Tata Sons Chairman Chandrasekaran misses TCS AGM amid Air India crash fallout

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday skipped the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), the country’s largest IT services exporter, marking his second consecutive absence from a shareholder gathering of the group.

TCS Company Secretary Yashaswin Sheth informed shareholders that Chandrasekaran was unable to attend due to "some exigencies."

His absence comes a day after he missed the AGM of Tata Consumer Products, following last week’s deadly crash of an Air India-operated aircraft, which killed more than 270 people.

The crash of Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, occurred less than a minute after takeoff on June 12, when the aircraft slammed into a medical college complex.

The death toll includes 241 passengers and crew.

Independent director and former HDFC vice chairman Keki Mistry chaired Thursday’s TCS meeting in Chandrasekaran’s place, telling shareholders, “This is a very difficult time for us at the Tata Group. We are all deeply saddened. This is an unimaginable tragedy that has resulted in so many losses of lives.”

The TCS board observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims before beginning proceedings.

In an interview on Wednesday with Times Now, Chandrasekaran said he feels “very sorry” for the tragedy.

“It is an extremely difficult situation where I have no words to express to console any of the families of those who died,” he said. “All we can do is to be with the families at this time, grieve with them and we will do everything to support them at this hour and beyond.”

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has launched a formal probe, while the government has constituted a high-level committee to examine the causes of the crash.

Chandrasekaran said preliminary findings could take up to a month, but maintained that the aircraft had a clean operational and maintenance history.

“There are a lot of speculations... but the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, AI-171, has a clean history,” he said.

According to Chandrasekaran, the right engine was replaced in March 2025, while the left was last serviced in 2023 and was due for maintenance in December 2025.

He also dismissed any links between the aircraft and Turkish Technic, amid media scrutiny, clarifying that none of the 33 Boeing 787s in Air India’s fleet are serviced by the Turkish firm. “Most of them are maintained by AIESL or SIA Engineering,” he said.