By Devidutta Tripathy and Sankalp Phartiyal
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's $100 billion (81.50 billion pounds) salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group on Thursday named veteran insider Natarajan Chandrasekaran as the new chairman of its holding company, three months after firing its former chair.
Tata Sons, the holding company in a business empire ranging from Jaguar Land Rover and steel mills to aviation and salt pans, ousted Cyrus Mistry in October, sparking a bitter public spat.
Chandrasekaran, 53, currently heads IT outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (NS:TCS), India's most-valuable company with a market capitalisation of $67 billion.
He will take over as the executive chairman from Feb. 21, Tata Sons said in a statement, adding the selection committee appointed by its board had unanimously recommended the group veteran for the job.
A masters degree holder in computer applications, Chandrasekaran joined the group in 1987, and rose through the ranks to become TCS CEO in 2009.
He was named to the Tata Sons board in October, after Mistry's ouster. Chandrasekaran also serves on the board of India's central bank.
A short bio on the central bank's website describes him as an avid photographer, music aficionado and a passionate long-distance runner who has completed marathons across the world.
Television stations said TCS chief financial officer Rajesh Gopinathan would be appointed as the software services company's chief executive.
Ratan Tata, patriarch of one of India's most influential families, had taken over as interim chairman of Tata Sons after the board ousted Mistry.
In October, Tata Sons' board had set up a five-member selection committee that included Ratan Tata to choose a new chairman within the next four months.