Rajendra Pawar appointed Chairman of NASSCOM for 2011-12

N. Chandrasekaran appointed Vice-Chairman

Pune: National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today announced Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar as the new Chairman of its Executive Council for the year 2011-2012. Mr. Pawar succeeds Mr. Harsh Manglik, Chairman for the year 2010-11, and will take on his new role with effect from April 26, 2011. Mr. Pawar has been a member of NASSCOM’s Executive Council and is currently the Chairman and Co-founder of NIIT Technologies. NASSCOM also announced the appointment of Mr. N. Chandrasekaran as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Council. Mr. N. Chandrasekaran is the CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services.

As Chairman of the Executive Council, Mr. Pawar will lead and assist NASSCOM in catalyzing the growth of the Indian IT-BPO industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future goals and aspirations.

“It is a moment of great pride and honour for me to be elected as the Chairman of NASSCOM. India is among the few economies of the world that have stood tall after the global financial crisis. The country has emerged a winner due to its favourable population demographics, greater domestic consumption, and inherent resilience. To further sustain this growth, India, and specially the industry, will have to focus on two important pillars of the economic development – Skills of its workforce and SMEs. There is a need of greater focus on the ongoing development of specialized skills and capabilities, with the objective of helping increase employability of the current talent pool, by means of skill development across all tiers of the pyramid. Also, SME's play a crucial role in the India’s economy and help to achieve the objective of inclusive growth. Therefore, special focus and attention is required on the development of SME segment to propel this broad-based economic growth,” said Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar, Chairman, NASSCOM and Chairman and Co-founder of NIIT Technologies. He further added, “NASSCOM will continue to facilitate and collaborate and support the industry’s growth and achieve its vision outlined for 2020. It will broaden its role entailing greater collaboration across various industry players, governments and markets.”

“It has been an honour and a privilege to lead the industry as Chairman of NASSCOM. The IT-BPO industry is an engine of growth and innovation and is contributing to the transformational agenda in India and around the world. The trajectory for the future is exciting and NASSCOM will continue to play a key leadership role in this journey,” said Mr. Harsh Manglik, former Chairman, NASSCOM.

“We at NASSCOM are honoured to have Rajendra as the chairman of its executive council. He is known for promoting industry-academia alliances, and has been working closely with the academia to facilitate skill development in various sectors by way of collaboration, showcasing best practices for capacity building. A visionary entrepreneur and a respected opinion leader, he will bring his invaluable experience to the table and will a play crucial part in formulating future growth strategies and ensure adequate policy support to keep the momentum strong. We wish him the very best for future,” said Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM.

Chairman Mr. Pawar along with Vice-Chairman Mr. N. Chandrasekaran and President, Mr. Som Mittal will lead NASSCOM to carry out its diverse array of priorities consisting of industry’s value proposition including:

Talent Development – Leverage NSDC partnership; Foundation skills for IT and BPO, benchmarking entry level talent; Industry best practices
Domestic Market – Enable private sector partnership for e-governance, cluster development for SMBs
Small company/start-up ecosystem – Mentorship programs, partnership with industry, participation in e-governance projects
Innovation / Transformation – industry best practices, successful examples and enable scale
Globalization and Protectionism – Factual perspectives and demonstrate impact of job creation by India in key markets
Inclusion – NASSCOM Foundation to create industry-government partnership on inclusion