BS People: Ashok Soota

Change agent

Ashok Soota is a quick learner. It’s a quality ingrained in the executive chairman of MindTree, who in his formative years attended a number of schools because of the transferable nature of his father’s army postings. This forced Soota to adapt to change quickly. Change is in the air again for this 63-year-old business doyen, who is talking about starting a whole new business venture from scratch after relinquishing the mantle at MindTree. Clearly, the ambition of Soota, who incubated MindTree at the age of 57, is far from satiated.

An engineering graduate from IIT-Roorkee (then Roorkee University) and MBA from the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines, Soota has always thrived on new opportunities. For someone who started his early career with long-established companies like Burmah Shell and then DCM Shriram Group, Soota joined the IT industry in 1984, clearly recognising the potential of this fledgling sector. In 1999, he quit Wipro after successfully driving the company’s IT business from a mere $2 million in 1984 to almost $500 million in 1999. Soota did not have any remorse, as he wanted to capitalise on the IT boom by creating another successful company.

However, the decision to quit an organisation that this bachelor CEO has nurtured over the past decade from infancy must have been very painful, say people close to him. They still marvel at Soota’s drive at a time when many people are in the sunset of their careers. One thing that won’t change soon, however, is the daily schedule of this fitness addict: jogging and cycling every morning to keep the body healthy and yoga to remain mentally robust.