Shiv Nadar HCL

Achevement: Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), India's largest infotech conglomerate

Shiv Nadar is the Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL),
India's largest infotech conglomerate. He figures in the Forbes list of Indian
billionaires.

Originally hailing from Moolaipozhi Village,Trichendur,Tutocorin District, Tamil Nadu,

Shiv Nadar moved to Delhi in 1968.He worked as an engineer with DCM Ltd. But the
entrepreneur in Shiv Nadar wanted to set up his own business. Therefore, he along
with six of his colleagues launched a firm making office products like copiers.

In late 1970s, when IBM quit India, Shiv Nadar's HCL stepped in to fill the vacuum. In
1982, HCL came out with its first computer. Today, HCL derives 80% of its revenue
from computers and office equipment. HCL has also been spreading its global reach.
Its Singapore subsidiary, Far East Computers, achieved a breakthrough in imaging
technology, which, among other applications, enables computers to read handwritten
tax returns.

HCL has adopted innovative practices to achieve growth. In the U.S, a software
subsidiary, HCL America, has reaped huge dividends by taking advantage of global time zones. Every morning, the
company's Chennai office receives software assignments from the U.S, just after work stops there for the night. A team of
Indian engineers, with salaries much lower than those of their American counterparts, complete the jobs and send them
back in the evening.

In a short span of time, Shiv Nadar has reached pinnacle of success by his hardwork, vision, and entrepreneurial spirit.

hiv Nadar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shiv Nadar

Born 1945[1]
Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India

Occupation Chairman, HCL Technologies

Founder, SSN Trust

Net worth ▼US$3.9 billion (2008)[2]

Spouse(s) Kiran Nadar

Children One

Website
Official Biography
Shiv Nadar is an Indian entrepreneur, IT executive, educationalist, bridge player, one of

India's richest people and the Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Technologies. Shiv

Nadar founded HCL in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT

Enterprise over the next three decades by constantly reinventing his company's focus. In

2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan for his efforts in IT industry. Nadar, nicknamed by

friends as Magnus(Persian for Wizard),[3] since mid-1990s has focused his efforts in developing

the educational system of India through SSN Trust

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Early life
• 2 HCL - 3 decades of evolution
o 2.1 First decade - Startup to India's No 1 IT company
o 2.2 Second decade - Transition to software services business
o 2.3 Third decade ----- Global IT service company
• 3 Non-IT business ventures
• 4 Focus on Education & Healthcare
• 5 Awards and accolades
• 6 References

• 7 External links
[edit]Early life

Shiv Nadar hails from Moolaipozhi village in the former Tirunelveli District of TamilNadu,

India[citation needed] and was born in the Nadarcommunity to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and his wife in

1946. Shiv Nadar received his engineering degree in Electrical And Electronics

Engineering[EEE] from PSG College of Technology in 1968 and started his career in DCM's

calculator division.

[edit]HCL - 3 decades of evolution

[edit]First decade - Startup to India's No 1 IT company
Along with Ajay Choudhry (Chairman, HCL Infosystems), Arjun Malhotra (CEO and

Chairman, Headstrong), Subhash Arora, Yogesh Vaidya and DS Puri[4][5], Shiv Nadar started

Microcomp to sell teledigital calculators in the Indian market[6] under the brand name

"Televista.[7]
HCL was founded later in 1976 with an investment of Rs 187,000[8] from the 6 founders and

added Uttar Pradesh government as a 26% equity partner.[9] While the company focused on

building a microcomputer from scratch, it received an unexpected boon when foreign

companies likeIBM left the country due to the policies adopted by the then Industrial

minister George Fernandes in 1977 creating a market space for themicrocomputer in India.

In 1980, HCL ventured into the international market with the opening of Far East Computers in

Singapore to sell IT hardware. The venture reported Rs 1 million revenue in the first year and

continued to address the Singapore operations.[10] In 1981, Rajendra Pawar, Vijay Thadani, S

Rajendran started NIIT with Nadar playing the role of investor to address the then fast growing

computer education market. Nadar remained the largest shareholder without reatining any

management control. Nadar retained his shareholding in NIIT through 2003 at least.

