Anant Maheshwari to replace Bhaskar Pramanik as Microsoft India president

Microsoft India has announced that Anant Maheshwari will join the company from September 1, 2016. He will replace current president Bhaskar Pramanik who will be leaving the company in March 2017.

Anant Maheshwari who joins Microsoft from Honeywell will take over as president from January 1, 2017, and will be responsible for all of Microsoft’s product, service, and support offerings across India.

Before leaving, Pramanik will work side by side with Anant, to ensure a smooth transition of leadership.

He has held various business leadership roles in Honeywell for over 12 years. Prior to Honeywell, Anant was with McKinsey & Company for six years.

Commenting on Maheshwari’s appointment, Jean-Philippe Courtois, EVP and President of Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing & Operations said:

I am delighted to announce that Anant is joining Microsoft India. As we continue to transform as an organization and to support our customers’ digital transformation, Anant’s leadership will be pivotal to our continued growth. Our mission at Microsoft – which we all care deeply about – is to enable every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. I know that in India, Anant will help us to continue to deliver against this, in one of the most vibrant, diverse and exciting markets anywhere in the world.

On joining Microsoft, Anant Maheshwari said:

Microsoft’s mission – empowering people and organizations across the planet to do more – is deeply energizing, especially at India’s current growth inflection point. The ambition of a mobile-first, cloud-first world complements India’s growth themes of Smart Cities and Digital India. The global mission and the ambition of the company are fully aligned with India’s needs and priorities, and enable a wide range of creative growth opportunities. I am excited to join the company at this transformational point and support the growth objectives globally and in India.

Bhaskar Pramanik commented:

I am privileged to have participated in the growth of the Indian IT industry over the last four decades – from the days of the mainframe computing to the mobile first cloud first world of today where computing is all pervasive. I have seen the Indian IT industry grow from a few million dollars to the $200 B global behemoth that it is today.