Bhaskar Pramanik to head Microsoft India

Software giant Microsoft on Monday said it has appointed Bhaskar Pramanik as chairman for its India operations.

The appointment, effective Monday, comes less than two months after Ravi Venkatesan quit as Microsoft India's chairman and corporate vice-president.

Prior to the current role, Pramanik served as Managing Director for Oracle India and Sun Microsystems.

"As chairman, Pramanik will oversee Microsoft's sales, marketing and services subsidiary, provide overall leadership on all Microsoft assets in India and lead our citizenship agenda in close alignment with India's national priorities," Microsoft said in a statement.

Pramanik will report to Jean-Philippe Courtois, who is the President of Microsoft International.

"I am excited to be part of a company that has such a wide play across industries, segments, products and services. I look forward to partnering with the business leaders and the entire Microsoft team to grow our business in India and enable the success of all our stakeholders," Pramanik said.

He served at Sun Microsystems for 13 years and was also Global Vice-President (Commercial Systems) at US headquarters.

Pramanik was responsible for growing Sun Microsystems' business in India from under $20 million to over $200 million in six years, apart from expanding its organizational presence in the country from 24 people to over 1,200, the statement said.

He is also active in industry bodies, including Nasscom and CII, and has also held several general management, sales and marketing positions with other companies in India and Singapore.

"Bhaskar (Pramanik) comes to Microsoft with a strong reputation as a business leader and organisation builder.

"His deep experience and understanding of the Indian IT industry will be critical to continuing to build our leadership in India, as well as enriching our relationships with customers, partners and government," Courtois said.

Microsoft has a good presence in India, with over 5,300 employees in the country.