Ajai Chowdhry

Ajai Chowdhry,
Founder, Chairman & CEO,
HCL Infosystems

An engineer by training, Ajai Chowdhry is one of the six founder-members of HCL, India's leading technology and IT company. HCL, India's original IT garage start-up founded in 1976, is today a US$5-billion global enterprise.

Ajai Chowdhry took over the reins of HCL Infosystems, the flagship company of the group, as President and CEO in 1994. He was appointed the Chairman of HCL Infosystems in November 1999. Under Ajai's stewardship, the company's turnover has grown to US$3.1 billion (approx. Rs.15,500 crore) from US$89 million in 1994. Employing ~ 5,100 people, it has emerged as the country's information-enabling powerhouse.

Ajai has been a key force in driving the growth of HCL Infosystems. The credit of setting up HCL's overseas operations, starting with Singapore in 1980, goes to him. During this tenure, he extensively covered South Asian markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the People's Republic of China, expanding business operations, which paved the way for enhancing HCL's core competencies in bringing the best international technologies to the domestic market.

He has been an Independent Director of HCL Technologies Limited since January 2003. He serves as Director of HCL Enterprise Solutions Inc. He served as a Non-Independent Non- Executive Director of HCL Technologies Limited. 

Ajai has a Bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering, and attended the Executive Programme at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, US. He is an avid reader and is fond of Jazz and fine arts.