Ex-telecom secretary Chandrashekhar heads Nasscom

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SME Times Nes Bureau | 06 Jan, 2014
Former union telecom secretary R. Chandrashekhar Sunday took over as president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the representative body of the multi-billion dollar Indian IT industry.

"I feel privileged to lead Nasscom in its next journey of achieving the vision and aspiration of $300 billion revenues by 2020, as the opportunities are vast at this juncture and exciting times lie ahead for the industry," Chandrashekhar said.

Chandrashekhar succeeded Som Mittal who was at the helm of the industry body for seven years since 2007.

Noting that the industry was evolving in terms of scale, complexity and innovation, the new president said that enabling transformation of key sectors through the use of ICT (information and communication technologies) to increase access, enhance efficiency and drive innovation would be his priority.

"The trend of innovation and entrepreneurship in the ICT sector impacts several domains and provides indicators that the journey has begun," said Chandrashekhar in a statement.

"We will continue to leverage international and domestic expertise to catalyse innovation and transformation in the sector," he said.

As the industry prioritises domains in terms of size, impact, leadership and the role of government, changing models will bring business innovations with specialisation across verticals, including BFSI, (banking, financial services and insurance), telecom, healthcare, education and social entrepreneurship.

"The industry has transformed into strategic business partners from technology providers and returned to growth trajectory after going through turbulence during the last seven years," said Mittal handing over charge to Chandrashekhar.

Mittal asserted that the industry was at an inflexion point, as business models shift from traditional labour-based onsite-offshore model to cloud-based and off-premise solutions.

The sector had impacted the country through job creation, foreign exchange, exports and positioned India as global IT-BPM (business process management) destination, he added.

Nasscom has projected the industry to clock export revenues of $84-87 billion this fiscal (2013-14) as against $76 billion last fiscal (2012-13).

In the Indian market, the industry is expected to grow marginally year-on-year at 14 percent to post Rs.1.2 trillion (Rs.120,000 crore) this fiscal from Rs.1.05 trillion (Rs.104,700 crore) last fiscal.

"We will continue to play a dynamic role in leveraging new opportunities for the industry," Mittal added.

Prior to being also Telecom Commission chairman, Chandrashekhar held key posts relating to the ICT sector in the central government and the Andhra Pradesh government.

During his three-decade-long tenure in the government, Chandrashekhar formulated and implemented policies, strategies and action plans to foster the growth of the IT industry covering its eco-system, including infrastructure, human resource development, e-governance and establishing public-private partnerships.

As telecom secretary, Chandrashekar dealt with spectrum management, national broadband plan, convergence, manufacturing, investment, security, research and development and the 2012 national telecom policy.

He also formulated national policies for the IT sector, promoting electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM), R&D in electronics and designing the national e-governance plan.

"The policies and strategies he formulated catapulted the state (Andhra Pradesh) to the forefront in the sector and became a role model for several states and countries," the statement added.

A post-graduate in chemistry from IIT-Bombay and an M.S. in computer science from Pennsylvania State University in the US, he was conferred the Prime Minister's award for excellence in public administration in 2008.