The romance of the
Adventurer-entrepreuners, workaholics, mavericks-you name them, we have them. Like their
predecessors, the following is a motley collection of the inhabitants of this jungle,
there is no distinction between the scion and the startup. They are all operating on the
fringes of the unknown, to create the next stage of civilization.
Dr Prakash Mutalik, CEO, RelQ
Dr Prakash Mutalik is now 25 years old in the IT industry. And he is celebrating this
'Silver Jubilee' with RelQ, a company that he started merely a couple of weeks ago. His
journey with the IT industry began way back in 1973, when he earned his PhD in Computer
Science from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He then spent two years with the
ministry of Defense before joining AT&T Bell Labs in the US. Five years later, he came
back to India to join Wipro as a Software R&D Manager. In 1988, he quit Wipro as GM to
join Hewlett Packard (HP). Here he was involved in growing HP India's software operations.
In 1992, Dr Mutalik became a consultant. He
is perhaps the only consultant who takes pride in working with as many as 18 companies to
help them attain ISO and SEI certification. Be it a TISL, Verifone, Honeywell, or Ramco,
you name it and he is there. According to Dr Mutalik, ReIQ is the only company in the
whole of Asia-Pacific that is solely devoted to software testing and related quality
assurance services.
With companies treating software testing
and validation with little or no concern, this attempt by RelQ to bring in global
standards could well take India onto the road to success with quality. In the next couple
of years, he will be looking at gaining a strong foothold in the domestic market and by
the third year of its operations, he expects almost 70 percent of business to come from
the overseas market.
Arvind Thakur, Sr VP, NIIT
In 1995, Arvind Thakur was labeled as one of the future CEOs of the Indian IT industry by
DATAQUEST. Soon after that he was elevated to the post of Sr VP and Director at NIIT.
Being the youngest on the NIIT Board of directors, Thakur is credited with establishing
NIIT's software business and making it one of the leading software exporters from India.
He was the man behind the company gaining the SEI-CMM Level 3 software process capability.
The latest initiative of NIIT and HCL Corp. into the Japanese system integration market
has also been Thakur's hard work. An NIIT old-timer, Thakur is spearheading the software
business at the company and in the process, trying to convert the IT training company into
a software and a training company-in that order.
Neelam Dhawan, VP (Distribution),
Tata-IBM
One of the two highest ranking woman executives of the Indian IT industry, Neelam Dhawan
is currently responsible for the PC division of Tata-IBM and the company channel strategy.
An economics graduate and an MBA from Delhi university, Dhawan missed the opportunity to
become a banker when she spurned an offer from ANZ Grindlays preferring to be a part of
Shiv Nadar's dream of creating India's largest selling machine in IT. Dhawan is a
fast-tracker by habit and has spent close to 13 years in HCL. It was the lure of Big Blue
which prompted Dhawan to leave her mentor Nadar and take on the present role. Labeled as a
future CEO by DATAQUEST in 1995, she is just one step short of the post, and might well
become the youngest lady CEO very soon.
Manish Modi, MD, NetAcross
Manish Modi is the quintessential scion-foreign educated, part of the Modi business family
and a recently-returned-to-India businessman. But the angst to do something new propelled
him to set up NetAcross, an Internet and intranet solutions company, as new to his Group
as it is to the Indian IT. He also went ahead and developed an Internet-based messaging
and collaboration product called Unison, which he currently plans to market worldwide.
Modi and NetAcross are credited with having kick-started the Internet solutions business
in India. Now the company has tie-ups with global giants like Microsoft and Silicon
Graphics to provide services on their platforms. What also drives Modi probably is the
fact that his part of the family, the MK Modi Group, has not yet entered IT and the
youngster might actually be adding a huge and a totally new dimension to the family
business.
Manish Sharma CEO, DBS Internet
Services
"The word 'unconventional' best describes Internet as the Net epitomizes
'anti-establishment'," says the 26-year-old CEO of about a two-year-old company, DBS
Internet Services. It was simply a matter of fate that the computer engineer, who wanted
to do research in Artificial Intelligence, got hooked on to the Internet when he saw
Netscape. Says Manish Sharma, "From the technical point of view, it was an unknown
area with a lot to be explored, whereas from personal point of view, it has broken all
barriers of traditional mode of expression." And that was enough for him to go
headlong in that direction. He was joined by Viraj Savant, who looks after the development
of new markets in and outside India. Savant has been primarily responsible for the rapid
growth in the reach of the markets presently addressed by DBS Internet.
Realizing the vast opportunities that
Internet has to offer Indian businesses, the duo launched Websolutions in April 1996, and
with a mission to promote Internet adoption in India, DBS Internet was set up in June
1996. Since its inception, the company has evolved to become India's premier Internet
technology company.
Manpreet Singh, MD, Multiple Zones
In 10 flat years, Manpreet Singh rose to the post of CEO (of a division in HCL Corp.) from
a Management Trainee. A marketing whizkid, Singh started his own outfit last year.
Multiple Zones is the first discount catalog for IT products in India. Conceptually, what
Singh has done is created a brand new channel for the distribution of PC and related
products in the country. While he has initiated PC Zone for PC products with the target
being currently the corporate market, he has plans to launch Learning Zone, a catalog for
the home user. Singh's boldness is evident by his launch in what was generally a tough
year, yet he performed well, especially in light of the not-so-good history of catalog
marketing in India for consumer goods. But being a former HCL fast-tracker obviously
helps.
