CyberMedia ICT Awards: Ajai Chowdhry gets DQ Lifetime Achievement Award

The story of Indian IT remains incomplete if its heroes who built it inch-by-inch and brick-by-brick, are not given their due. He's one of the heroes of Indian IT who, along with six founders of HCL, scripted the story of the company taking it to steep heights. A lead architect of the Indian IT, he charted the course of the IT industry in such a way that this today contributes more than 7% to India's GDP. He stands out from the rest, as he gave India a homegrown PC product and established the HCL PC brand globally. He played a key role in driving India's IT hardware and electronics industry. Because of his endeavors, the Government of India has been able to seriously look at the IT hardware and electronics industry. His forecast of 'Electronics imports exceeding oil imports by 2020 with $400 billion size' opened the government's eyes and forced it to expedite the efforts to build a base for electronics manufacturing, in the domestic market.

He has also headed the IT Task Force constituted by the DIT in 2009; and has been a member of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC), an apex body providing advisory inputs for shaping government policy. Hailing from a small town Jabbalpur, he has been honored with the Padma Bhushan, in 2011, even as the list of his achievements and honors is long and unending as he inspires thousands of entrepreneurs today.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Ajai Chowdhry, one of the founders of HCL and former Chairman of HCL Infosystems.