CAFE
COM:PORT
CHAT JOCKEYS
EVENTS

F C Kohli, the father of the Indian computer industry and probably the most decorated man in the business, will be in the com:port chat room to discuss the issues and exciting possibilities which await India's infotech industry.

Kohli is now director in charge of Tata Consultancy.

He obtained his BA and BSc (Hons) degrees at the Punjab University, Lahore, and then proceeded abroad for further studies. He obtained his BSc (Hons) electrical engineering degree from Queen's University, Canada, and MS electrical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

He joined the Canadaian General Electric Company as an engineer and subsequently worked with Ebasco International Corporation, New York, before returning to India in 1951 to take up the appointment of chief load dispatcher with Tata Electric Company. He advanced to the position of general superintendent in 1963 and deputy general manager in 1967.

In 1966, he was also appointed as senior consultant to Tata Consulting Engineers and in 1969 was appointed as general manager of Tata Consultancy Services.

He was appointed as director in charge of Tata Consultancy in 1974 and deputy chairman in 1994. He is also a director on the board of Tata Sons Limited, Tata Industries Limited, Tata Unisys Limited, Tata Electric Company, Tata Honeywell Limited, Bradma of India Limited, Airline Financial Support Services India Private Limited, Tata Technologies Limited Singapore, Investor Services Of India Limited, Triveni Engineering Works, Abacus Distribution Systems and Airline Software Development Consultancy India Private Limited. He is also chairman of Tata Elxsi India Limited and WTI Advanced Technology Limited.

Kohli is associated with professional organisations like the Computer Society of India, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers New York, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Management Consultants of India.

In 1985 he was awarded the fellowship of Singapore Computer Society. Kohli was on the board of directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for the years 1973-74 and was a chairman of the India Council. He is the past president of the Computer Society of India and was the chiarman of the Southeast Asia Regional Computer Conference held at Singapore in 1976 and chairman of the apex committee of the Southeast Asia Regional Computer Conference held at New Delhi in 1988. He was president of the Management Consultants Association of India for the year 1975-76. For 1975-77 he was the chairman of the Institutions of Electrical Engineers Bombay. In 1989, he was appointed adviser to the Souteast Asia Regional Computer Confederation.

He was a president of NASSCOM for 1995-96.

He has been unanimously elected president of the Asian Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation, an Asian IT body for 1996-98.

Kohli has been associated in an advisory capacity with educational institutions like the Benares Hindu University, IIT Bombay, National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering Bombay, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi and Sardar Patel College of Engineering Bombay. He is also associated in an advisory capacity with the departments of education and science and technology of the government of India.

In 1984 he was appointed chairman of the Software Export Promotion Committee set up by the department of electronics of the government of India. In 1988 he was appointed chairman of the Computer Software Study group, department of electronics, government of India; and in 1995, as the member of the Indo-US Commercial Alliance Board.

Kohli has made a significant contribution to engineering in India in the fields of power system control techniques, power system management, automation of power systems, computer aided design and the development of consultancy in application of computer science and management sciences to business, government and industry.