INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: ISSUES
AND CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION
SPEAKER PROFILE
ORGANIZED BY:
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN TRADE, NEW DELHI
SUPPORTED BY:
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
COMPANIES (NASSCOM)
Kiran Karnik
President NASSCOM
As President, NASSCOM – the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce for the IT
software and services industry in India – Mr. Kiran Karnik works closely with the industry,
members and the Indian Central and State Governments to formulate policies and strategies for
the advancement of this sector locally as well as internationally.
Prior to joining NASSCOM, Mr. Karnik was the Managing Director of Discovery Networks in
India where he spearheaded the launch of Discovery Channel in South Asia in August 1995 and
Animal Planet (a Discovery – BBC venture) in 1999. He has worked for over 20 years at the
Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) where he held various positions including that of a
Founder Director of ISRO’s Development and Educational Communicational Unit. In 1991, Mr.
Karnik joined the Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) as its first Director.
Mr. Karnik also served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of UNISPACE 82 and has
done an extended consulting assignment for UNESCO in Afghanistan. He has been a consultant
for WHO, The World Bank, UN Institute for Disarmament Research and Ford Foundation.
Mr. Karnik has been involved with many government committees, including the Prasar Bharti
Review Committee. He has a deep involvement with a number of NGOs in the area of education
and environment, and currently is the Chairman of the National Foundation of India.
In his career spanning over three decades, Mr. Karnik has been conferred many awards and
accolades. Most recently, Business Week named Mr. Karnik as one of the ‘Stars of Asia’. He
was also selected as Forbes magazine’s ‘Face Of The Year 2003’, for being a driving force
behind India’s off shoring wave. In 1998, the International Astronautical Federation awarded Mr.
Karnik with the Frank Malina Medal for Space Education. His deep involvement in the Kheda
Communications Project earned national and international acclaim and won the first UNESCOIPDC Prize for Rural Communication.
A Post Graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Mr. Karnik holds an
Honours degree in Physics from Bombay University.
Phiroz Vandrevala
Executive Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services
Mr. Phiroz Vandrevala, a Chartered Accountant by profession, is an acknowledged figure in the
Information Technology industry in India and the region, having played a key role in the
development of this sector. He has served as former Chairman of NASSCOM (National
Association of Software & Service Companies), the premier trade body and the chamber of
commerce for the IT software and services industry in India.
Mr. Vandrevala in his current position as Executive Vice President (Corporate Affairs) of Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS) is a key member of the TCS Management Team and Apex
Committee. His responsibilities encompass global responsibility for Public Relations /
Communications, Administration, Infrastructure, Legal and Corporate Governance. He is also
actively engaged in Business Development.
Mr. Vandrevala is deeply involved in the area of Information Technology for large and complex
societal systems and is actively involved in many very significant government related IT
initiatives.
Tata Consultancy Services or TCS is India’s pioneering and largest IT company with operations
in 55 countries and employing over 30,000 professionals globally with a market capitalization in
excess of US $10 billion.
Kanwal Rekhi
Founder - TiE and, President and CEO - Ensim Corporation
Dr. Kanwal Rekhi is the founder and immediate past Chairman of Board of Trustees of TiE (The
IndUS Entrepreneurs), a not-for-profit organization based in the Silicon Valley that promotes
entrepreneurship among the IndUS community. Today, he is the President and CEO of the
Ensim Corporation.
Prior to TiE, Dr. Rekhi worked as an engineer, systems analyst, and manager for many years
before floating his first company, Excelan in 1982. After Novell bought Excelan in 1989, he
joined the Board of Directors of Novell and was named Executive Vice President and Chief
Technology Officer. He left Novell in 1995 to start afresh as a venture capitalist and angel
investor.
TiE, started in Silicon Valley in 1992, is today a global organization of entrepreneurs with about
40 chapters in eight countries. It has funded some highly successful companies like Hotmail,
Exodus and Junglee and other start-ups in Silicon Valley. Beyond TiE, Dr. Rekhi is also
involved at the Board Level in many companies including 123signup.com, Instantis, Mediaway,
Sierra Atlantic, and Versata as well as the Community Foundation of the Silicon Valley.
During his illustrious career, Dr. Rekhi has been the recipient of numerous international awards
and accolades. Forbes magazine has called him 'the Dominant Investor in and Sage to Silicon
Valley's affluent Indian community'. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 1987 by the
Arthur-Young/Venture magazine. He also became part of the Board of Advisors to the President
of Michigan Tech.
Dr. Rekhi is also involved in increasing the visibility of premier educational institutions in India.
