Cyrus Mistry announces FC Kohli Center on Intelligent Systems in Hyderabadb

Tata Consultancy Services, the leading IT services, consulting and business solutions company of the Tata Group, on Thursday announced plans to undertake focused research in the area of Intelligent Systems with its Rs 20-crore investment to create a new R&D centre at the International Institute of Information Technology* (IIIT) in Hyderabad.

The centre has been named after F.C. Kohli, the first CEO of Tata Consultancy Services, and one who is also often referred to as the father of the Indian software industry. Speaking at the event and referring to the association of Kohli, who was present at the event, with the Tata Group for more than half a century, Cyrus Mistry, Group Chairman, Tata Sons said: "He joined Tata Electric in 1951. A visionary engineer, his talents were subsequently tapped to create and build TCS. His systematic efforts laid the foundation stone for the rise of the Indian software industry."

Mistry, who was present at the venue for a brief period, had a busy day and later, on an invitation from the Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, proceeded to have lunch with him. Apparently, the Telangana state or Hyderabad in particular is crucial for him and the Tatas.

Earlier at the event, speaking of the involvement of Tatas in Telangana, K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana's IT and Panchyat Raj minister and also the son of the chief minister, said: "This is the fourth time I am meeting him (Cyrus Mistry) in the last six months." He also said, he wanted to acknowledge the fact that the Tata Group's second-largest employee base after Jamshedpur was in Hyderabad. "The Tata Group's investments in Hyderabad and Telangana range from hospitality to aerospace and everything in between as well,"  he said.

*An earlier version of this story had incorrectly mentioned the International Institute of Information Technology as Indian Institute of Information Technology. The error is regretted.