THE PROFESSIONAL ROADMAP |
Before Nasscom, Kiran Karnik was the chief of Discovery Networks in India. Most recently, he was director of the Consortium for Educational Communication, overseeing the production and transmission of educational TV programs for college students. He has served as director of the development and education communication unit of ISRO. His work has included strategic planning, which helped launch India’s national satellite and communication system and the Kheda communications project–a pioneering effort in the use of local television for rural development. Karnik managed the Indo-US satellite instructional TV experiment, India’s first largescale, satellite-direct broadcasting initiative. An expert in technology applications and communications, he has consulted for Unesco, Ford Foundation, World Bank and John Hopkins University and authored several journal articles. |
The lanky frame and salt-and-pepper beard make him look unobtrusive and
unlike his media-savvy predecessor. The soft voice and calm demeanor speak for
elegance and dignity, but don’t promise the rusticity of a salesman who will
sell his wares, no matter what the terrain. It is not surprising then, that when
Kiran Karnik’s name cropped up as one of the probables for the post of Nasscom
president, most of those that heard this news exclaimed out aloud.
...But not any more. Even before Karnik assumes office as the new Nasscom
chief on September 15, he has charted out his priorities. Within the country, he
has to use this latest and most powerful weapon called IT to the benefit of the
common man. Worldwide, he has to make India and IT as synonymous with one
another as France and fine wines, or Switzerland and classic time-pieces.
That’s a long journey, indeed, especially for a little boy who, long ago,
would watch trains steam past him all day long, fanning further his ambition of
becoming an engine driver one day. Today, that little boy has finally slipped
into the driver’s seat. Only this once, that hot-seat is not in his
once-chosen steam locomotive, but the cockpit of the country’s software
juggernaut, one that has played the lead role in positioning Indian IT where it
is today on the international firmament.
"Perhaps they have put me in the cockpit because my next youthful dream
was to be a pilot, keeping in tune with the advancement in technology by the
time I graduated from IIM," jests Karnik.
But the Nasscom thinktank and Korn Ferry, the headhunting firm that was
entrusted the task of finding a replacement for Dewang Mehta, are serious when
they talk of Karnik. "Kiran has both grey matter and a dreamer’s passion–these
are the essential requisites for this job. You have to have the ability to dream
big, and then the capacity and the wherewithal to go out and make those big
dreams come true."
The chairman of the Nasscom selection committee, Harish Mehta, sums it up–"Kiran
definitely has the qualities of consensus-building. His marketing background
will come in handy to market India IT Inc. His skills in building an
organization, and his knowledge in building education systems are also
important. We have made our choice. Now, it is up to Kiran to actually go out
there and show them his stuff."
Vijay Mukhi, member of the Nasscom executive council, backs the marketing
aspect most. "We have lots of software experts in Nasscom, what we needed
was a marketing genius, one who could sell Indian software to the world. Kiran’s
success as the Discovery India chief executive is a great asset. Dewang knew
marketing… so does Karnik."
And therein, the first comparison between the two... but they will rise again
and again, from time to time, after every success of Karnik’s, and every time
he fails to pull out the proverbial rabbit. However, the driving force behind
both men remains the same–the passion to dream really big, backed by the
ability to come through on all responsibilities and promises.
The 23-year gamble
The sixties were idealistic years and Karnik, fresh out of an MBA course from
IIM, Ahmedabad, wanted to do something meaningful with his life, "something
that would have an impact on society". ‘‘There were few career options
in those days. After your MBA, all you could do was join Citibank, Coca-Cola
India, Levers or any other of the few MNCs operating in the country. For those
that could not cut it with MNCs, the options were to join DCM or the Tatas. I
wanted to do something different," remembers Karnik.
And a different way he did go. Rather than sit around in a big office with a
retinue of secretaries and drive back to his house promptly at 5.30 pm, Karnik
decided to try out what could help others for two years. "I knew I could
spare that much from my life to try and do something for society. Anyway, I also
had a strong education to fall back on if my endeavors did not work out. MNCs
were not an option for me, not for the money, not for the glamor. The last thing
I wanted to do after an MBA degree was to sell underarm deodorant!"
