Shiv Nadar
Encyclopedia
Shiv Nadar is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the chairman and Chief Strategy Officer
of HCL Technologies
. , his personal wealth is US$5.6 billion. Shiv Nadar founded HCL
in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT Enterprise over the next three decades by constantly reinventing his company's focus. In 2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan
for his efforts in the IT industry. Nadar, nicknamed by friends as Magus (Old Persian
for Wizard), since mid-1990s has focused his efforts in developing the educational system of India through SSN Trust
.
about 10 KM from Tiruchendur
town in Tamil Nadu
, India and was born in the Nadar
community to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and Vamasundari Devi in 1946.
His mother, Vamasundari Devi and S. P. Adithanar
, founder of Dina Thanthi
were siblings. Shiv Nadar received a pre-University degree in The American College, Madurai
and degree in Electrical And Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology
. He began his career at Walchand Group's Cooper Engineering in Pune
in 1967.
(CEO and Chairman, Headstrong
), Subhash Arora, Yogesh Vaidya and DS Puri, Shiv Nadar started Microcomp to sell teledigital calculators in the Indian market. under the brand name "Televista.
HCL was founded later in 1976 with an investment of Rs 187,000 from the 6 founders and added Uttar Pradesh
government as a 26% equity partner. While the company focused on building a microcomputer from scratch, it received an unexpected boon when foreign companies like IBM
left the country due to the policies adopted by the then Industrial minister George Fernandes
in 1977 creating a market space for the microcomputer
in India.
In 1980, HCL ventured into the international market with the opening of Far East Computers in Singapore to sell IT hardware. The venture reported Rs 1 million revenue in the first year and continued to address the Singapore operations. In 1981, Rajendra Pawar, Vijay Thadani, S Rajendran started NIIT
with Nadar playing the role of investor to address the then fast growing computer education market. Nadar remained the largest shareholder without retaining any management control. Nadar retained his shareholding in NIIT through 2003 at least.
Through 1984, the company focused on designing microcomputers and writing custom applications for clients on these systems. When the Indian government liberalised regulations for import of technology, the computer market was in effect opened for adopting new global technologies. HCL utilised the opportunity to develop Personal computers solutions (called Busybee) and UNIX
platform based solutions. In the IT hardware business, the company opened a subsidiary called HCL office Automation that quickly became India's leader in office solutions. By 1987, HCL recorded revenue of Rs 100 crores and featured as India's number 1 company.
Meanwhile, in India, HCL consolidated its market position in the early part of its second decade reaching an inflexion point in 1991 when the government liberalised the economy to provide a level playing field for foreign players. HCL joined HP and created a JV – HCL HP Limited. The JV built solutions to address the local computing market as well as gave HCL its first experience in outsourced R&D. In the mid '90s, Shiv Nadar added sale agreement with Ericsson
and Nokia
to distribute their products in India. In 1995, Nadar set a target of Rs 100 billion as target for the HCL Group, a target his group will fall short.
By 1995, HCL became a complex organisation with over 40 subsidiaries and Nadar quickly realised that global IT services was the way forward rather than IT hardware. HCL Consulting was formed to address the IT services and the R&D division of HCL-HP was merged into HCL Consulting. The company was renamed HCL Technologies in 1996, the same year the JV with HP broke off.
By early 1998, Nadar had consolidated his business into five entities – HCL Technologies (global IT service company), HCL Infosystems (Indian IT hardware leader), HCL comnet (network services company), HCL Perot (IT applications) and NIIT (education services).
(Rs 16.52 billion) but ahead of Wipro (Rs 6.32 billion) and Infosys (Rs. 5 billion) and with the Internet boom in full swing, HCL decided to put complete focus in R&D services to product engineering companies while paying scant attention to the Y2K. When the Internet bubble burst in 2000, HCL was left behind by its competitors because of their headstart in Enterprise application services.
Nadar made an effort to bootstrap HCL with acquisitions in 2001. HCL acquired Apollo Contact center from BT and Deutsche Software Limited (Deutsche Bank's Indian captive software company) to address the BPO and Financial services market. Still HCL continued to underperform competitors through 2005.
