Nasscom appoints Microsoft's Anant Maheshwari as new chairperson

Rajesh Nambiar will be 2023-24 vice chairperson at group that represents India's IT services sector

Nasscom, which represents India’s IT services sector, said on Tuesday Anant Maheshwari, Microsoft India’s president, will be its new chairperson for 2023-24.

Maheshwari succeeds Krishnan Ramanujam, president for business & technology services Tata Consultancy Services, who served as chairperson in 2022-23. Maheshwari was previously chairperson of the trade body.

Nasscom, short for National Association of Software and Services Companies, also announced the appointment of Rajesh Nambiar, chairman and MD of Cognizant India, as its vice chairperson for 2023-24.

The new leaders will work to improve innovation in the industry, boost domestic market revenue and accelerate the adoption of new technologies, said Nasscom.

“Building on the core capabilities in tech services, India is now demonstrating broader technology leadership for the world, both in trusted innovation capabilities and also as a leading example of digital public platforms with billion population scale implementation. Nasscom has had a stellar history of navigating India's tech landscape across a broad set of stakeholders and multiple milestones, to drive inclusive growth with the foundation of a skills-based ecosystem,” said Maheshwari.

Nasscom announced its new executive council for 2023-2025. The 29-member committee will “play a strategic role in enabling India’s tech sector to lead on the global stage through focused initiatives and programs,” Nasscom said. The list of executive council members includes one-third of representation by women leaders.

Nasscom and its new executive council will continue working with the government to help build policies for the growth of the Indian IT sector. This will be possible through the collaboration of various stakeholders that will help drive innovation, said the group.

“As we are leapfrogging to the next era of digital evolution with emerging technologies and their disruptive potential, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work closely with Anant and Rajesh to continue establishing India as a global hotspot for tech innovation and talent,” said Debjani Ghosh, president of Nasscom.