New NASSCOM president assumes office

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) announced that R. Chandrashekhar, former Secretary - Telecom, Government of India, who was recently appointed as the President of NASSCOM will take on his new role from January 5.

He succeeds Som Mittal, who served as the president of NASSCOM from 2007-13.

Chandrashekhar said: "I feel privileged and look forward to lead NASSCOM in its next journey of achieving the vision and aspiration of USD 300 bn revenues by 2020. The opportunities are very vast at this particular juncture and exciting times lie ahead for the industry. The future looks positive as the Indian IT-BPM industry is evolving dramatically in terms of scale, complexity and innovation.

"Going forward, enabling radical transformation of key sectors in India through the use of ICT to increase access, enhance efficiency and enable innovation in the sector are going to be some of our priority focus areas. The rapidly accelerating trend of innovation and entrepreneurship in the ICT sector impacts several domains and provides clear indicators that the journey has begun."

NASSCOM will continue to leverage international and domestic expertise to catalyze innovation and transformation in the Indian IT-BPM sector. The industry is increasingly prioritizing domains based on potential size, possible impact, readiness of leadership and role of government. Changing models will bring compelling business innovations with greater breadth and specialization across key verticals- BFSI, telecom, healthcare, education and social entrepreneurship.

Som Mittal, former president, NASSCOM, said: "It has been a great pleasure to lead the industry as President of NASSCOM for the last six years. I feel proud to have witnessed the sector transforming from technology providers to being strategic business partners.

"In spite of huge turbulence in the last six years, the industry has steered itself back on to the growth trajectory. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on many issues faced by the industry and be of help in facilitating continued growth. The way forward is exciting and NASSCOM will continue to play a dynamic role in leveraging new opportunities for the industry."

The Indian IT-BPM industry is at an inflexion point as business models shift from traditional labour-based onsite-offshore model to cloud-based and off-premise solutions. The sector has impacted India through job creation, foreign exchange, exports and positioned India as global IT-BPM destination.