- Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran advocates for patient capital in strategic sectors like semiconductors
- He emphasized long-term importance over short-term targets for India's chip industry growth
- Tata follows financial discipline and partners globally, avoiding reckless investments
Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran has made a case for patient capital in strategic sectors such as semiconductors, saying their long-term importance for India matters more than whether near-term targets are met.
“Whether we will get it right and meet the numbers in two years or three years is not the point. The point is that chips are going to be fundamentally required,” Chandrasekaran said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 in New Delhi.
Speaking at a panel titled “The End of Predictability”, alongside former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Gray, Chandrasekaran said the world has faced hard times before. What sets this moment apart, he said, is that geopolitical disruption, commodity shocks and supply chain crises are all happening at the same time. The session was moderated by Erik Schatzker, editorial director at Bloomberg New Economy.
Bets Built On What India Needs
Chandrasekaran drew on the group's history to explain its approach. He said founder Jamsetji Tata saw steel, power, and science and research as fundamentally important, though he did not live to see the steel plant come up in 1907 or the hydroelectric plant in 1911. Decisions taken by successive chairmen have also proved right over the long term, he said, and where things went wrong, the group corrected course.
“Directionally, if you design it on the belief that it is needed for India, it is needed for mankind and for enterprises, you will get it right. It doesn't mean that everything will be smooth,” he said.
The same thinking drives Tata's push into semiconductors and electronics, he said, noting that India's electronics exports have risen from about $12 billion five years ago to $48 billion this year.
‘You Can't Be Reckless'
Chandrasekaran said ambition must be matched with financial discipline. “You need to keep an eye on balance sheet. So you can't be reckless,” he said.
He said announcing a 2-nanometer chip would not work. Tata has to follow demand, and India needs global partners because it does not yet have all the technologies.
The yardsticks for any investment, he said, are its importance for India, its businesses and its people, the jobs it creates and its financial viability. While the direction and the need are certain, how fast to ramp up and which technologies to pursue remain uncertain, he added.
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Resilience Is Efficiency
Chandrasekaran pushed back on the idea that resilience comes at the cost of efficiency. In a volatile environment, he said, designing for resilience is itself the way to optimise for efficiency. He cited the cyber attack that cost Jaguar Land Rover almost six weeks of production, and supply disruptions such as magnet shortages that can halt vehicle output.
Despite supply chain shocks and other challenges, the group is still set to deliver double-digit growth with margins holding up, he said.
In the near term, he said he was most worried about technology in the hands of bad actors, the labour restructuring it will force, and wars that keep opening on every front with none being closed.
Sunak, Gray On A Shifting World
Sunak said history shows that the move from one global system to another often brings a period of unpredictable and bloody transition, and that the world is in one now. He noted there are 61 state-based armed conflicts, the most since World War II.
“We are certainly living in an environment where hard power matters. States have realized that their economic security is indivisible from their national security and technological strength,” he said.
Gray said technology is “the thing that's going to define this era”, likening the arrival of superintelligence to the Industrial Revolution.
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