Tata group chief N. Chandrasekaran on Monday said digital, new energy, supply chain resilience and health would be the key themes of its growth strategy.

In his New Year’s message to the employees of the $103bn conglomerate, Chandrasekaran said winning the bid for Air India was the most important milestone in 2021.

He pointed out that due to its 3S — implifying, synergizing and scaling — strategy the group is becoming simpler and financially stronger than it has been in a long time.

On the new four-pronged themes, he the group companies are already adapting to these changes and they are witnessing stronger performance.

“Our new pilots and businesses, from 5G to TataNeu and Tata Electronics, are poised to benefit from these four themes,’’ he added.

According to the Tata group chairman, they must continue with the transformation exercise in their companies.

“As a business, we can play our part in the evolution of India, with its ambitions to become a $3 trillion economy by 2024. We must keep pushing ourselves to be simpler, more sustainable, and more technologically advanced. If we do, we can push our company, and our country, forward,’’ he said.

Chandrasekaran, however, cautioned that all its ambitions are contingent on a more immediate concern of learning to live with the coronavirus.

Businesses and society must adapt to it by preparing as best as they can for new outbreaks and variants.

A year ago there was hope that the worst of the pandemic was over — only for the second wave to rum amock across the country, proving to be much more difficult than the first.

Though the peak of the second wave was a very difficult period, the Tata group responded positively.

“We supplied hospitals with life-saving oxygen and expanded healthcare capacity so more could get the treatments they needed. It was an incredible effort,’’ Chandrasekaran said.

“Thankfully, India’s brilliant vaccine program has built a vast wall of protection. Infections, so far, seem to be mild. But we must be careful. This isn’t time to let our guard down,’’ he said while urging the employees to follow the latest health protocols.

Strong show

Chandrasekaran added that this coincided with an excellent year for its businesses with group firms not only doing well in terms of financial performance, but also in executing the transformation agenda.