Pune, July 5 2013: R. Chandrashekhar, the Indian government’s former Secretary in the Telecom ministry, is to be the next President of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). He will take over from present incumbent Som Mittal in January next year.
Says Chandrashekhar: “NASSCOM is an outstanding organization 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. 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”.
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.
Earlier, he established the first Department of Information Technology in the country in the state of Andhra Pradesh and was Secretary of the Department from June, 1997 to December, 1999. The policies and strategies he formulated catapulted the state to the forefront of the country in the sector and became a role model for several states and countries.
Mr. Chandrashekhar received a M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a M.S. degree in Computer Science from the Pennsylvania State University, US.