It was this drive that saw Karnik apply for a job with a government entity–Atomic
Energy Commission. At the job interview at AEC, Karnik was greatly influenced by
Dr Vikram Sarabhai, then AEC chairman, who was devising ways to use advanced
technologies for doing the most simplistic things for the masses. ‘‘Dr
Sarabhai had this driving urge to do something extraordinary on the technology
front. Those were post-Bhaba days and it would have been easier for Dr Sarabhai,
as a scientist, to limit himself to pure science. Those were also the days when
India was looking ahead to use technology to address its basic problems. Dr
Sarabhai rose to the occasion and decided to take up this challenge. This was
very inspiring and appealed to me–it was the challenge that I was looking for,’’
reminisces Karnik. "I decided that those two years of my life that I had
decided to gamble with would be best spent here," he adds.
The gamble lasted for 23 years...
The space romance
A year-and-a-half into his job at AEC, another big chance came up. This was
the time when India’s space program had started to take off. The program, in
those days, was a part of AEC’s activities, and the new challenge of working
on space research was interesting and intriguing to the young idealist.
"Sure it did, and I was soon on the new platform," he says.
"There was a hurdle though–the posting was in Ahmedabad, a place I did
not like too much. I soon found myself travelling between Ahmedabad and Mumbai
every weekend,’’ he adds.
Despite this, Karnik decided to stick to the job and continued there till
1991. ‘‘It was indeed a very exciting phase of my life,’’ he says.
"The challenge of having a say in determining how the most advanced
technologies and techniques were to used and where was a great opportunity. In
India, it’s very clear that the most needy sections are those that are worst
off–typically, the poor and the underprivileged.’’
However, taking infrastructure to remote areas did not keep Karnik excited
for long. ‘‘What was exciting was changing the mindset of people who would
use technology and that meant communicating with people, giving them new
information and empowering them. I always believed that television would be able
to bypass the literacy barrier and that it was perhaps the most powerful way of
achieving this goal.’’
This thought led Karnik to spend more and more time on the medium of
television, and soon, as director of the development and education communication
unit at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), he was able to lead the
organization to launch India’s national satellite and communications system.
He was also instrumental in the launch of the Kheda communications project–a
pioneering effort in the use of local television for rural development. His
interests in television as a means of awareness and education continued,
becoming stronger with time.
DD to Discovery
It was a natural extension then, that he became director of
the Consortium for Educational Communication, where he oversaw the production
and transmission of educational television programs for college students in
India. "However, around this time, I realized that I wasn’t getting
anywhere near achieving the objectives that had driven me to the field in the
first place. I wanted more," says Karnik.
The restlessness increased, and finally led to frustration
when Karnik realized that the government was not as serious about the use of the
medium for education as he was. "Everyone was talking about meaningful
television. Sure, everyone had taken to television in a big way, and it was the
latest fancy and the in-thing, but the very meaning of meaningful was lost to
nach-gaana. Those with the authoritative muscle were just not moving to toward
achieving what they had set out to do–to use the incredible reach of TV,
especially in remote locations, to spread education and knowledge," he
says.
Karnik paints a picture of himself as he was in those days–"refusing
to bow down and continuing to believe that the medium could be used to address
our social malaises, I tried to cut through the red tape". It was, as he
says, a time when he would come close to despair, then start out anew, only to
have his carefully charted plans snuffed out by the devil of bureaucracy.
That’s when Discovery happened to Karnik. And immediately,
he had his personal agenda clearly chalked out. He wanted to prove that
meaningful TV was not just possible, but that it could be greatly enjoyable and
entertaining, while remaining economically viable. "Discovery already had
good content and the need was just to increase the viewer base for this pay
channel. Once that was achieved, Discovery would become a financial success as
well. Unlike my previous job, there was no bureaucracy and layers of authority
at Discovery to stop me from going ahead according to plan,’’ he says.
And as Karnik remembers those golden days, the soft voice is
replaced for the moment by authority and pride. "I didn’t do too badly,
did I? I proved my point and met my personal goal of spreading the viewer-base
of Discovery to 23 million homes. Discovery almost broke even when I left,’’
he adds.
