Kiran Karnik

Kiran Karnik,
Former President ,
NASSCOM

Kiran Karnik was the President of NASSCOM, the premier trade body and the “chamber of commerce” for the IT software and services industry in India till 2008. By providing perspective and background information, he has been instrumental in promoting India's technology strength to the world.

Prior to joining NASSCOM in 2001, Kiran Karnik was the MD at Discovery Networks in India, where he spearheaded the launch of Discovery Channel in South Asia in August 1995 and Animal Planet (a Discovery - BBC joint venture) in 1999. From 1991 to 1995, Kiran Karnik was Founder Director of the Consortium for Educational Communication, which was responsible for UGC's Countrywide Classroom broadcasts and other ICT initiatives.

Earlier, Kiran Karnik worked for over 20 years at ISRO, where he held various positions, including that of Founder Director of ISRO's Development and Educational Communicational Unit. His work in ISRO involved conceptualizing and managing applications of space technology, and he was a key player in the pioneering India-USA Satellite Instructional TV Experiment (SITE).