Asian Enterprise is Back

While not being a headline grabbing industry like finance, property or media outsourcing is a sector where Asian entrepreneurs have built and run substantial sized businesses. We look at some of the corporate titans in this very lucrative trade.

Azim Premji
WIPRO

Stanford graduate transformed a vegetable oil business into one of the largest BPO and IT companies in the world. Was the richest Indian in the world for many years and still has a net worth  of $16.8 billion according to Forbes magazine’s latest rankings. The Chairman and CEO still going strong at 65.

N. R. Naryana Murthy
Nandan Nilekani
Kris Gopalakrishnan
INFOSYS

Murthy and Nilekani were former CEOs and Murthy is now non-executive chairman of Infosys. Nilekani accepted invitation from Indian premier Manmohan Singh to become chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India. Gopalakrishnan is the current CEO and has been doing an excellent job after taking over from Nilekani.

Ratan Tata
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Ratan Tata was instrumental in making this company a global concern that bears the family name. He is also the chairman of two of the largest private sector promoted philanthropic trusts in India. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is one of the great success stories of Tata Group along with Tata Motors and Tata Steel. The septuagenarian has been aggressive in finding targets with great synergy, acquiring them and making them lean mean fighting machines. The board will find it incredibly difficult to replace such a charismatic leader, when he calls it a day. Especially with one who can make the same kind of impact as Ratan Tata.

Pramod Bhasin
GENPACT

Pramod founded Genpact (formerly GE Capital International Services) in 1997. Under his leadership, Genpact pioneered the Business Process Management Industry in India. This industry now employs over a million people in India, directly and indirectly. Genpact has also been the pioneer of this industry in China and Eastern Europe. Today, it is acknowledged as a leader in the globalization of services and technology. Genpact serves its global customers from over 39 operations centers in 13 countries, with over 43,000 employees across a wide range of business processes, technologies and industries. Genpact is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘G’.

Anand Mahindra
TECH MAHINDRA

Anand Mahindra is the Non-Executive Chairman of the Company and is the Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Anand began his career with MUSCO, as Executive Assistant to the Finance Director. In 1989, he was appointed as President and Deputy Managing Director of MUSCO. Anand has received several awards, including the 'Knight of the Order of Merit' by the President of the French Republic and the 2005 Leadership Award from the American India Foundation.

He continues to be involved with Harvard and is a co-founder of the Harvard Business School Association of India, a member of the Board of Dean's Advisors and of the Asia Pacific Advisory Council of the Harvard Business School.

Shiv Nadar
HCL

The genesis of HCL began at a Delhi "barsaati" (akin to a garage start-up) in 1976 which evolved three decades later into a dynamic USD 5 Billion Global Empire.

A young team of six led by Shiv Nadar, the pioneers of HCL, believed in the growth prospects IT industry had for India. Today HCL is one of the leading IT enterprises employing 60,000 professionals, with a global presence in 23 countries spanning locations worldwide

Narndra K. Patni
PATNI

Mr. Narendra K. Patni, Chairman and one of the founders of Patni Computer Systems Ltd., was erstwhile CEO of the Company. As an entrepreneur, Mr. Patni has played an integral role in the development of the Indian IT industry and has been instrumental in initiating the offshore outsourcing business model for the software industry. Mr. Patni’s professional experience includes senior management and consulting positions with the U.S. Trust Company of New York and Arthur D. Little, Inc. He was also President and Director of the Forrester Consulting Group. In 1972, he founded his first company, Data Conversion Inc. which is now the Company’s U.S. subsidiary, Patni Computer Systems, Inc.

Mr. Patni holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Roorkee, a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master’s degree in Management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Ravi Pandit
KPIT CUMMINS

From his accounting roots, Ravi, along with his team, has built a global IT, Engineering & BPO services company with leadership in sharply defined focus areas. Widely respected for integrity, innovation and dynamism, Ravi and his colleagues have successfully forged global partnerships with people, customers and investors.
He has an extensive experience of over three decades in the fields of IT, corporate strategy Formulation and Management consulting. Ravi is the chairman of K&P group which includes Kirtane & Pandit Chartered Accountants, K&P Corporate Solutions, a firm engaged in consulting and stock options and KP consulting that specializes in balance score card and activity based management. Ravi also serves on the board of Finolex. He has served as the President of the esteemed Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture and has also been on the NASSCOM Executive Council twice.

Ravi is a gold medalist and fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an associate member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. A graduate of Pune University, Ravi has a Masters from Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, USA. An avid trekker, Ravi enjoys reading and listening to classical music.

Keshav Murugesh
WNS

Murugesh, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at WNS. Based in Mumbai, Murugesh is responsible for executing business strategy and directing the overall performance and growth. Prior to joining WNS, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Syntel Inc. where he was responsible for the company's global IT services and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) businesses. Prior to being named CEO, he served as COO, President and CFO, during which time the company's global work force, revenue, EPS and market capitalization grew significantly. Prior to joining Syntel as CFO in 2002, he held a range of progressively responsible senior management posts at conglomerate ITC Limited, an affiliate of BAT plc. Murugesh holds a Bachelor's Degree of Commerce and is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is a frequent industry speaker and serves as the Chairman of SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) India, which is a global organization involved in educational outreach projects in partnership with businesses across the globe.

Atul K Nishar
HEXAWARE TECHNOLOGIES

Atul Nishar is the Founder & Chairman of Hexaware Technologies Limited, a company that he set up in India in 1990. He is the driving force of Hexaware's strategic direction and marketing focus. Under his leadership, Hexaware Technologies has grown into a multi-million dollar, global software and BPO services corporation, listed on Indian and London Stock Exchanges.
An entrepreneur by nature, Atul Nishar had founded Aptech Limited in 1985, a computer training company which he grew into a leading global IT training outfit with over 2400 centers across 52 countries. He was the Chairman of Aptech till early 2003, when the promoters divested their stake in the company.

Y C Deveshwar
 ITC INFOTECH

Y C Deveshwar is the Chairman of ITC Limited, a multi-business Indian conglomerate with a market capitalization of around $ 30 billion and a turnover of $ 6 billion. He is also the Chairman of its wholly owned subsidiary ITC Infotech India Limited and its subsidiaries in the UK and USA. ITC Infotech operates out of the 4 continents of North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

An engineering graduate from IIT Delhi, Mr Deveshwar joined ITC Limited in 1968. He was appointed as a Director on the Board of the Company in 1984 and became the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board on January 1st, 1996. Between 1991 and 1994, Mr Deveshwar led Air India as its Chairman and Managing Director.

Rajendra S.Pawar
NIIT TECHNOLOGIES

Rajendra S. Pawar is a well known face in the Indian IT sector. Recognising skilled manpower to be a very important prerequisite for the survival of the fledgling Indian IT industry, Mr. Pawar helped pioneer the IT training segment to fuel its growth. A visionary entrepreneur, Mr. Pawar also ignited the fire of free enterprise, using the revolutionary franchisee model of education. His contributions to the software business are no less significant. Recognising his pioneering and entrepreneurial work, Ernst & Young conferred on Mr. Pawar its prestigious Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999. His valuable contributions to the IT industry in India also earned him the "IT man of the Year" award, instituted by IT industry journal, Dataquest. A respected opinion leader, Mr. Pawar has spearheaded several IT industry initiatives. His role within the Indian Prime Minister’s Task Force for IT and Software Development and his contributions to the FICCI and CII IT committees, have established him as an industry guru. Mr. Pawar is a part of a panel of six experts in the newly constituted Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development, chaired by the Prime Minister of India.