India's IT pioneer Narendra Patni is no more

Narendra Kumar Patni, pioneer of India's information technology (IT) services revolution, passed away in the US on Tuesday, at the age of 71.

Narendra Patni was the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Patni Computer Systems (1978), which was acquired by iGATE in 2011.

Patni a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and Massachusetts Institute of Technology also held an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

On November 8 2008, the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee honoured Narendra Kumar Patni with the Distinguished Alumni Award. This award, bestowed during IIT Roorkee's Eighth Annual Convocation, was given for Corporate Development, Administration and Entrepreneurship.

Patni has been associated with this educational institute from the time IIT Roorkee was known as the University of Roorkee, where he completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering in 1964. In recognition of his academic excellence, he was awarded a scholarship from the Grass Foundation for his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
As of 2005, his net worth was US $750 million.

Patni is survived by wife Poonam and children Anirudh and Ambika

( First published in CIOL)