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.