April 27, 2002 — Bangalore, India

Ashok Soota takes over as president of CII
Mr. Ashok Soota, Chairman and Managing Director of MindTree Consulting Pvt. Ltd., took over as the President of Confederation of Indian Industry on April 27, 2002.

The first CII President from the services and within it the information technology sector, Mr. Soota symbolizes the increasing importance of the service industry in the economy and for CII. As Vice President, Mr. Soota was the first Chairman of the CII Services Council, which was set up last year under the Associations Council of CII to regularly review the performance of the sector and discuss strategies for growth and competitiveness.

Mr. Soota is an Electrical Engineer with an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines. He started his career with the Shriram Group of Industries in 1965 and in 1984 he took over as President of Wipro Infotech. In August 1999, Mr. Soota co-founded MindTree Consulting together with nine other professionals. Mr. Soota, a leader of the IT Industry, has been the President of the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT) of India, Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry Southern Region, Chairman of the CII’s National Committees for Electronics and Information Technology.

In recognition of his contributions to the IT industry, Mr. Soota was named the Electronics Man of the Year for 1992 by the Electronic Component Industries Association. Dataquest named him the IT Man of the Year for 1994 and he was recognised as the IT Man of the Year in 1997 by Computer World magazine.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes.

CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India’s development process. Founded over 100 years ago, it is India’s premier business association, with a direct membership of over 4250 companies from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs and indirect membership of over 50,000 companies from 213 national and regional sectoral associations.

With 33 offices in India, 10 overseas in Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, France, Hungary, Israel, Singapore, South Africa, UK, USA and institutional partnerships with 199 counterpart organisations in 92 countries, CII serves as a reference point for Indian Industry and the international business community.