Karnik to step down, Nasscom scouting for chief

Kiran Karnik has decided to step down from his role as president, Nasscom. The premier software association has already initiated a search process to locate a successor.

Karnik, who turned 60 this March, has taken the decision in tune with the IT industry's non-formal understanding of steepping down at the age of 60 and getting into advisory roles. This is also in line with Nasscom's aim to become institutionalised through appropriate structures, systems and processes for which well-definedHR policies have been laid down. These include a retirement age of 60 years, which has been the trigger for the start of this succession process. Karnik took over the industry body after the sudden demise of Dewang Mehta in 2001.

The search effort has been initiated under the overall leadership of Harish
Mehta, former chairman of Nasscom and chairman of Onward Technologies, with the involvement of Karnik and senior industry leaders. A professional agency, Korn Ferry, has been engaged for the search. Karnik is expected to stay on for around 6-8 months before his successor takes over and later step into an advisory role.

Under his leadership, the IT-ITeS industry has continued to register strong growth, with a 10-fold growth in the last 10 years. It is already India's top exporter, and well on track to achieve the target of $60 billion exports in 2010.

Incidentally, just yesterday, Nasscom announced the appointment of Lakshmi Narayan, vice chairman, board of directors, Cognizant Technology Solutions, as Nasscom chairman and Ganesh Natarajan, deputy chairman and MD, Zensar Technologies as vice-chairman for 2007-08.