NIIT's Pawar new Nasscom chairman, N Chandrasekaran VC

Software industry body Nasscom today said Rajendra S Pawar, the founder of NIIT, has been appointed as the chairman of its executive council for 2011-12.

The industry body also announced appointing N Chandrasekaran, the CEO and Managing Director of TCS, as the vice-chairman for 2011-12.

Pawar succeeds Accenture's Harsh Manglik as chairman of Nasscom.

"As Chairman of the Executive Council, Pawar will lead and assist Nasscom in catalysing the growth of the Indian IT-BPO industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future goals and aspirations," Nasscom said in a statement.

"Indian IT industry has seen good growth and things are on track. As an association, we would concentrate on two things -- how can we improve the competitiveness of Indian companies and how can we grow IT for India," Pawar said.

Pawar said the association will also work towards engaging industry members and state and central government to drive IT adoption in the country.

Other important factors that need to be focussed on include skills development and growth of small and medium enterprises, he said.

"SMEs play a crucial role in India's economy and help achieve the objective of inclusive growth. Therefore, special focus and attention is required on the development of SME segment to propel this broad-based economic growth," Pawar added.