I’m back home in Chennai, after 3 days of time well spent at the NASSCOM India leadership forum, 2009, and I must admit that it has brought some cheer to the gloom that prevails. The speakers for the event were top class, and some of the most reputed and sought after business leaders. In these times, its important to induce optimism and pave new avenues for business; and events like these play an important role in salvaging the confidence lost. The message sent to the world was loud and clear, that Indian IT hasn’t lot its sheen (despite the recent chinks in the armour), and is resurgent.

The turn-out at the event and the attendance was very good across the 3 days with delegates from across the world. Many of them have been regular visitors to the NASSCOM Indian Leadership forum across the years, which is testament enough.

The speakers who left an impact on the audience were predominantly from the academia (perhaps an unbiased view). Prof Pankaj Ghemawat stressed on revenue per employee as an important metric that has flattened out over the previous five years, and is necessary to increase effeciency and value within Indian companies. Prof C K Prahalad warns us that the worse is yet to come, and only companies that have the competence to manage volatility, and can scale up or down will weather it.
The gem of the speakers has been Shashi Tharoor, which comes as no suprise to those who’ve heard him before. His views are highly optimistic about India, and he weaves them together effortlessly through his eloquence and hard facts.

The sour point (according to me) was not giving a lot of importance to emerging companies, and enterprises. Recession may not be the best time for new enterprises, but it sows the seeds for an economic revival. I was also disappointed with the session titled “Industy heads coach you on riding out this storm”, chaired by Shereen Bhan, and felt that with a lot more focus, this could have been the most useful session of the day.

Those apart, NASSCOM has given us the perfect template for organising a great event, and kudos once again to their team. I’m looking forward to being part of NASSCOM India Leadership Forum, 2010 and covering the next year’s event. Until then, Ciao!