Kiran Karnik (President of NASSCOM)

Kiran Karnik took up the position of President NASSCOM in September 2001. As the chief executive of the apex body representing India’s IT software and service industry, he works very closely with the industry, the Indian Central & State governments to formulate policies and strategies for the advancement of this sector locally as well as internationally. One of his key functions is to build global brand equity for the Indian software and service Industry, through a more “corporatized” and professionally structured NASSCOM Secretariat.

Prior to joining NASSCOM, Karnik was the Managing Director at Discovery Networks India from 1995 - 2001. He spearheaded the launch of Discovery Channel in South Asia in August 1995 and Animal Planet (a Discovery – BBC joint venture) in 1999.

Earlier, Karnik worked for over 20 years in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). He held various positions related to the conception, planning and implementation of applications of space technology, focusing especially on the use of communications for development. He was deeply involved in the conception and, for many years, overseeing the Kheda Communications Project. This pioneering effort won wide national and international acclaim, including the first UNESCO-IPDC Prize for Rural Communication. Karnik was a key member of the management team for the India – USA Satellite Instructional TV Experiment (SITE), the first ever large scale use of satellite direct broadcasting (1975-76), which took education and development to remote parts of rural India. In 1998, Karnik was awarded the Frank Malina medal for Space Education by the International Astronautical Federation. Karnik was the Founder-Director of ISRO’s Development and Educational Communicational Unit from 1983 to 1991.

In 1991, Karnik joined the Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) as its first Director. CEC is the apex body set up by University Grants Commission for the use of education technology. It co-ordinates and oversees the media centres in the universities, and is responsible for ensuring the production and transmission of educational TV programmes for college students.

Karnik has worked briefly with the United Nations in New York and Vienna, serving as Special Assistant to the Secretary-General of UNISPACE 82. He has done an extended consulting assignment for UNESCO in Afghanistan, and has also been a consultant for WHO, The World Bank, UN Institute for Disarmament Research and Ford Foundation. He has been involved with many committees of the government, including the Prasar Bharati Review Committee. He has a deep involvement with a number of NGOs in the areas of education and environment, and currently is Chairman of the National Foundation of India.

Karnik writes regularly for various publications, has authored/edited a large number of publications, and lectures occasionally at major national institutes. His educational background includes an Honours degree in Physics from Bombay University, followed by post-graduation from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.