The move to IT
What began with the space program and Dr Vikram Sarabhai, graduated to
government-run television and then self-Discovery, finally moved to a segment
that promises tomorrow’s answer to yesterday’s problems–information
technology. "I had been reading and watching and absorbing the wonders of
IT for ten years. I had dreamt so many times about how IT could be used in
conjunction with TV, virtual classrooms, audio-video feed going into everyone’s
homes, education reaching everyone at their chosen time... there were some great
possibilities. It was a parallel track after Discovery to see how IT could help
the rural areas, the masses, education, micro-level planning. The linkage was
there," says Karnik.
So it was that when he was about to leave Discovery and the possibility of
heading Nasscom came up, it was the beginning of another challenge for a man who
has lived by them all his life. "It was like another discovery for me. What
we could do to make IT useful not just in a smaller sense but the greater
ramifications on a much broader, countrywide, worldwide scale. It was really a
chance to start off my life from a new perspective, with a new mission, all over
again," he says.
Swiss watches, French wine
So what is it that the country’s most high profile software job holds for
him? And how does he propose to meet his mandate? "My first concern would
be to largely help the country actualize its tremendous potential in the IT
arena. Next on the agenda is to convert India into the most powerful brand–similar
to the status Switzerland and France enjoy in other fields. ‘‘Think of
watches and the Swiss come to mind; think France and you think wine and cheese,’’
Karnik says. ‘‘In our case, whenever someone talks about the world’s
premier IT destination, they should talk India."
And he hasn’t forgotten his long-held Indian domestic agenda either–he
remains keen to ensure that IT India Inc does not just feed global needs, but
also becomes all pervasive within the country–"technology for the masses
is what I have always believed in". "Speaking purely from an industry
perspective," says Karnik, "no matter how big you grow, no company–and
in this context we are talking about the whole hog, India IT Inc–can ever be
successful in the long run if domestic demand is not sufficient. And that’s
where China scores over us. They have a huge domestic demand that makes it
viable for global hardware players to set shop in that country. They have the
critical mass. India has the potential too, but it is yet to be realized,’’
Karnik explains.
"And time is running out," he warns. "China is moving fast,
very fast. Everyone knows about the English language problem they have and says
it will last for another five-to-six years, protecting us. I don’t agree. I
hope we have a three-year window, and I am not sure that we do. I won’t call
the Chinese totalitarian, but they are a centrally-run state and move incredibly
fast on decisions and faster still on implementation."
"In infrastructure–both processes and systems–we are way behind
them, and China scores over us hands down. If we talk about the Olympics, let’s
be clear what it means–these are not just the Games, they could just be the
announcement of a new China," he adds.
Credibility, balance, merger...
A clear priority is to build up Nasscom as an institution on the lines of CII
and Ficci, "so that the IT sector can work closely with the other parts of
industry and in tandem with their needs in changing times".
Ask mission statement, and the answer is simple–"We have huge
potential, I want to actualize it in terms of achievements. But I also want to
make the India IT brand strong overseas; I want to see IT become a productive
tool that is just there, for every Indian, and always used, like pencil and
paper, bread and butter..."
Dapper and open Karnik is, and that doesn’t change when about any possible
links between Nasscom and MAIT. "Why should people walk on eggs when
talking about this? It is time for Nasscom and MAIT to work closely together,
perhaps even merge… But there are some concerns–one or the other could get
neglected, as software was earlier. There has to be a fine balance, whichever
way things go."
But there are some other issues he wants to focus on before taking any big
decisions. "First and foremost, Nasscom has to be seen as credible, its
every word and number etched in rock. Like Caesar’s wife, it should not be
enough to say that the figure is right," he says. "And we have to
build up a database which is authentic, credible and transparent and wherever
there is lacunae, we should make it clear that these are our best estimates, not
predictions."
The list goes on and on, as does the man. From one challenge to another, one
task to the next... engine driver he might never have been, but let’s not rule
even that out just yet!
Rajeev Narayan in New
Delhi