National Association of Software & Services Companies (Nasscom), on Wednesday, announced the appointment of Mr Som Mittal as its new president. Mr Mittal will replace incumbent Mr Kiran Karnik as Nasscom’s third president.

Currently heading service business of HP in Asia Pacific & Japan, Mr Mittal will assume charge from January 2008.

“The Indian IT & ITeS sector has established its position in the global landscape. I look forward to leading Nasscom in these interesting times,” Mr Mittal said. Nasscom Chairman Lakshmi Narayanan said Mr Mittal’s extensive experience in the IT industry will be of great value to the sector.

Promotional activities

A professional agency, Korn Ferry, was engaged to find out Mr Karnik’s successor and the entire exercise was headed by Nasscom’s past Chairman Harish Mehta. Nasscom may take up promotional activities in the next 12-14 months in the US to coincide with the US presidential election campaign during which outsourcing and job loss debate is expected to spring back to the forefront. 

But the expectation is that severity of the debate would be milder this time compared to four years back, when incidentally Mr Mittal was Nasscom Chairman. “Now US understands the gains to its economy better,” Nasscom Chairman Lakshmi Narayanan said. 

Interestingly, a McKinsey report says despite some job loss for every dollar the US outsources, the gain to the US economy is $1.45.   Meanwhile, Mr Mittal, said the Centre must help IT companies tackle the steep rise in rupee value against other currencies. “There is need from government side to boost local currency as there is a need to maintain the balance. The industry is nascent and growth opportunity is huge.”

The government, he said, should take a long-term view and support the industry till it becomes resilient enough.

He, however, remained confident that the industry is on strong growth path, and said the fundamentals of the industry would not change due to rupee appreciation.