Today my focus lies in expanding the use of communication and computing to reach a wider audience than has been possible in the techno-economic scenario we live in. This builds from my original training in engineering and technology, gained at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, one of the finest institutions of its kind in Asia. I widened my outlook at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, again one of Asia's premier institutions, where I graduated in management studies, and followed this by working in and around industry in India for twenty five years in various capacities.

I have worked for over eighteen years as an independent management and technology consultant, part of which time I also wrote extensively for journals, spending five years as a deputy editor of Business India,India's largest and most widely read business magazine. My focus here was principally technology. During the period I worked at the magazine, India was led by technology through significant changes, including the advent of the Internet for public access through the World Wide Web, and the arrival of computers as devices for ordinary people.

This has created enormous impact in the field of law and public policy, which I was able to witness at first hand. I interacted personally with nearly every major figure in the world of IT, who chose this time to visit India, drawn by the potential of a nation of nearly a billion people, several tens of millions of whom are well-educated and technologically savvy, arguably the world's largest single concentration of such knowledge and skill.

Unfortunately, there is still a huge gap to be filled before we can begin to feel that IT has made a serious and direct impact in the lives of most of India's population. This will involve more than just changes in technology, many of which are already happening, but also in ensuring that suitable and appropriate technologies are applied to spur economic growth and social development as rapidly as possible across India's far-flung reaches. Many things that happen in India may safely be said to apply to other emerging nations too, hence this is not an isolationist viewpoint.

My effort is to ensure that technology be applied to leverage emerging growth in economic and social terms across as many social, economic and geographic boundaries as can be managed. To this end, I am involved with several initiatives in data communication, software development, policy definition and education.

Languages
English, Hindi

2000
Chief Executive Net Radiophony India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
2000
Director inteliNET software pvt. ltd., Mumbai
1999 — 2000
Vice President, Content and Community netpilgrim.com India Pvt Ltd, Mumbai.
1995 — 1999
Vice President, Corporate Planning, The Business India Group, Mumbai.
1991 —1994
Managing Editor, Technocrat Magazine, Sterling Newspapers Ltd, Mumbai.
1982
Marketing Manager, Quarmatic Time Industries, Mumbai.
1981
Export Executive, Blue Star Ltd, Mumbai
1981
Materials Executive, International Power Semiconductors Ltd, Mumbai (on deputation from Grindwell).
1979 — 1981
Export Executive, Grindwell Norton Ltd, Mumbai.

Consulting

1983 — 2001
Founder consultant, Plata Engineering, Mumbai.
We undertake project feasibility studies and explore implementation solutions within a wide framework, from funding to infrastructure.
2000
ejourno.com pvt. ltd. (client)
Helped company develop its business plan and site (marketing and service front end).
1986
Mazda Industries Ltd (client)
Developed the feasibility studies for the company's original industrial venture in modular hydraulic systems, which enabled it to essay a successful public issue.

Public Forums

I have been a co-opted member of the Bombay Management Association, as head of the communications committee for two years in 1994 and 1995. Within the Business India Group, I continued to promote the activities of the Indian Management Association (the parent body) through its publication, the Indian Management Journal. I have been invited to chair and address various forums in management and technology over the years.

Windows 98, published by Tata-McGraw Hill, 2000.
The book was commissioned by Tata-McGraw Hill to provide Indian computer users with an introduction to the productive use of the desktop platform.

Articles
I have published dozens of articles on management and technology in newspapers magazines and the Internet since 1990. Some of the recent significant pieces include:

• Cover story in Business India on information technology in 1996, the first time this area was covered in depth in a major Indian business magazine.
  
• Cover story in Business India on Microsoft's promoter and chief Bill Gates in 1998, the first time the magazine ever featured a foreigner on its cover.