By 2004, the number of companies in HCL was consolidated from five to two – HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems. Shiv's shareholding in NIIT was recognised as personal investment and HCL Comnet became a subsidiary of HCL Technologies. HCL Perot was sold back to partner Perot Systems for $105 million in December 2003. S Raman, COO & President, HCL Technologies retired in early 2005 and Nadar promoted Vineet Nayar
as President of HCL Technologies and revive HCL's sagging fortunes in the IT services spectrum.
In 2007, Shiv passed the mantle of CEO of HCL Technologies to Vineet Nayar. Shiv remains Chairman of HCL Technologies and its largest shareholder.
in Chennai
, Tamil Nadu in the name of his father – Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar. Shiv Nadar takes active role in the college activities including gifting of Rs. 1 million worth of HCL shares to the college. In 2006, Nadar announced that the college will promote research apart from ensuring that students benefit from foreign university tie-ups. Nadar joined the Executive Board of Indian School of Business
in 2005. In March 2008, Nadar's SSN Trust announced setting up of Seven Vidyagyan schools in UP for rural students where free scholarship will be provided for 100 students from 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh
.
Shiv Nadar is a member of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India
(PHFI). PHFI was started by Rajat Gupta
to "redress the limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health"
In April 2011, he was appointed the chairman of the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
, the third highest civilian award, for his contribution to IT industry.
In 2007, Madras University awarded him honorary doctorate degree (D Sc) for his contributions in promoting software technology. Nadar was also recognised as E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 (Services).
In October 2006, Shiv Nadar received an honorary fellowship from All India Management Association – AIMA
Chief strategy officer
A Chief Strategy Officer , or chief strategist, is an executive who is responsible for assisting the chief executive officer with creating, communicating, executing, and sustaining strategic initiatives within a company or agency....
of HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies Limited is a leading global IT services company headquartered in Noida, India. It is primarily engaged in providing a range of software services, business process outsourcing and infrastructure services. HCL Technologies is fourth largest IT company in India and is ranked 48 in...
. , his personal wealth is US$5.6 billion. Shiv Nadar founded HCL
HCL
HCL or HCl can stand for:* Hairy cell leukemia, an uncommon and slowly progressing B cell leukemia* Hardware compatibility list...
in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT Enterprise over the next three decades by constantly reinventing his company's focus. In 2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
for his efforts in the IT industry. Nadar, nicknamed by friends as Magus (Old Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
for Wizard), since mid-1990s has focused his efforts in developing the educational system of India through SSN Trust
SSN College of Engineering
Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering , popularly known as SSN, is an engineering institution located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The college is certified to ISO 9001:2000 standard by the National Board of Accreditation. Ravichandran Ashwin,the international Indian cricketer...
.
Early life
Shiv Nadar hails from Moolaipozhi village in the Thoothukudi districtThoothukudi District
Thoothukudi District, also known as Tuticorin District, is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters. It is also known for Pearl cultivation with abundance of pearls found in the seas of Thoothukudi...
about 10 KM from Tiruchendur
Tiruchendur
Thiruchendur is a panchayat town in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This town has a different name called Thirucheer Alaiwai.-Demographics:...
town in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India and was born in the Nadar
Nadar (caste)
Nadar is one of the prominent castes of Tamil Nadu, South India. The term, Nadar, in Tamil literally means one who rules the land. The Nadars are also commonly called as Annachi . Nadars are an entrepreneurial south Indian caste and constitute 12% of Tamil Nadu's population...
community to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and Vamasundari Devi in 1946.
His mother, Vamasundari Devi and S. P. Adithanar
S. P. Adithanar
Si. Balasubramania Adithan a.K.a Si. Ba. Adithan , popularly called as Adithanar, was a Tamil lawyer, politician, minister and founder of the Tamil daily newspaper Dina Thanthi. He was the founder of the We Tamils party and served as the member of the Madras Legislative Council for two terms...
, founder of Dina Thanthi
Dina Thanthi
Dina Thanthi a.K.a "Daily Thanthi" is a reputed daily Tamil newspaper in Tirunelveli, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Erode, Dindigul, Trichy, Salem, Nagercoil, Cuddalore, Vellore, Pondicherry and Thanjavur. It is owned by Mr.B. Sivanthi Aditanar. It was founded by S. P...
were siblings. Shiv Nadar received a pre-University degree in The American College, Madurai
The American College in Madurai
The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges present in India. It is located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu state, south of India. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries.The college is situated in Madurai, the second largest city in Tamil Nadu...
and degree in Electrical And Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology
PSG College of Technology
PSG College of Technology is an autonomous, government aided institution, affiliated to Anna University. The college offers a total of 48 full time and part time programs in Science, Engineering and Management at Undergraduate & Postgraduate levels. The College was founded in 1951 by...
