Sethuraman Mahalingam or ‘Maha’, as he is fondly known in the industry, is retiring as the Chief Financial Officer of Tata Consultancy Services after a career spanning more than four decades.

Mahalingam had started with Tata Consultancy Services in 1968, when the IT major had begun operations. During his career, Mahalingam, aged 65, worked across all departments with the IT major, ranging from sales to business and operations to finance.

On February 2003, he was appointed as TCS’ CFO, and later as Executive Director in 2007. A chartered accountant by qualification, Mahalingam, who loves playing golf, has played a key role in helping TCS emerge as a $10-billion global company with about 2.5 lakh employees. Mahalingam had also managed its operations in London and New York during its early days.

He was conferred the best ‘CFO of the Year’ award in 2006 by International Market Assessment, while he had also won CNBC TV18’s Best Performing CFO Award in the Technology Sector for 2007. Mahalingam, who lives in Mumbai, has also headed the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Mahalingam, who is a grandfather (he has a son and a daughter), retires on February 9, 2013.

NEW CFO

Mahalingam will be succeeded by Rajesh Gopinathan, who has been appointed as the Deputy CFO.

Gopinathan has been with TCS since 2001 after he joined from Tata Strategic Management Group. Prior to his appointment as Deputy CFO, he was the head of the business finance function.

He has held several positions in finance, strategy and sales during his career with the company and worked in several regions. He is an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and an engineer from REC, Tiruchi.

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