He recently gifted US $ 2 million to IIT Bombay to help set up a new School of Information
Technology. He also provided a $5 million gift to Michigan Technological University to support
the university's planned Center for Integrated Learning and Information Technology.
Dr. Rekhi earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology,
Bombay. He went to receive a M.S. in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in business and
engineering from the Michigan Technological University.
Saurabh Srivastava
Executive Chairman, Xansa India
Mr. Saurabh Srivastava is one of India’s leading IT entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. He is
extensively experienced in working in the US, UK, India and Singapore and has held senior
executive positions with leading international companies such as IBM and Unisys before
becoming an entrepreneur. He is an angel investor and on the board of Kaleidoscope, a leading
Indian producer of films and television content.
At present, Mr. Srivastava is the Executive Chairman of Xansa India. Xansa is an international
business process and IT services company. He is the Chairman of Indian Venture Capital
Association and sits on the boards of the government’s National Venture Fund and several state
venture funds. He is also a founder and Chairman of Infinity Ventures, one of India’s leading
early stage funds and sits on the Global Board and is also President of the Delhi Chapter of The
IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), a non profit organisation of the most successful Indian entrepreneurs
internationally with over 40 chapters in the US, Canada, UK, Singapore, Hongkong, Dubai and
India.
Mr. Srivastava founded, chaired and is now Chairman Emeritus of NASSCOM. He was
Chairman of the Indian government’s Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion
Council and has served on the boards of other apex Indian industry organizations such as the CII
and FICCI. He also chairs FICCI’s IT Committee and the IT Ministry’s Awards committee, is on
the board of the largest state owned development bank, on the screening committee of OTCEI
(the Indian equivalent of Nasdaq) and the Venture Capital Committee of the Securities &
Exchange Board of India.
Mr. Srivastava is also heavily involved in community activities. He is the Founder and Trustee of
the NASSCOM Foundation, which seeks to address the problem of digital divide and take IT to
the masses. He is also the founder and Trustee of India Sponsor Foundation and is on Advisory
Board of the America India Foundation.
Mr. Srivastava holds a Masters Degree from Harvard University, USA, and a Bachelor in
Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
Rakesh Khanna
Head - Product Marketing and Co-Head of Corporate Marketing, i-flex
Solutions
Mr. Rakesh Khanna is Head - Product Marketing (FLEXCUBE and MicroBanker). He is also
Project Director for the FLEXCUBE implementation at Shinsei Bank, Japan, one of the most
prestigious and complex FLEXCUBE implementations ever.
Mr. Khanna joined i-flex in 1996 as Program Manager for Citibank ELC for 8 countries. He then
took over as Head, Middle East Sales, where he made the first FLEXCUBE sale for the
company-to the Federal Bank of the Middle East (FBME), in Cyprus. In 1999, he took over as
Head, Europe Sales, and helped increase the sales volume from three FLEXCUBE customers to
28. During this stint, he created the European sales team and helped set up the i-flex European
subsidiary, i-flex b v.
Mr. Khanna has also played a key part in winning prominent banks and financial institutions for
i-flex, such as Antwerp Diamond Bank, Holland Beleggingsgroep, IceBank, Kredyt Bank, FIM
Bank, UBS Investment Bank, Europe Save, SNS Bank, and Deka Bank. If FLEXCUBE is today
the world's best-selling solution (2002), a good measure of the sales success is due to his efforts,
which have contributed approximately 40 FLEXCUBE sales.
He has led the i-flex team at various events such as the IBS Banking Exhibition in Turkey, CeBit
in Hannover, SIBOS in Munich, the Trema World Forum in Monte Carlo and the European User
Meet in Malta, Amsterdam and Cyprus.
Prior to his stint at i-flex, Mr. Khanna worked with Tata Barroughs Limited for 12 years, where
he managed projects in the US, UK, Belgium, Malaysia and India.
Mr. Khanna holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA in Marketing.
Shyam Malhotra
Executive Director, Cyber Media India Ltd., Editor-in-Chief, Cyber
Publications
Mr. Shyam Malhotra in his present position at Cyber Media India Ltd. looks after the business
and editorial functions for all group publications that include Dataquest, PC Quest, Voice &
Data, Living Digital, DQ Channels, DQ Week and BioSpectrum. These magazines and
newspapers constitute the largest publishing activity in India in the area of information
technology and biosciences. The publications cover all aspects of IT - business and technology,
personal computing, data and telecommunications, home applications and the channels business.
Between them these publications reach in excess of 1 million readers.
