Narayanan of Cognizant is DQ IT Person of the Year

New Delhi : Lakshmi Narayanan, VC, Cognizant Technology Solutions was
presented with 'Dataquest IT Person of the Year' award 2008, for his stellar
role in leading and growing Cognizant Technologies.

The award was presented to Lakshmi Narayanan by Ajai K Chowdhry, Chairman and
CEO, HCL Infosystems and Dataquest IT Person of the Year 2007, and Pradeep
Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia at New Delhi on Oct 22.

The awards jury also acknowledged the leadership provided by Narayanan to
Nasscom. He was the chairman of Nasscom in 2007 where he played an important
role in bridging the gap between industry and academia, and worked towards
forging closer ties between them.

The 'Best e-Governed State of India' award went to the NCT of Delhi. The 'Pathbreaker
of the Year 2008' award was presented to Sanjeev Bikhchandani of Naukri.com. The
young entrepreneur was recognized for establishing a successful online business
model and creating an unmatched mindshare among web users looking for jobs. The
10-year-old company's new properties include jeevansaathi.com and 99acres.com.

Speaking on the occasion, Prasanto K Roy, Chief Editor, Dataquest said, "The
awards reflect the highlight of the year gone by, a trend that continues in
2008-09: the rise of the domestic market and technology industry." He added that
the Indian market growth overtook exports growth for the first time in a decade,
and with the global recession, the home market is going to be even more
interesting for every technology player."

There is also this large untapped market for services companies, both in
India and abroad, Roy added.

A dozen other awards were given to the top manufacturers and service
providers in the industry. These awards are as follows:

Best e-Governed State of India: NCT, Delhi.

Pathbreaker of the Year 2008 award: Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Naukri.com

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr DB Phatak of IIT Bombay

Top Systems Company Award: Hewlett-Packard

Top Networking Company Award: Cisco Systems

Top Training Company Award: NIIT

Top Growth Company: SAP India

Top IT Company & Top Exporter: TCS

Top Services Company (India Market) Award: IBM India

Top BPO Company: Genpact

Top Distribution Company: Ingram Micro

Top Software Company Award: Microsoft

Top T-School Award: IIT Kharagpur

Top Imaging and Printing: Hewlett-Packard

Top IT Employer: iGATE

Top BPO Employer: vCustomer