The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) today announced that R Chandrashekhar, former Secretary – Telecom, Government of India will succeed current president Som Mittal to head the industry association’s executive body.

Mittal's, who has been at the helm of Nasscom for the last six years, tenure comes to an end on January 3, 2014.

"Nasscom is an outstanding organization and I have had the pleasure of engaging with Nasscom in my diverse roles with the government. I am honored to be leading Nasscom and I look forward to work with Som, the Executive Council and other stakeholders to build on the excellent work done and drive the vision and strategy for the industry in its next phase of growth and evolution. The global market opportunities for emerging areas like software products, internet businesses, BPM, Engineering and Technology services, are huge and I hope to leverage my diverse experience to drive substantive growth in these segments," said R Chandrashekhar.

Mittal, president, Nasscom said "It has been my pleasure to lead Nasscom over the past 6 years in a phase that has witnessed growth in a challenging environment. We are excited to have a person of Chandrashekhar’s stature help us catalyse the future agenda of the industry and Nasscom. His deep experience and leadership in dealing with policy establishments across the world will help us accelerate our leadership in emerging areas."

Nasscom under the leadership of N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Chairman, Nasscom 2012-13, had initiated two strategic initiatives to strengthen the organization for 2020.

One was the Organization and Governance committee under the Chairmanship of N R Narayana Murthy. This committee’s recommendations were approved by the Executive Council in February 2013 and Nasscom has started implementing the recommendations since the start of the financial year.

Nasscom in March 2013 had also shared the key findings of the 2020 Organisational and Governance Committee which had set an ambitious target of $300 billion of revenue by 2020.

The report highlighted creation of 7 industry councils to build engagement and vision for high growth segments and emerging opportunities. The implementation of these recommendations is underway and Nasscom has already announced 4 of these councils.