Mr. Malhotra is also heading the group’s foray into the electronic media and is the Director in
charge of Cyber India Online and Cyber Multimedia. Cyber India Online is India’s oldest
(started in 1997) and most visited IT portal. One of the few dotcom ventures with a growing
revenue model it has attracted strategic investments from Intel. Cyber Multimedia publishes,
develops and distributes CD-ROMs and is the leader in its field with many best selling titles to
its credit.
Previously, Mr. Malhotra, was involved in marketing of various electrical equipment for
Siemens India Ltd, Tata Exports Ltd and Eicher Goodearth Ltd. Subsequently he moved to
computers and looked after the computerisation activities for Eicher Tractors Ltd. for 4 years.
Mr. Malhotra moved to publishing and general management in 1985. In the time that he has been
with the group it has grown from a one magazine publishing house to one with a range of 9 top
titles.
Mr. Malhotra is co-founder of Scope-Plus a public service organisation which has trained over
1400 women in literacy and vocational skills in slums of South Delhi. It also runs literacy
programs, computer awareness and income generation programs in Tihar Jail.
Mr. Malhotra holds an Electrical Engineering degree from IIT Delhi and MBA from IIM
Calcutta.
Pramod Sadarjoshi
Director & Head – Human Resources, Computer Services Corporation
Mr. Pramod Sadarjoshi brings to the table the depth and range of hard-core, comprehensive HR
experience spanning organizations across sectors and geography. His professional experience
includes assignments at Burroughs Wellcome, Siemens Ltd., Citibank (Assistant Vice President),
HDFC Bank India (Vice President – Human Resources), Microsoft (Director – Human
Resources for India Subcontinent Region) and Oman International Bank (Human Resources
Advisor, and Head, Training and Development).
Presently, Mr. Sadarjoshi is with the Computer Services Corporation (CSC) as Director & Head
– Human Resources. CSC is the world’s third largest IT services company. He is also the
NASSCOM Human Resource forum leader for North India.
As part of his international exposure, he has traveled extensively, especially in the USA, and has
visited Harvard, MIT, Stern School, and other business schools in Chicago, LA, and Seattle, to
recruit, and develop relationship management at these campuses.
Mr. Sadarjoshi also has diverse teaching and consulting experience. He has been a visiting and
teaching faculty at premier Indian business schools for Organisational Behaviour and Human
Resources Management. He has conducted various training programs, workshops and seminars
at various professional forums and involved in the restructuring of curriculum and pedagogy of
MBA courses for some Indian business schools.
Mr. Sadarjoshi is a Gold Medalist with a Degree in Psychology and Statistics, and has obtained
MA (PM&IR) degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Jacqueline Lynam
Director – Hiring Head (India and the UK), Sapient
As Director of Hiring, for India and Europe, Ms. Jacqueline Lynam is responsible for all aspects
of Sapient's efforts to attract and retain the best talent in the business and technology consultancy
field in India and Europe.
Ms. Lynam came to Sapient in 2000, as a member of the company's pro-active recruiting team.
She has been responsible for hiring within the creative, technology, business development,
program management and internal teams.
During her tenure with Sapient, Ms. Lynam has been instrumental in staffing Sapient's first
office in India, both in 2001 and again in 2004. She helped design and enact an aggressive hiring
strategy that ensures Sapient hires the right people for the company. The process probes the
candidate's cultural fit as much as his or her skills and knowledge set. The hiring process has
enabled the Hiring organization to function as a top-quality internal recruitment agency, which
has dramatically increased Sapient's size—and consulting capacities—despite the demands of a
tight labor market.
In 2004, Ms. Lynam was recognized by Sapient's co-chief executive officers when she won the
internal Founder's Award, for her outstanding contributions and for exhibiting the company's
core values.
Prior to joining Sapient, Ms. Lynam worked at Bain Consulting, Hill, Holliday and
PriceWaterhouse Coopers where she was a senior member of both the Human Resources as well
as Recruitment teams.
Ms. Lynam graduated from Cortland State University with a bachelor's degree in Elementary
Education.
Peter Yorke
Assistant Vice President – Corporate Communications, i-flex Solutions;
Mr. Peter Yorke has implemented communication programs across large organizations in
information technology as well as oil and gas, in India and in the Middle East, in his career of 16
years, He has extensive experience in corporate communication, media management, high-tech
public relations, international communications, training and technical communication.
In his current position as Assistant Vice President – Corporate Communications, i-flex Solutions
Ltd, a global financial services software provider, Mr. Yorke is directly responsible for the
corporate communication function for Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa. This includes
advertising, media relations, event management, and production of collaterals, managing
agencies and web content supervision. He also looks after external communication initiatives
(dealer and customer publications and the website), internal communication (corporate
newsletter, intranet), and other functions related to corporate communications. His significant
assignments include the entire name change communication exercise from CITIL to i-flex. He
launched a successful ad campaign for the FLEXCUBE brand and a corporate campaign for the
i-flex brand internationally.
