The Maverick Effect : The Inside Story Of Indias It Revolution

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The customs officer told me that I needed to leave samples of what I was exporting with him. I was forced to leave the floppy disk of the software with him. The diligent officer immediately planted a stapler pin through the floppy disk and attached it to the form, thereby destroying the media and rendering it unreadable. For the longest time, everybody's understanding of software differed immensely. This confusion continued into the 1980s, and it was getting challenging to grow the business. The more I met young software entrepreneurs, the more I realized that my frustration was not unique. Something had to be done.'

In the mid-1970s, a young, twenty-something man living an American dream threw away a lucrative job as a database manager and came back to India. At that time, India had no IT industry to speak of; computers were a novelty, and the nation was trapped in socio-economic backwardness and a labyrinthine License Roj.

As young Harish Mehta struggled to find his stride, he realized that India's nascent and fragmented IT industry acutely needed a unified voice that could speak to the government, change laws and harness the country's potential. In an unlikely alliance of headstrong and competing young professionals, he united other IT entrepreneurs to envision a world-beating association that would revolutionize Indian IT: NASSCOM.

The Maverick Effect is the extraordinary story of this band of dreamers who joined hands to transform a nation while also changing the lens through which the world looked at India. Valued at a staggering $200 billion today, the Indian IT industry directly employs more than four million people. It is the largest forex eamer and has helped millions of Indians beat poverty and rise to the middle-income group. Honest, open and inspiring, Harish Mehta's journey proves that no vision is impossible if unrelenting, kindred spirits unite.

HARISH S. MEHTA is the founder and executive chairperson of Onward Technologies Ltd. He is the founding member and the first elected chairman of NASSCOM, a not-for-profit representing India's burgeoning IT industry and considered among the world's most exemplary associations. As a prominent angel investor, he also spends time mentoring young entrepreneurs and startups.

The Maverick Effect is an absorbing book that brings out the story of NASSCOM, and the life story of Harish Mehta. It is a definitive and authoritative biography of NASSCOM as recounted by one who led the creation of NASSCOM in 1988, and has been nurturing it like his precious child even after thirty-three years to the day. I am told that every event has been verified with data and facts due to Harish's penchant for veracity and accuracy. Future historians will rely on this work when they do research on the role of NASSCOM in removing the bureaucratic hurdles during the initial years of the software services industry in India.

The first time I met Harish was in 1979, when I took Late Sri Ghanashyam Gupta, a friend of mine, to meet him. Ghanashyam wanted to establish a data center in Chennai based on a VAX 11/750 computer from Digital Equipment Corporation. Harish was kind, courteous, generous, and open-minded to share the nuances of running a successful data center. That kindness, that infectious enthusiasm and that courtesy to help entrepreneurs has remained undiminished and shining in Harish even today.

NASSCOM is an organization of mavericks. It is an unlikely alliance. NASSCOM was incubated at a time when it was an uphill battle to even get software recognised as a tangible product or a service, and something different from computer hardware! NASSCOM had to fight deep-seated prejudices in an environment rife with suspicion. The ecosystem did not offer the infrastructure needed to create a software services business. The entrepreneurs had to remain patient and lay the groundwork for the future.

The impact that the software services industry has had on the nation has been phenomenal. The industry brought a new ethos to the country. Member companies of NASSCOM embraced competition and meritocracy. They leveraged innovation and strove hard for laudable performance in global markets. They operated as equal opportunities employers. They benchmarked with the best global standards of governance. They created several next practices. in corporate governance in India. They focused on transparency in financial reporting. Such a mindset had simply not existed in India till then. The rapid growth of NASSCOM member companies also created huge employment opportunities for youngsters from the tier-2 and tier 3 towns.

I came into NASSCOM in 1989, thanks to the generosity of my colleague, Nandan Nilekani. He suggested that I should take his position and add value to NASSCOM. Nandan is a deep and strategic thinker. I found it wise to accept his suggestions at Infosys. I stood for the election to the executive council (EC) in 1990 and was elected. My colleagues on the EC were kind to choose me as the vice president (now titled vice-chairperson) when they chose Harish as the president (now titled chairperson) for a two-year term starting in 1990. I succeeded Harish as the president of NASSCOM for a two-year term in 1992.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages