F. C. Kohli

Indian executive (1924–2020)

Faqir Chand Kohli (19 March 192426 November 2020) was a co founder and the first CEO of TCS Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software services company. He was also associated with other companies within Tata Group, including Tata Power Company and Tata Elxsi, and had been President of Indian Information Technology (IT) services advocacy body NASSCOM. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor, in 2002 for his contributions to the Indian software industry. He is referred to as the "Father of the Indian IT Industry", for his contributions to the establishment and growth of the Indian IT industry.

Kohli was born in Peshawar, British India (present day Pakistan), on 19 March 1924, in a Punjabi Hindu Khatri Family. He grew up in Peshawar, which was then a military center, and studied at Khalsa Middle School, and later at National High School in the same city. He went on to complete BA and BSc (Honours) from Government College for Men, Lahore, at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, where he was a university gold medalist. After his father's death during his final year in college, he applied for, and was selected by, the Indian Navy. However, while waiting to be commissioned, he applied for, and won a scholarship to Queen's University, Canada, where he went on to complete his BSc (Honours) in Electrical Engineering in 1948.

After completing his MS at MIT, Kohli trained in power system operations at Ebasco International Corporation, New York, Connecticut Valley Power Exchange, Hartford, and New England Power Systems, Boston, before returning to India in 1951. He joined the Tata Electric Company where he helped set up a load dispatching system to manage systems operations, before going on to become a general superintendent in 1963, and a deputy general manager in 1967. He went on to work for Tata Consulting Engineers in 1966, before returning to become the director of Tata Electric Company. During this time, he is noted to have introduced the use of digital computers for power system design and control including the use of the CDC 3600 mainframe computer at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is also known for the introduction of advanced engineering and management techniques for power system operations. In 1969, he helped set up the Tata Consultancy Services, at the request of J. R. D. Tata, the group chairman, after Tata Electric company installed a computer system to control the power lines between Mumbai and Pune, making it the third utility company in the world to install such a system. After internally serving a few of the Tata Group companies, TCS went on to sign its first contract with Burroughs Corporation for software services, in 1972. The company is the largest Indian IT services company by market capitalization and the most valuable company within the Tata group as of 2020. He is referred to as the father of the Indian IT industry, for his role in setting up the Indian IT services industry and contributing to its growth to being a $190 billion industry.

Kohli was married to his wife Swarn, a consumer rights activist and lawyer, and had three children.