NEW DELHI: MindTree Consulting Pvt. Ltd., chairman and chief executive
officer, Ashok Soota, took over as the president of Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII). The first CII president from the services and within the
information technology sector, Soota symbolizes the increasing importance of the
service industry in the economy and for CII. As Ashok Soota vice president,
Soota was the first chairman of the CII Services Council, which was set up last
year under the Associations Council of CII to regularly review the performance
of the sector and discuss strategies for growth and competitiveness.
Soota, an Electrical Engineer with an MBA from the Asian Institute of
Management in Philippines started his career with the Shriram Group of
Industries in 1965 and in 1984 he took over as president of Wipro Infotech. In
August 1999, Soota co-founded MindTree Consulting together with nine other
professionals. Mr. Soota has been the President of the Manufacturers Association
for Information Technology (MAIT) of India, chairman of the Confederation of
Indian Industry Southern Region, chairman of the CII's National Committees for
Electronics and Information Technology. Anand Mahindra of Mahindra and Mahindra
has taken over as the vice-president of CII.
In recognition of his contributions to the IT industry, Soota was named the
Electronics Man of the Year for 1992 by the Electronic Component Industries
Association. Dataquest named him the IT
Man of the Year for 1994 and he was recognized as the IT Man of the Year in
1997 by Computer World magazine.
Anand Mahindra has taken over as the vice-president of CII. He is the vice
chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Mahindra is also
the past chairman of CII (Western Region) and the past president of the
Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). Having been the chairman of the
CII Agriculture Committee in 2001-02, Mahindra will bring greater focus to
agriculture sector in 2002-03.
Mahindra is an MBA from the Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts.
He started his career as an Executive Assistant in Mahindra Ugine Steel Company
Ltd. (MUSCO) in 1981 and was appointed as the president and deputy managing
director of MUSCO in 1989. During his period at MUSCO, he initiated the Mahindra
Group's entry into the fields of real estate development and hospitality
management.
He was appointed as the deputy managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra
in 1991. Mahindra is also the Chairman of Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd.
Mahindra is the co-founder of the Harvard Business School Association of
India and is also a member of various organizations such as Asia-Pacific
Advisory Board of the Harvard Business School; International Council of Asia
Society, New York; Advisory Committee of Harvard University Asia Center;
Executive Committee of the Nehru Center, Mumbai; National Council of Applied
Economic Research and a number of other institutions.