Before joining i-flex, Mr. Yorke was with a corporate communications agency in the Sultanate of
Oman, looking after the external communication requirements of clients such as Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO), Shell and Oman LNG. Earlier, he was with Wipro Systems and
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He has contributed greatly to areas like Software
Documentation, Training people in Communication skills, at IBM, TCS, Wipro and Tata Elxsi.
A Member of the Society for Technical Communication and International Association of Business
Communicators, USA, Mr. Yorke has been active in many technical societies and conferences. Most
recently, he was invited to address communicators from around the world on ‘Maximizing the Value
of Internal Communications’ at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
Conference in Los Angeles, USA in June 2004.
Mr. Yorke has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Bombay (1986)
and a Diploma in Journalism from the Bombay College of Journalism (1988).
Niraj Vedwa
Head- Global Sales and Marketing, Nucleus Software Exports Ltd.
Mr. Niraj Vedwa has been with Nucleus since March 1999. Heading the Global Sales and
Marketing Team, he has been responsible for spearheading the global reach of Nucleus and has
been largely instrumental in securing Nucleus the position it holds today. He joined Nucleus as
Country Manager-India with the responsibility of Business Development and was in a very short
time promoted to Vice President Sales and Marketing in the year 2001.
Mr. Vedwa is responsible for sales/marketing/alliances and client relationships.
Prior to joining Nucleus, Mr. Vedwa had a rich experience in Sales and Marketing through his
assignments at HCL Ltd., TNT Express Worldwide & Modicorp.
Mr. Vedwa is an Economics graduate from Hindu College, Delhi University with a Post
Graduate Diploma in Systems Management and a Masters degree in Business Administration.
Anil Bakht
Chairman and Managing Director, Eastern Software Systems Ltd.
Mr. Anil Bakht turned to software entrepreneurship in 1990. Along with his colleague Sanjay
Agarwala he established Eastern Software Systems (ESS) in 1990 to develop software products.
Today, ESS is India's premier e-business solution provider focused single-mindedly on the SME
industry.
Previously, Mr. Bakht lived in Canada for twelve years working for organizations such as ESSO
Petroleum and Bank of Nova Scotia before returning to India in 1985. On his return to India he
joined CMC Limited and was with the Company for 5 years.
A veteran in the IT industry, Mr. Bakht was also a member of the National Task Force on
Information Technology and Software Development set up by the Prime Minister of India in
1998.
Mr. Bakht's vision and quest for constant innovation, has helped ESS to constantly be at the
forefront of technology. In 1996 ESS was the first to announce an ERP package specifically
targeted at the SME segment. In 1999 the Company became the first to offer ASP services
through its ERP-on-the-net offering. In early 2000, ESS launched ‘ebizframe’ India's first
comprehensive business framework online for SMEs. In late 2000, ESS launched a WAP
enabled ‘ebizframe’.
Mr. Bakht holds a degree in Computer science from University of Toronto, Canada.
Dr.M.L.SINGLA
Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi
Dr. Singla has more than 21 years of professional experience both in Academics and Industry in
the specific area of Information Systems, Business Process Re-engineering, Strategic IT
Management and Decision Support Systems. He is actively involved in teaching, training,
research and consultancy in the area. He has conducted large number of management
development programs for public and private sector organizations in the areas of MIS and
Computer Applications. He also undertook system design, development and implementation
projects with medium sized organizations. He has been involved in planning of IT usage for
organizations in the capacity of IT advisor.
Dr. Singla worked as an Associate Professor at the Management Development Institute. Before
joining MDI, he worked as a Faculty Member in the area of Information Systems Management at
the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi. He started his career with Tata
Consultancy Services, Delhi as a Software and Management Consultant, where he worked for
two years.
Dr. Singla has published 20 papers in various journals and authored two books titled “MIS in
Public Sector” and “IT Tools and Applications”. Currently he is working on research projects on
“Key Information System Management Issues”; He has also been contributing to leading
Business Periodicals like Business Today (Jan.2000).
He has taught and researched at the College of Business and Economics, California State
University, Fullerton, USA as a Visiting Scholar during the Summer Schedule of 2001. He has
led many IT/Re-engineering seminars for government and industry, such as 2-day IT Seminar for
Middle Level Executives of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and two seminars of one-day each on IT
and e-Governance for Sri Lankan Government and industry executives.
Dr.Singla has a B.Sc.(Mechanical Engineering) from Punjab University, Chandigarh; an M.B.A.
from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi; and a Ph.D. in Management from
Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.