BVR Mohan Reddy: A Living Example For Success By Design

B.V.R Mohan Reddy (who prefers to be addressed as Mohan by one and all) set-up Cyient in 1991 (as Infotech Enterprises) with immense foresight and a clear goal - to put Indian Engineering on the world map. And this all began over a modest dining table and family investment of $8000, but with a bold dream and conviction, Cyient is today a global leader in technology solutions in over 18 countries worldwide with a market capitalization of USD 1.3 billion. He indoctrinated Values FIRST – Fairness, Integrity, Respect, Sincerity & Transparency, the ideals by which the people of Cyient conduct business and themselves. His undying passion for knowledge has translated not only into education initiatives through the Cyient Foundation but has contributed to the nation's new education roadmap. Its impact has been felt in the digital literacy domain and transforming Education into a more entrepreneurial and innovative journey.

He is a Pioneer in outsourcing engineering design services from India and a thought leader and academic advisor. A proactive industry champion and promoter of the Indian start-up ecosystem, he is sought after as a mentor. He is a patron of social initiatives, especially in Education & Community development, and advocates for business-aligned social innovation. He is a champion of digital literacy and employment for youth through several education and skill initiatives. Through the Cyient Foundation, Over 1 Lakh Children have been given quality education since 2007. Through Cyient Digital Centres, over 10,000+ adult women have participated in IT Literacy Training and were L2 certified. To date, he helped over 20,000 adults (Men & Women) to gain IT Literacy. Trained over 1,000 community members in Skill Centre, and over 700+ Women are self-sustained and self-employed. Trained and placed over 1000+ unemployed youth in IT/ITES skills.

Mohan’s contributions to engineering, technology, and start-ups have been immense. He continues to be the embodiment of Applying technology imaginatively to solve problems that matter and his impact has been recognized worldwide. He continues to focus on nurturing India's future talent to cement further the nation's place as a hub for innovation.

In his more than four DECADES OF DISTINGUISHED JOURNEY, he has made a mark on millions of lives across the world. Here is a snapshot of his visionary leadership that paved the path for the Future of the Tech Industry, Academia, Community, and Nation!

Voice of Industry (Chairman, NASSCOM): He was elected as the Chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in 2015. He was already collaborating on various industry imperatives with the governments and working on national initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, Cyber Security, and Smart Cities.

Founder of NASSCOM ER&D Council: Mohan has been a member of the NASSCOM Executive Council since 2003 and laid the foundation for the engineering services council (ER&D Forum) at NASSCOM. He played a crucial role in launching several initiatives, including instituting industry research on ER&D services.

Leadership positions at CII: Mohan served as the Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Region (2008-09), and AP Council (2002-03). During his tenure, he promoted the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) as the top investment destination in India, which caught the attention of many global companies and resulted in large investment inflows into AP and the setting up of several MNC development centers. He also served as a member of CII's National Committee on Defence (2009-10) and National Committee on IT& ITES (2011-12).

Led numerous industry and trade bodies: He served as the President (1987) of ELIAP (Electronics Industry of Andhra Pradesh), is one of the founding members of HYSEA (Hyderabad Software Exporters Association), and was elected as its President for three continuous terms (1996-98).

He is a Founding Director of T-HUB, one of the largest incubations centers in India.

T-HUB 1.0 has co-working space for around 150 start-ups (500 seats) and currently incubates around 300 companies. T-HUB created one of the finest start-up ecosystems with accelerator programs and collaboration with other incubators around the world.

He is a member of an independent expert committee of DRDO set up for an innovation challenge called: The Kalam Vision - Dare to Dream The Dare to Dream Scheme. This aims to create an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by inviting Startups and individual innovators and engaging them to carry out R&D.

As Chairman of the National Council of Education, Mohan put in place perspective plans for the years 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021. The Education Minister referred to these plans in Parliament, and the findings were used in the draft of the National Education Policy for 2020.

Academia and IIT: He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT-Hyderabad & IIT-Roorkee; As Chairman of the BoG for IIT Roorkee for the past two years, Dr. Reddy worked on bringing back the past glory of the oldest (175 years old ) technical institution in India (started as The Thomason College of Civil Engineering, the University of Roorkee and since 2000 IIT Roorkee).

Mohan chairs an expert committee Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA). ARIIA is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India, to systematically rank all major educational institutions and universities on indicators related to the promotion of "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development" amongst their students and faculties.

is the Chairman & Member of the AICTE Committee for Preparing Short & Medium-term Perspective Plan for Technical Education. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has been ably spearheading the planning, formulation, and dissemination of technical education across India. The committee submitted its report in December 2018/19. AICTE accepted all recommendations and accordingly banned issuing licenses to new engineering colleges in the country for two years, starting from 2019-20. The report had a tremendous impact on the efforts to revitalize engineering education in the country. The report is available here - Engineering Education in India – Short & Medium Term Perspectives (aicte-india.org). In October 2021, AICTE constituted a committee again with as the chair to review the moratorium status on the ground. The committee submitted its report in December 2021, and the AICTE accepted the same in January 2022.

Championing Education for ALL:

The Cyient Foundation, under the guidance of Mohan Reddy, set-up National Digital Literacy Centres in AY16, which were then upgraded to NDLM Centres ( National Digital Literacy Mission) to provide high-quality digital educational resources to underprivileged students and provide digital literacy to the community. In the last three years, women's participation in education has increased from 45% to 55%. School children were provided with access to smart devices for online classes during the pandemic, and over 8,000 children used the centres to attend online classes.

Mohan is an Advisory Board Member of YuWaah – UNICEF. This is the India chapter of Generation Unlimited, a global partnership to meet the urgent needs of expanding education, skill development, and employment opportunities for young people across the world.

Mohan received the prestigious "Padma Shri," the fourth highest civilian award by the Government of India, in 2017, for his contributions to the Indian industry. He was awarded the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Leadership Award in 2011 and received the Corporate Excellence Award from the Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC). He was felicitated as a "Distinguished Scientist" by JNTU at the AP Science Congress 2010. He received the "Outstanding Achievement Award" by the All India Manufacturers' Organization (2004) and also received the "Outstanding Entrepreneur of the year" award from Ernst & Young (1999-2000). He received the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from IIT-Kanpur and was elected as a "Fellow of The Institution of Engineers-India."

He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) in 2018 and the Hyderabad Management Association in 2015. He recently received the BL Maheshwari Life Time Achievement Award from the Centre for Organization Development (COD) for being an outstanding institution builder.