HCL Founder, Mr. Ajai Chowdhry was today honored with the award for Lifetime Achievement in ICT at the CyberMedia ICT Business Awards 2013. This award has been conferred on him in recognition of his invaluable contribution to the Indian IT industry. At the ceremony held in New Delhi today, attended by over 400 CEOs from the ICT industry, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, handed over the award to Mr. Chowdhry.
Mr. Chowdhry, one of the six founder members of HCL began his journey in the IT industry over three decades ago with a dream to give India its very own microcomputer. In these last three decades, Mr. Chowdhry has been a key force in driving the growth of HCL from being India’s original IT garage start-up to becoming a global enterprise.
A great believer in domestic manufacturing, he has worked closely with the Government as well as various Industry associations and bodies to take the cause of ‘IT for the masses’ forward. He has also played a key role in championing the cause of the domestic IT market and electronics in India. In the last few years, Mr. Chowdhry has been relentlessly working towards giving back to the society through his in-depth experience and understanding of the industry and with his contribution to various government advisory committees.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Chowdhry said, “I am deeply honored to receive this award both as a proud Indian and a member of our very progressive Indian IT community. I have all my life focused on ways to contribute to the industry to drive a larger societal change. It is heart warming to see my industry and peer group acknowledging all my hard work and effort.
Most of all I would like to thank all the HCLites who contributed to my journey and had the fire burning through all these years. This award is dedicated to all of them.
I have always believed that Indians and India have the supreme resolve to achieve what they aim for. It is important we yet again put our minds together to reinvigorate energy in our manufacturing and R&D sector. In 2009 as part of the Government committee chaired by me, we had made some recommendations, which were later accepted, and an Electronics Policy was created. What is needed now is the urgency to implement it in totality. My dream is to see a self-sufficient India where we design our own products and manufacture them right here. I feel it will be an integral part in building India of the future”, he added.
In 2011, the honourable President of India had conferred Mr. Chowdhry with the prestigious Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honours, for his immense contribution to the Indian IT Industry. He was also previously awarded the DATAQUEST ‘IT Person of the Year 2007’ Award.
The CyberMedia ICT Business Award recognizes and honors excellence in ICT industry represents the most respected business accolade in Indian ICT industry for three decades. The CyberMedia ICT Business Awards comprise awards based on business performance and leadership in various ICT segments as well as three jury-based awards that include IT Person of the Year 2013, Lifetime Achievement Award and IT Path breaker of the Year. Some of the past winners of these awards include N Vittal, Shiv Nadar, Azim Premji, Sunil Mittal, NRN Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Ramadorai, and Francisco D’Souza amongst others.
