going through an artificial intelligence transition.
“Every company has to do the AI transition, whether it's B2B or B2C. We need to train our employees in new technologies because we think AI will be a disruptor,” the Tata boss said.