Nasscom gobal leadership awards announced

Categories include Business Transformation Award, Business Leader Award and Global Indian Award

* NASSCOM Business Transformation Award presented to Mr. Willie Walsh, CEO, British Airways

* NASSCOM Business Leader Award presented to Mr. John Chambers, Chairman, Cisco

* NASSCOM Leadership Global Indian Award presented to Mr. Ratan N. Tata

Mumbai, February 12, 2008: NASSCOM the premier trade body and the "voice" of the Indian IT "" BPO industry today announced the winners of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards 2008. The Awards, conceptualized and presented by NASSCOM, seek to recognize some of the most outstanding business leaders and visionaries from across the world, and have emerged as India's highest honor and tribute to performance in the IT-BPO industry.

The winners will be felicitated by Mr. Praful Patel, Union Minister of Aviation, Government of India, and Mr. Vilas Rao Deshmukh, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the awards ceremony on February 14th evening in Mumbai on the sidelines of the NASSCOM 2008 India Leadership Forum.

The Business Transformation Award is conferred to an individual who has encouraged the use of technology within the organization to achieve business goals and operational excellence. This individual would have spearheaded initiatives to automate the processes of the company to improve product/service quality and enhance customer responsiveness. The winner of this years' winner for Business Transformation Award 2008 is Willie Walsh, CEO, British Airways. The award will be received by Mr. Robert Webb, Member of the Board of British Airways on behalf of Willie Walsh.

The Business Leader Award is given to an individual who has set the company on a path of innovation, customer responsiveness and corporate governance and enabled it to achieve rapid growth and profitability. The company headed by this person would be a known and reputed entity in India""an organization recognized for its focus on quality, image and branding, client orientation, and Best Practices. The Business leader Award 2008 goes to John Chambers, Chairman, Cisco. The award will be received by Wim Elfrink, Chief Globalisation Officer, Cisco on behalf of Mr. Chambers.

The Global Indian Award is for an individual who has earned his spurs in the overseas domains and brought fame and glory to the country. This individual would have gained recognition for his work within the academic or business communities and proved himself as a visionary and thought leader. The work of this person would have had an impact on and contributed in some way to the growth of the Indian and global economy. The winner of the Global Indian Award 2008 is Ratan N. Tata. The Award will be accepted on behalf of Mr. Ratan Tata by Mr Mr Ravi Kant, Managing Director, Tata Motors.

ABOUT THE WINNERS

Willie Walsh is steering British Airways, the world's largest airline network, covering over 550 global destinations. The airline has been flying to India since the 1920s and has been engaging with leading Indian IT-BPO partners for the last 15 years. Using state-of-the-art IT solutions provided by its internal team and close-knit family of technology providers, BA has been able to reduce the cost of its IT operations; right-size its workforce; revolutionize travel for customers; web-enable its booking; and absorb network, storage and processing increases.

As leader of Cisco, John Chambers has virtually redefined the way business is done in the Internet age. His focus on technology, innovation and talent development have made him a global business leader. At the same time, Mr. Chambers has been committed to making Cisco a major player in the Indian market. It is his vision and unwavering commitment that we wish to acknowledge and recognize through the NASSCOM Business Leadership Award.

Ratan Tata is a luminary who has brought fame and glory to India and made us all very proud. His vision and leadership across industry""IT, telecom, automotive, steel and hospitality has made India synonymous with innovation and quality. The man behind the company's biggest recent coup""the cheapest car in the world, the Nano""has virtually put India's automobile sector on the international map. Being lauded as a path-breaking design innovation, the Nano has captured the imagination of the world.

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM is India's National Association of Software and Service Companies, the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce for the IT software and services industry in India. NASSCOM is a truly global trade body with around 1050 members, of which over 200 are global companies from the US, UK, EU, Japan, China and other countries. NASSCOM's member companies are in the business of software development, software services, and IT-enabled/BPO services.