Ajai Chowdhry

The PC Man



In many ways, Ajai Chaudhury is responsible for the spread of computing and
computers in India. And, not just as the first one to actually bring out the sub

10k PC, fending off challenges from several pretenders. When he and his five

partners founded HCL in 1976, there were not more than 15 computers in India.

Yet, Chowdhry believed that IT was the future-he did not let his domestic

success fetter him either, as in the 80s he was setting up operations in

Singapore and spreading HCL's footprint across South Asia.

He took over the reigns of HCL Infosystems in 1994 and has taken

it from being a hardware centric player to a more technology integration

company. Even his decision to become a Nokia handset distributor has paid rich

dividends.