Industry veteran Mr Bhaskar Pramanik, best known for accelerating Sun Microsystems's business in India, embarks on another challenging assignment as he takes over as the Chairman of Microsoft India.

According to industry observers and people who have worked closely with him, Mr Pramanik, with his enviable pedigree and systematic approach to problems, is the right person for steering forward the billion-dollar enterprise.

Earlier this month, Mr Pramanik quit Oracle India after serving as its Managing Director for a year.

Prior to that, he worked at Sun Microsystems for 13 years as the Global Vice-President, Commercial Systems in the US and the India Managing Director. Mr Pramanik was instrumental in growing Sun Microsystems' business in India from under $20 million to over $200 million in just six years and expanding Sun's organisational presence in India from 24 people to over 1,200.

Former colleagues of Mr Pramanik say he would make the parent company commit to resources to the Asia-Pacific region and also ensure it got them. “That's how he grew the region into an important one for Sun Microsystems.”

Fifty-five-year-old Mr Pramanik is known for his succession planning skills, which came in handy when he moved to Sun in the US and when the company had to deal with the takeover by Oracle. “He's a great team leader, somebody we missed in India during the Sun-Oracle integration when he was in the US,” says an ex-employee of Sun Microsystems.

Says an employee of Oracle India: “He's very systems- and procedure-oriented and will fit into any MNC.”

Good pedigree

According to Mr Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov Management Consulting, Mr Pramanik, who has over 30 years of industry experience, comes with good pedigree and contacts in the industry and government. “The Microsoft CEO, Mr Steve Balmer, has said India and Indonesia would be the two focuses for the company. With the advent of 3G in India, the need for computing will only grow in India. Mobile computing will also grow. These are opportunities for Microsoft in the next two years and Mr Pramanik's leadership could play a big role in this.”

Mr Pramanik, who takes over from Mr Ravi Venkatesan, will report to Mr Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International.

Mr Pramanik, who began his assignment with Microsoft on Monday, said, “These are indeed very exciting times for the IT industry, as well as for India. I look forward to partnering with the business leaders and the entire Microsoft team to grow our business in India and enable the success of all our stakeholders.”

Microsoft in India has more than 5,300 employees across 13 offices across the country. It is the largest employee base outside of the US for Microsoft.

Mr Pramanik is an active participant in the activities of industry bodies including Nasscom, AMCHAM and CII. He is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He also did an advanced marketing management program at Stanford University. Previously, he has held senior positions in Digital Equipment India, Blue Star and NELCO.

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