"Roundtable with Narendra Modi will give BJP first-hand feedback for their ICT policies"

Pradeep Gupta, chairman and MD, CyberMedia, talks about the forthcoming roundtable between the ICT industry leaders and Narendra Modi

Dataquest : What do the CyberMedia ICT Awards stand for?
Pradeep Gupta : The CyberMedia Jury Awards represent individual and corporate excellence that stands out in the industry in terms of leadership and excellence. It recognizes exceptional achievements beyond the expected roles. In its 20th year, the Awards have become a hallmark for the industry. Many of our Dataquest IT Person of the Year awardees, including Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Azim Premji of Wipro, Dr Deepak Phatak of IIT Bombay, and S Ramadorai of TCS were later on felicitated with Padma awards, and entrusted with very critical projects like UIDAI and National Skill Development Council. In that sense CyberMedia Awards, which is Indian IT industry's oldest award has played a key role in recognizing and encouraging leaders who have build Indian IT industry.

DQ : What kind of participation from the industry do you expect this year?
PG : As in previous years, the industry leadership comes together to celebrate excellence. CEOs, CIOs, academicians, investors, policy makers, associations and others that represent the ICT ecosystem, assemble to honor the outstanding achievers. We expect 400 CEOs and top level industry executives to assemble on January 17th.

DQ : What are the discussion points likely to be in the closed-door roundtable with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Jan 17th? And what is your expectations from this meeting ?
PG : The closed door roundtable will focus on challenges faced by some very important sectors of the ICT including telecom, domestic market, software, hardware, ESDM, education and training, innovation, internet, social media, etc., and also recommendations. In brief, all parts of the ICT ecosystem will be addressed. We expect a lot of free and frank discussion to take place in that high-level meeting, and hopefully BJP will get a lot of first hand feedback for formulating their ICT policies.

DQ : In your opinion, do political leaders like Narendra Modi really impact and influence the tech industry?
PG : Mr Modi has demonstrated the use of ICT for e-Governance in the state of Gujarat. He has stressed on manufacturing, the new opportunity for the ICT industry. He also has used internet technologies effectively for interacting with the people. As a Prime Ministerial candidate, his interaction with the ICT industry will help set goals for the industry.

DQ : As one of the pioneers of technology media in the country, what role do you see for CyberMedia, now and in the coming years?
PG : CyberMedia has always been at the forefront of influencing the direction of the ICT industry and users in the country. Over the last 31 years, CyberMedia's brands have helped shape the future of the ICT industry. I expect this role to get even more challenging as dependence on ICT gets important not just for businesses, but also Governments and for ordinary citizens. And therefore our responsibility to generate high value content for enhancing awareness of all stake holders; and to be the platform where technology vendors, users, and policy makers can meet for better decisions is going to become more important.

DQ : How can one participate in this roundtable discussion?
PG : Due to time and space constraints we are taking only about 25 leaders from the various sectors mentioned by me earlier. However, if anyone is interested in putting up a question or a comment at the roundtable discussion, you may send it by email to us at ibrahima@cybermedia.co.in and we will try and include it or get a response to that.