. He began his career at Walchand Group's Cooper Engineering in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
in 1967.
First decade – Startup to India's No 1 IT company
Along with Ajai Chowdhry (Chairman, HCL Infosystems), Arjun MalhotraArjun Malhotra
Arjun Malhotra is an Indian businessman who co-founded HCL Technologies with Shiv Nadar in 1976. He is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Calcutta and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He also attended the The Doon School in Dehradun and St. Columba's School in New Delhi. He founded...
(CEO and Chairman, Headstrong
Headstrong
Headstrong can refer to:*Headstrong , a Canadian hard rock band**Headstrong , the self-titled debut album by Headstrong*Headstrong , the debut album by Ashley Tisdale...
), Subhash Arora, Yogesh Vaidya and DS Puri, Shiv Nadar started Microcomp to sell teledigital calculators in the Indian market. under the brand name "Televista.
HCL was founded later in 1976 with an investment of Rs 187,000 from the 6 founders and added Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
government as a 26% equity partner. While the company focused on building a microcomputer from scratch, it received an unexpected boon when foreign companies like IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
left the country due to the policies adopted by the then Industrial minister George Fernandes
George Fernandes
George Mathew Fernandes is an Indian trade unionist, politician, journalist, agriculturist, and member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He is a key member of the Janata Dal , and was the founder of the Samata Party...
in 1977 creating a market space for the microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
in India.
In 1980, HCL ventured into the international market with the opening of Far East Computers in Singapore to sell IT hardware. The venture reported Rs 1 million revenue in the first year and continued to address the Singapore operations. In 1981, Rajendra Pawar, Vijay Thadani, S Rajendran started NIIT
NIIT
NIIT Limited is a global computer education company. The company is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange of India. The company provides training for individuals, enterprises, schools and colleges. It has its presence in 40 countries worldwide.In 2004 , NIIT was...
with Nadar playing the role of investor to address the then fast growing computer education market. Nadar remained the largest shareholder without retaining any management control. Nadar retained his shareholding in NIIT through 2003 at least.
Through 1984, the company focused on designing microcomputers and writing custom applications for clients on these systems. When the Indian government liberalised regulations for import of technology, the computer market was in effect opened for adopting new global technologies. HCL utilised the opportunity to develop Personal computers solutions (called Busybee) and UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
platform based solutions. In the IT hardware business, the company opened a subsidiary called HCL office Automation that quickly became India's leader in office solutions. By 1987, HCL recorded revenue of Rs 100 crores and featured as India's number 1 company.
Second decade – Transition to software services business
Shiv Nadar looked at marking a place in the global arena after having captured Indian IT leadership. HCL America was set up in 1989, to market HCL-made computers in the U.S.A. under the name of an American company with which HCL America had partnered. The deal didn't succeed. As HCL America was also providing software services to various American companies at that time, mainly to finance its U.S. operations, Nadar decided that software services would become HCL America's core competence.Meanwhile, in India, HCL consolidated its market position in the early part of its second decade reaching an inflexion point in 1991 when the government liberalised the economy to provide a level playing field for foreign players. HCL joined HP and created a JV – HCL HP Limited. The JV built solutions to address the local computing market as well as gave HCL its first experience in outsourced R&D. In the mid '90s, Shiv Nadar added sale agreement with Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
and Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
to distribute their products in India. In 1995, Nadar set a target of Rs 100 billion as target for the HCL Group, a target his group will fall short.
By 1995, HCL became a complex organisation with over 40 subsidiaries and Nadar quickly realised that global IT services was the way forward rather than IT hardware. HCL Consulting was formed to address the IT services and the R&D division of HCL-HP was merged into HCL Consulting. The company was renamed HCL Technologies in 1996, the same year the JV with HP broke off.
By early 1998, Nadar had consolidated his business into five entities – HCL Technologies (global IT service company), HCL Infosystems (Indian IT hardware leader), HCL comnet (network services company), HCL Perot (IT applications) and NIIT (education services).
