| |August 202019worked with Connecticut Valley Power Exchange, Hartford and New England Power Systems, Boston. When the young Kohli kick-started his journey in his homeland with Tata Electric Company, little did the world know about the poetic anecdote that was in the making.It took no time for Kohli to impress everyone at Tata. He set up a load dispatching system to manage systems operations, which immediately caught eyeballs within the company. In the years that followed, he earned a stellar reputation as a progressive thinker and taskmaster as he introduced the use of digital computers like the CDC 3600 mainframe computer for power system design & control, which was deployed at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.Remember, it was also time when the leftist political parties were leading and supporting trade unions in protesting against the introduction of computer systems & technology interventions in workplaces, arguing that the machines would usurp human jobs and hit employment. The Young Turk, who navigated Tata past such regressive thinking, grew within the company quite strongly, and soon had the attention of J. R. D. Tata, thanks to his inventive approach and leadership skills. Kohli went on to become a general superintendent in 1963, and a deputy general manager in 1967.On April 1st, 1968, Tata Sons launched a new division, TCS, as a management and technology consultancy that would create demand for downstream computer services. The one J. R. D. Tata found to run the new startup was Kohli, the brilliant young technocrat from the Tata Electric Companies. TCS commenced its operations by supplying software solutions to the group companies, before having its major breakthrough in 1972, when the company signed its first contract with Burroughs Corporation for delivering software solutions. There was no turning back ever since then.For the next 30 years, he ran the show in the technology industry of the country. By the time he stepped down as TCS' CEO in 1996, Kohli was a legendary personality in the global IT industry and business world at large.The Crown of AchievementsIn 1996, he was also the president of the Indian Information Technology (IT) services advocacy body NASSCOM. For his priceless contributions to the IT industry, in addition to him being generally referred to as the father of the Indian IT industry, the government of India in 2002 also awarded him with the country's third-highest civilian honor, Padma Bhushan. The plethora of honors Kohli received from across the world also include degrees from Shiv Nadar University, University of Waterloo (Canada), Robert Gordon University (Scotland), IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, Jadavpur University, Queen's University and University of Roorkee, among others.However, the most shining golden feather on Kohli's crown of achievements remains TCS dancing its way to the zenith of the global IT Industry. At 11:00 PM IST on October 8th, 2020, TCS went on to become the most valued company in the world, surpassing Accenture, after clocking a market capitalization of Rs.10.57 trillion ($144.7 billion).In TCS' official statement after Kohli's demise, N Chandrasekaran, the current Chairman of Tata Sons, echoes the sentiments of thousands of people around the globe, "He was a true legend, who laid the very foundations for India's spectacular IT revolution and set the stage for the dynamic modern economy we enjoy today." Wipro's Chairman Azim Premji, wrote, "Kohli was the true pioneer of Indian IT. We have all followed in his footsteps. His contribution to the IT industry and thus to India is immeasurable." As Chandrasekaran and Azim rightly said, we all have tasted the fruits from Kohli's beautiful tree of success and the coming generations will continue to do so. Rest in Peace legend. THE MOST SHINING GOLDEN FEATHER ON KOHLI'S CROWN OF ACHIEVEMENTS REMAINS TCS DANCING ITS WAY TO THE ZENITH OF THE GLOBAL IT INDUSTRY
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