Brace for more disruption in 2024, says Tata boss N Chandrasekaran in year-end letter

Brace for more disruption and volatility was Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran's year-end message to the group's employees even as he said India’s future is bright as the country fared better than most others this year.

Chandrasekaran in his letter acknowledged the challenging global environment marked by geopolitical tensions, proliferation of generative AI, and an accelerating drive toward sustainability.

"Looking ahead to 2024, we must be prepared for more disruption and volatility. The complexity of global governance will reach new heights as the world finds new rules to protect data privacy, curb inflation, reduce carbon emissions and perceptions of Al risk. Geopolitics is also a potential source of volatility. 2024 is a year of elections, with 40 nations heading to the polls," he wrote.

Despite the challenges in the new year, Chandrasekaran, said India was well-positioned to gain from the transformative shifts reshaping the world. "In 2023, we performed exceptionally well. We demonstrated commendable leadership at a historic G20 summit. Our economy is thriving, with GDP set to double to USD 7 trillion over the next five years," he stated. 

Chandrasekaran called generative AI "a potential antidote to our access and inequality problems—provided we are careful and introduce the right rules."

Generative AI, according to an EY India report, has the potential to add a cumulative US$1.2-1.5 trillion to India’s Gross Domestic Product over the next seven years. Acknowledging the changing landscape, the Tata chief pointed out three areas to prioritise in 2024 -- execution of plans, customer satisfaction and technology -- asking each company to appoint an AI champion to proactively pursue the benefits of AI.

In his letter, the Tata veteran, also mentioned two biggest achievements of India this year -- the Chandrayaan 3 lunar mission and the Indian men's cricket team’s ODI World Cup performance. "The confidence and attitude was contagious, and a wonderful lesson in the value of resilience, preparation, mental strength and collaboration," adding that such qualities will be crucial as the Group moves forward with our transformation journey next year.

“I am thrilled that in this difficult global context, our Group performed admirably in 2023. Our transformation -- following the principles of simplification, synergy, scale, sustainability, supply chain and AI -- has progressed well across companies," he wrote. 

Tata Group's combined market cap increased by 32 per cent this year, nearly double the benchmark, which rose by 17 percent. "There are too many successes to list here. We also celebrated Tata Technologies’ historic IPO, and the announcement of new gigafactories -- exciting moves that I am confident will bring resilient growth for decades to come," he added.