Former telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar to head Nasscom

IT software services industry body National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) today announced the appointment of former telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar as its new president after Som Mittal's tenure ends in January 2014.

Nasscom made the announcement at the conclusion of its executive council meeting held in Pune today. The decision was taken on the recommendations of a succession committee under the chairmanship of S Ramadorai, vice chairman of TCS, Nasscom said in a release.

''This announcement carries forward the recommendations of the succession planning committee. Subject to necessary approvals from the Govt of India being obtained, Mr R Chandrashekhar is expected to join NASSCOM in due course,'' the release said.

"We are privileged to have Chandrashekhar share our future aspirations and help us to build a truly world class innovative industry. His experience in building sustainable ecosystems coupled with deep knowledge of market trends will further help us drive the transformational agenda in the country," Nasscom chairman Krishnakumar Natarajan said in a statement.

''Nasscom is an outstanding organisation and I have had the pleasure of engaging with Nasscom in my diverse roles with the government. I am honored to be leading Nasscom and I look forward to work with Som, the executive council and other stakeholders to build on the excellent work done and drive the vision and strategy for the industry in its next phase of growth and evolution,'' Chandrashekhar commented.

''The global market opportunities for emerging areas like software products, internet businesses, BPM, engineering and technology services, are huge and I hope to leverage my diverse experience to drive substantive growth in these segments,'' he added.

''We are excited to have a person of Mr Chandrashekhar's stature help us catalyse the future agenda of the industry and Nasscom,'' said Nasscom president Som Mittal, adding, ''It has been my pleasure to lead Nasscom over the past 6 years in a phase that has witnessed growth in a challenging environment.''

Nasscom has set an ambitious target of $300 billion of revenue by 2020. Nasscom has envisaged the setting up of 7 industry councils to build engagement and vision for high growth segments and emerging opportunities. The implementation of these recommendations is underway and Nasscom has already announced 4 of these councils.

Chandrashekhar was the chairman, Telecom Commission and secretary, department of telecommunication till March 2013. During his career in Government, he held a wide variety of key assignments many of them relating to the ICT sector, both in the Government of India and the state government of Andhra Pradesh.

Chandrashekhar who holds a Masters degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and an MS degree in computer science from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Has also received the prime minister's award for Excellence in Public Administration for the year 2007-08.

(See: Profile of Nasscom president-designate R Chandrashekhar)