Indian Merchants’ Chamber takes lead in instituting IMC IT Awards not just for industry but also for users

Indian Merchants’ Chamber takes lead in instituting

IMC IT Awards not just for industry but also for users

Mumbai, January 27, 2014: In a first of its kind, Indian Merchants’ Chamber has instituted ‘IMC IT Awards’ to recognize and encourage all software companies, small and large. The uniqueness of IMC IT Awards is its inclusive nature. The Award distribution ceremony will be held on Thursday, January 30, 2014, at IMC from 4:30pm onwards, with Mr. P.S. Deodhar, Chairman-Aplabs & former Chairman of the Electronic Commission as the Chief Guest. 

While announcing the ‘IMC IT Awards’, Dr. Lalit Surajmal Kanodia is the Chairman of IT Committee at Indian Merchants’ Chambers said, “This award will be an all inclusive story, brining in the best of talent and resources doing the right thing while taking India in the right direction”.

Apart from felicitating IT Companies, IMC will also recognize those who have transformed business via changing the game, working on End User of IT technological solutions and building smart applications.

Providing an insight into what constitutes the award, Mr. Shailesh Vaidya, President, Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) said, “The IT industry has acted as a shining beacon in the global market as far as the Indian Growth Story is concerned, hence we felt that we had to go beyond and recognize even those who benefit from them.” The award is an inclusion of both IT Companies and end users of IT alike. Moving forward, we intend to make the IMC IT Awards our annual flagship event added Mr Vaidya.

The award show will include a panel discussion on ‘Social Media: Boon or Bane?” moderated by Mr. Govindraj Ethiraj, Founder-Ping Digital Broadcast & Former Founder-Editor in Chief, Bloomberg UTV.

The jury for the IMC IT Awards constitutes the following dignitaries, who can be clearly identified for their great contribution in the IT industry:

Mr. Atul Nishar – Former Chairman of Nasscom, Mr. F. C. Kohli – Padma Bhushan, Former Chairman of Nasscom, Mr. Ganesh Natarajan – Former Chairman of Nasscom, Mr. Harish Mehta – Former Chairman of Nasscom, Mr. Hemant Sonawala – Former  President, Computer Society of India, Mr. Pradeep Udhas - Head of Markets – KPMG and Head of TiE and past President of IACC (WIC), Mr. Shirish Gariba - Chief Information Officer at DIESL and President, CIO Klub, Mr. Subramaniam Ramadorai – Padma Bhushan, Former Chairman of Nasscom

There are 5 Categories of Awards as given below:

1. Category 1, 2 & 3 for Software and BPO / ITES Companies
2. Category 4 for Overseas IT Companies and Captive units of Overseas companies
3. Category 5 for end users of IT.

DR. LALIT SURAJMAL KANODIA

Chairman, IT Committee, IMC

Dr. Lalit Surajmal Kanodia is the Chairman of IT Committee of Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) and the Chairman of Datamatics Global Services Limited.  He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Mumbai.  Subsequently, he obtained an MBA and Ph.D, both from MIT, USA.  He was a topper at MIT.

Dr. Kanodia is a Ford Foundation Fellow.  He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT, Mumbai.  He is one of the 10 persons included in the Hall of Fame, published by Dataquest alongwith late JRD Tata and our late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.   

He has served at the Past President of the Management Consultants’ Association of India and Chairman of the Electronic & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (Western Region).  He is the present President of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, Western India.  He is Chairman of the IT Committee of Indian Merchants’ Chamber.  He has been a Member of the Executive Committee of Nasscom.  He also served on various Committees of the Government of India and the State of Maharashtra.  

He has been invited to deliver the convocation address to graduating MBA students by 4 institutes and was the main speaker at the Itochu (CTC) Annual Conference in Japan.  

Dr. Kanodia is currently on the Executive Board of MIT (Europe, Asia and Africa).

Dr. Kanodia is the founder CEO of TCS.  While in the US, he was Consultant to the Ford Motor Company and Arthur D. Little.  He has also taught at Jamnalal Bajaj and MIT.    He founded Datamatics Limited in 1975.   

He is the Honorary Consul General of Chile in Mumbai.