[4] Chandrika Tandon was born into a conservative Tamil Brahmin family in Chennai alongside her sister, Indra Nooyi, and brother.
As the first daughter in the family, Tandon was to be arranged to marry at eighteen, however, influenced by her grandfather, she pursued a higher education at Madras Christian College.
[6] After finishing her education at Madras Christian College, Chandrika Tandon initially desired to go to law school and follow the footsteps of her grandfather, who was a judge in Chennai.
In 1992, she formed Tandon Capital Associates[5] and has advised clients including Chase Manhattan Corporation, Comerica, Unibanco (Brazil), Suncorp-Metway Ltd. (Australia), Fleet Financial Group, Bank of America, Rabobank and ABN Amro.
[10] She also made several contributions to her alma mater, Madras Christian College and founded the Boyd-Tandon School of Business of which she is the advisory council chairman.
[17] Three years later in 2017, Tandon released her fourth studio album: Shivoham - The Quest which merged Sanskrit prayer with verses in English.
[20] In 2025, Tandon released her sixth and latest studio album titled Triveni, a collaboration between South African flutist Wouter Kellerman and Japanese-American cellist Eru Matsumoto.