Montek Ahluwalia, Finance
Secretary, GoI
India's Finance Secretary and one of the key pillars of reform, Montek Ahluwalia burst on
the scene in 1991 when the then FM Dr Manmohan Singh initiated the reforms process in
India. As things have progressed, Ahluwalia has seen three governments change but has held
course on the process. If anything, the software export industry swears by Ahluwalia and
believes that his presence will ensure that software and IT get their due place in the
Indian economic decision-making. Ahluwalia clearly eschews the old protectionist regime,
and in the last few years has been talking about the need to step up the pace of reforms.
One of the highlights of Ahluwalia's career has been that unlike many of the latter-day
reformists, he has chosen to steer clear of controversies and maintain a low profile with
a high-pressure job. May be this is most needed now.
Dr Sugata Mitra, Sr VP, R&D,
NIIT Ltd
NIITians and those who have spent more than 30 seconds with Sugata Mitra are struck by the
extraordinary curiosity that drives him in all that he does. "I want to find out the
meaning of meaning and everything else is secondary." Symbolized by the motto set by
him GROPE, Mitra is busy searching for answers to his own questions. He is also the
inevitable mind behind the fascinating research that NIIT does on figuring out the way the
human learning takes place. Some of Mitra's real solutions, in the course of his
'gropings' are LEDA, Computerdrome, and the fundamental changes that NIIT made to the
programs being conducted for long-duration career courses.
Mitra is the man behind setting up of
R&D Center at NIIT. Forty-six-year-old Mitra holds over 20 years experience with
Organic Semiconductors, Computational Physics, Living Systems, Publishing Systems,
Multimedia, Cognitive Systems, Artificial Life, and what not. Also, he has played the lead
instructional role in a 30-part TV serial on computers. Currently, his role is to
continuously upgrade NIIT curriculum to contribute to the worldwide body of knowledge and
to support business groups in technology and scientific matters.
Dr Nirmal Jain, MD, Tata Infotech
Ltd
It is a little over a year since Dr Nirmal Jain took over the reins of Tata Infotech Ltd
and already the difference is apparent. While the former Tata Unisys concentrated on a
singular partnership, TIL is concentrating on forging alliances with various companies to
provide total solutions to its customers. Jain took over the reins of TIL when it was
clearly in troubled waters. With marketshare rapidly slipping and the company's focus
diffused, his leadership skills has been amply demonstrated when within three months he
could constitute a top-level team to streamline the company's focus on the systems
integration business. The first six months results, when TIL's growth rate was more than
the industry's average, bear testimony to this fact. Jain's sharp sense of business logic
has been honed by the 19 years he spent at TCS.
Dr Chandrababu Naidu, CM, Andhra
Pradesh
The man who buttonholed Bill Gates and sold him the investment potential of Andhra
Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu is a politician of a very different ilk. In a country where
politics is a four-letter word, he has successfully combined the qualities necessary for
politics with the actual information needs of his state. He is able to straddle both
worlds effortlessly. As a man responsible for giving a much-needed fillip to the state's
IT usage, his attitude has also been responsible for making Andhra Pradesh a preferred
investment target for both FIIs and NRIs. Recently, Businessweek magazine classified
Hyderabad as one of the hotspots of India, and going by the activities in the IT arena,
this state is sizzling.
MS Srinivasan, Secretary
(Industries), Govt Of Tamil Nadu
He is not from the IT industry. But he is contributing more to the industry than most IT
professionals. And at his finger tips he has facts and figures of the Indian IT industry,
particularly Tamil Nadu. This is MS Srinivasan, Secretary (Industries), Government of
Tamil Nadu.
Srinivasan's 26 years of administrative
career is dotted with a portfolio that has gone into promoting industries in the State.
Aptly realizing the growth potential of the IT industry, last year Srinivasan announced an
IT Policy for Tamil Nadu in less than one month of his taking over the office. Some of the
bold steps of the policy include announcement of venture-capital funding for
entrepreneurs, fixing a target of Rs 13,000 crore IT revenues for the State by the year
2000, promoting the Golden Cyber Triangle concept near Chennai alongwith developing
infrastructure, inviting private sector to jointly set up four more IT parks in Tamil
Nadu, and addressing connectiviy issues.
In order to involve people in the IT
industry and all associated Government bodies to work together, he has been instrumental
in forming a Steering Committee. And his endeavor is to see Chennai emerge as the Software
Capital of India. So reflects his optimism and determination "Just give me two years
to spin the magic."
Justice SS Sodhi, Chairman, TRAI
An ex-chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, and also the Lok Pal of Punjab, Justice
SS Sodhi hit the headlines soon after taking charge of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India (TRAI) as its Chairman. He rejected Government's offer for a space in the premises
of the Department of Telecom, Sanchar Bhavan.
His argument was that TRAI could not
maintain its independence, if it was housed within the premises of the Department of
Telecom, which falls under the jurisdiction of TRAI. The strength of this Barrister is a
law degree from Lincolns Inn and sheer conviction to take cudgels to regulate such a
highly monopolistic industry and promised to protect consumers' interests besides
facilitating efficiency in the telecom services. Besides the above, what is also equally
important is that Sodhi is perhaps one face of the telecom reforms which India can
showcase to the rest of the world with pride. Surely a lot is depending on this lawmaker's
ability.