Dewang: His rise was meteoric

p>"I feel have reached my peak as far as lobbying is concerned," so

said Dewang Mehta nearly six years ago to this correspondent while sitting in

Nasscom’s plush office in Delhi’s Ashok Hotel. But as the events that would

unfold in the next few years, would show that he would continue to play that

role with sophistication and fineness of a moderator.

And he fulfilled almost all the goals he had set for himself except for

two--his desire to make a commercial Bollywood masala movie and obtain a

commercial pilot license for which he was training hard.

The once financially fragile 72-member industry forum in 1997, can now boasts

of 1,000 odd members and an extremely healthy bottom line, thanks to the

inspirational leadership of Dewang Mehta. But the success was not easy and much

of that can be attributed to his informal style and successful lobbying among

government circles.

He also deserves the credit for his excellent PR skills that led to the

income tax exemption for software exporters and software reproduction

legislation, and excise & sales tax exemption for software from a numbers of

state governments.

This apart, the Nasscom chief is also widely credited for convincing the

Finance Ministry to reduce duty on software from a peak of 107 per cent to zero.

This apart, he also started the annual software industry shows that have gained

popularity over the years.

The humble beginning



Born in Umreth, a small village in Gujarat on August 10, 1962, Dewang’s

family shifted to Delhi when he was just six. He passed out from Bharatiya Vidya

Bhavan in 1979 with the hope of becoming a doctor. Although he got selected in

three medical colleges, he chose AIIMS in Delhi.

Unfortunately, he was rejected due to a bizarre admission policy at the AIIMS.

After which, he traveled to Mumbai and was admitted into St. Xaviers College,

where he opted for Political Science, French and History as he was toying with

the idea of becoming an IAS officer.

Sure enough, after two months of History and French, a dissatisfied Dewang

sat for the entrance exam of CA, and in 1984 came out as a qualified Chartered

Accountant. In 1977, on a vacation to his village, he was introduced to Shyam

Benegal, who at that time was making his first movie ‘Manthan’.

For two months, Dewang worked with Benegal as spot boy. Here, he developed an

understanding of the art of movie making. Since then, he got hooked on to the

idea of making a movie of his own.

His fascination for writing compelled him to come out with an article, which

was published as a ‘middle’ in The Times of India in 1978. This

article was his lucky break as Menaka Gandhi, who was the erstwhile editor of

Surya magazine appointed him to write for the magazine at a princely salary of

Rs 600.

Not to remain contented as a mere writer, in 1982, he along with two other

journalists formed Asian Travel Writers Association, with the aim of promoting

Indian writings on travel and tourism. In the same year, he made his first film,

a 20-minute documentary on Indian tourism, "Glimpses Of India". This

documentary won an award at the Commonwealth Film Festival held at Leeds in July

1983. This was where he came in contact with computer graphics, for the first,

an inspiration that he would carry for the rest of his life.

The IT connection



In October 1988, Dewang cut short his stay in London at his mother’s

behest and joined Orissa Cement Ltd ((OCL) as General Manager for

diversification into computer graphics. Besides working in OCL, he continued to

dabble in making small ad films.

In the meantime, Harish Mehta asked him to find a replacement for the

previous Secretary of NASSCOM. Unable to find anybody suitable, Harishbhai

offered him the job. So in April 1991, Dewang joined Nasscom on a part-time

basis because "he wanted to carry on with his film making".

The rest, as they say, is history. For quite some time now, he was dreaming

of building up a company doing virtual reality movies on Indian pilgrimage

centers like Vaishno Devi. During the last three months, he was very active in

the rehabilitation of people affected by the earthquake in Gujarat.

In addition, Dewang was also involved with building his father’s dream

project - a hospital in Pune. He has also built a school in his village. Perhaps

Dewang’s most important companion was his dog whom he called Naughty Mehta.