The Young Veteran

A computer science engineer from BIT, Mesra, and an MBA from XLRI, Rajiv was one of the youngest managing directors of Microsoft in India and responsible for some of its path-breaking projects like Project Shiksha and Project Bhasha that launched the software behemoth’s app­lications in 14 Indian languages. Now, at 45, he is already a veteran in the field of IT services. Before CMS Info Systems, where he is CEO and executive vice-chairman, Rajiv did a stint with Actis Capital. Earlier, he had spent 10 years with Microsoft during the defining period of the Indian IT industry. During his stint, the US software giant’s business grew threefold in India over a four-year period and led to the company inv­esting $400 million in India. Even at CMS, his leadership has seen revenues grow threefold in the last five years. The Indian government, he feels, pays too much attention and money on IITs. “A lot of money in this country is spent to take care of just 1 per cent of engineering students. How many of them stay in India? The government should spread this wider and look at the next level where there are good students as well.” Like many good ceos, Rajiv plays golf and is good at it. He is also quite a foodie and loves to experiment with food.