Third decade – Global IT service company
Shiv Nadar took HCL Technologies public in 1999, At the time of IPO, HCL was the second largest IT company with revenue of Rs. 7.23 billion behind TCSTata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services Limited is a global IT services, business solutions and outsourcing company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is the largest provider of information technology in Asia and second largest provider of business process outsourcing services in India...
(Rs 16.52 billion) but ahead of Wipro (Rs 6.32 billion) and Infosys (Rs. 5 billion) and with the Internet boom in full swing, HCL decided to put complete focus in R&D services to product engineering companies while paying scant attention to the Y2K. When the Internet bubble burst in 2000, HCL was left behind by its competitors because of their headstart in Enterprise application services.
Nadar made an effort to bootstrap HCL with acquisitions in 2001. HCL acquired Apollo Contact center from BT and Deutsche Software Limited (Deutsche Bank's Indian captive software company) to address the BPO and Financial services market. Still HCL continued to underperform competitors through 2005.
By 2004, the number of companies in HCL was consolidated from five to two – HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems. Shiv's shareholding in NIIT was recognised as personal investment and HCL Comnet became a subsidiary of HCL Technologies. HCL Perot was sold back to partner Perot Systems for $105 million in December 2003. S Raman, COO & President, HCL Technologies retired in early 2005 and Nadar promoted Vineet Nayar
Vineet Nayar
Vineet Nayar is an Indian businessperson, IT executive, the CEO, Vice Chairman and fulltime member of the Board of Directors of HCL Technologies.-Education:Vineet Nayar was born in 1962...
as President of HCL Technologies and revive HCL's sagging fortunes in the IT services spectrum.
In 2007, Shiv passed the mantle of CEO of HCL Technologies to Vineet Nayar. Shiv remains Chairman of HCL Technologies and its largest shareholder.
Non-IT business ventures
Nadar had less success with his ventures outside the IT and software industry. His partnernship with Singapore Telecom to address the now-booming Indian Telecom market was unsuccessful as well as his attempts in the granite and aquaculture business.Focus on Education & Healthcare
In 1996, Shiv Nadar founded SSN College of EngineeringSSN College of Engineering
Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering , popularly known as SSN, is an engineering institution located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The college is certified to ISO 9001:2000 standard by the National Board of Accreditation. Ravichandran Ashwin,the international Indian cricketer...
in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, Tamil Nadu in the name of his father – Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar. Shiv Nadar takes active role in the college activities including gifting of Rs. 1 million worth of HCL shares to the college. In 2006, Nadar announced that the college will promote research apart from ensuring that students benefit from foreign university tie-ups. Nadar joined the Executive Board of Indian School of Business
Indian School of Business
The Indian School of Business is a business school in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. It offers a Post Graduate Programme in Management , a Fellow Program in Management, and a Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior...
in 2005. In March 2008, Nadar's SSN Trust announced setting up of Seven Vidyagyan schools in UP for rural students where free scholarship will be provided for 100 students from 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
.
Shiv Nadar is a member of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India
Public Health Foundation of India
The Public Health Foundation of India , is an autonomous foundation located in New Delhi, India. The foundation was created as a public-private initiative and launched by the Prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh in 2006 with the aim of enhancing the capacity of public health professionals in the...
(PHFI). PHFI was started by Rajat Gupta
Rajat Gupta
Rajat Kumar Gupta was the managing director of management consultancy McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003 and a business leader in India and the United States...
to "redress the limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health"
In April 2011, he was appointed the chairman of the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Awards and accolades
In 2008, Government of India awarded Shiv Nadar with Padma BhushanPadma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
, the third highest civilian award, for his contribution to IT industry.
In 2007, Madras University awarded him honorary doctorate degree (D Sc) for his contributions in promoting software technology. Nadar was also recognised as E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 (Services).
In October 2006, Shiv Nadar received an honorary fellowship from All India Management Association – AIMA
External links
- Profile at HCLHCLHCL or HCl can stand for:* Hairy cell leukemia, an uncommon and slowly progressing B cell leukemia* Hardware compatibility list...
- Profile at ForbesForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
- Shiv Nadar collected news and commentary at The Times of IndiaThe Times of IndiaThe Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
- K@W Interview with Shiv Nadar
- CNN Interview with Shiv Nadar