AGENTS OF CHANGE: KIRAN KARNIK

When the American bi-weekly Forbes magazine selected Kiran Karnik as the ‘Face of the Year 2003’, it called him “a man trying to direct the path of the offshoring tsunami”.

Although his stint with The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the Indian chamber of commerce, the voice of the Indian information technology (IT) industry, as its President (the executive head) ended in December 2007, he still continues to be one of the most prominent personalities of the Indian IT industry.

When the Government of India faced the challenge of finding a saviour for Satyam Computer Services Ltd following the biggest fraud of the Indian corporate history, he was a natural choice. As the Chairman of the government appointed board of Satyam Computer Services that was considered as the fourth largest Indian IT services company till the fraud uncovered in January 2009, he has quickly restored the confidence of the customers and associates (employees) of the troubled firm, saving the future of about 50,000 families directly dependent on the company.

His exposure to India’s IT industry was a result of a casualty, when the vocal and dynamic president of NASSCOM Dewang Mehta died in 2001 at very young age. Despite having an impressive record of 20 years of service at India’s premier space research agency and then being the managing director of Discovery Networks, an American satellite and cable TV channel in India, he was a new face for the Indian IT industry. Soft-spoken Karnik’s personality was completely in contrast with Dewang Mehta and a number of people were sceptical about his performance in this role. And soon, the Indian IT industry had to face a severe anti-outsourcing backlash in the U.S., the main source of its revenue.

It was the year 2003, when the Forbes readers voted “offshoring” the most significant business trend of the year. The global IT industry was not only recovering from the dot com bust, but also awakening to the new wave of outsourcing. The fear of job losses resulted in a political backlash against the phenomena. NASSCOM, under the effective leadership of Karnik, lobbied hard in the U.S. to convince the policy-makers and various sections that the Indian IT industry is helping the U.S. companies cutting the cost, becoming globally competitive and tap in to talent that’s scarce in their country. The subsequent years saw the Indian IT services industry continuing its explosive growth.

He decided to relinquish the executive post at NASSCOM when he turned 60, but the situations forced him to take the charge of Satyam, a company once regarded as a shining star of the Indian IT industry but now struggling for its existence. Hopefully, the leadership of Karnik will put it back on the path of revival.

Karnik was awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards of India, in 2007. Earlier, he was selected as the ‘IT Person of the Year – 2005’ by India’s leading IT publication DATAQUEST. He was also awarded the Frank Malina medal for Space Education by the International Astronautical Federation in 1998.