Through 1984, the company focused on designing microcomputers and writing custom

applications for clients on these systems. When the Indian government liberalized regulations

for import of technology, the computer market was in effect opened for adopting new global

technologies. HCL utilized the opportunity to develop Personal computers solutions

(called Busybee) and UNIX platform based solutions. In the IT hardware business, the company

opened a subsidiary called HCL office Automation that quickly became India's leader in office

solutions. By 1987, HCL recorded revenue of Rs 100 crores and featured as India's number 1

company

[edit]Second decade - Transition to software services business

Shiv Nadar looked at marking a place in the global arena after having captured Indian IT

leadership. HCL America was setup in 1989. However the move backfired as Shiv Nadar and

HCL miscalculated the requirements of the market and the venture didn't succeed in the

world's largest market. However in India, HCL consolidated it's market position in the early part

of its second decade reaching an inflexion point in 1991 when the government liberalized the

economy to provide a level playing field for foreign players. HCL joined HP and created a JV -

HCL HP Limited. The JV built solutions to address the local computing market as well as gave

HCL it's first experience in outsourced R&D. In the mid 90s, Shiv Nadar added sale agreement

with Ericsson and Nokia to distribute their products in India. In 1995, Nadar set a target of Rs

100 billion as target for the HCL Group, a target his group will fall short.[11]

By 1995, HCL became a complex organization with over 40 subsidiaries and Nadar quickly

realized that global IT services was the way forward rather than IT hardware. HCL Consulting

was formed to address the IT services and the R&D division of HCL-HP was merged into HCL
Consulting.[11] The company was renamed HCL Technologies in 1996, the same year the JV with

HP broke off.

By early 1998, Nadar had consolidated his business into 5 entities - HCL Technologies (global

IT service company), HCL Infosystems (Indian IT hardware leader), HCL comnet (network

services company), HCL Perot (IT applications) and NIIT (education services).

[edit]Third decade ----- Global IT service company

Shiv Nadar took HCL Technologies public in 1999,[11] At the time of IPO, HCL was the second

largest IT company with revenue of Rs. 7.23 billion behind TCS (Rs 16.52 billion) but ahead of

Wipro (Rs 6.32 billion) and Infosys (Rs. 5 billion) and with the Internet boom in full swing, HCL

decided to put complete focus in R&D services to product engineering companies while paying
scant attention to the Y2K. When the Internet bubble burst in 2000, HCL was left behind by its

competitors because of their headstart in Enterprise application services.

Nadar made an effort to bootstrap HCL with acquisitions in 2001. HCL acquired Apollo Contact

center from BT and Deutsche Software Limited (Deutsche Bank's Indian captive software

company) to address the BPO and Financial services market. Still HCL continued to

underperform competitors through 2005.

By 2004, the number of companies in HCL was consolidated from five to two - HCL

Technologies and HCL Infosystems. Shiv's shareholding in NIIT was recognized as personal

investment and HCL Comnet became a subsidiary of HCL Technologies. HCL Perot was sold

back to partner Perot Systems for $105 million in December 2003.[12]. S Raman, COO &

President, HCL Technologies retired in early 2005 and Nadar promoted Vineet Nayar as

President of HCL Technologies and revive HCL's sagging fortunes in the IT services spectrum.

In 2007, Shiv passed the mantle of CEO of HCL Technologies to Vineet Nayar. Shiv remains

Chairman of HCL Technologies and it's largest shareholder.

[edit]Non-IT business ventures

Nadar had less success with his ventures outside the IT and software industry. His partnernship

with Singapore Telecom to address the now-booming Indian Telecom market was unsuccessful

as well as his attempts in the granite and aquaculture business.[3]

[edit]Focus on Education & Healthcare

In 1996, Shiv Nadar founded SSN College of Engineering in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in the name of

his father - Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar. Shiv Nadar takes active role in the college activities

including gifting of 1 million HCL shares to the college.[13] In 2006, Nadar announced that the
college will promote research apart from ensuring that students benefit from foreign university

tie-ups.[14] Nadar joined the Executive Board ofIndian School of Business in 2005.[15]In March

2008, Nadar's SSN Trust announced setting up of Seven Vidyagyan schools in UP for rural

students where free scholarship will be provided for 100 students from 10 districts of Uttar

Pradesh.[16]

Shiv Nadar is a member of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).

PHFI was started by Rajat Gupta to "redress the limited institutional capacity in India for

strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health"[17]

[edit]Awards and accolades

In 2008, Government of India awarded Shiv Nadar with Padma Bhushan, the third highest

civilian award for his contribution to IT industry.[18]

In 2007, Madras University awarded him honorary doctorate degree (D Sc) for his contributions

in promoting software technology.[19] Nadar was also recognized as E&Y Entrepreneur of the

Year 2007 (Services).[20]

In October 2006, Shiv Nadar received an honorary fellowship from AIMA[21]