FC Kohli made pioneering efforts to develop IT industry: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Nov 26, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 26 : Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union minister for Electronics and Information Technology, condoled the demise of Tata Consultancy Services founder Faqir Chand Kohli, 96, on Thursday saying that he was a visionary who made pioneering efforts to develop the IT industry in India.
"Sad to learn about the demise of Faqir Chand Kohli Ji. He was a visionary who made pioneering efforts to develop the IT industry in India. His commitment, hard work and foresight shall continue to inspire the industry forever. My sincere condolences," the minister tweeted.
Kohli was known as the Father of Indian IT Industry. He was a pioneer of the country's technology revolution and helped India build its USD 100 billion IT industry.
Top honchos of Tata Consultancy Services mourned the demise of their founder saying he was a true legend, who laid the foundations for India's spectacular IT revolution and set the stage for a dynamic modern economy.
"I am deeply saddened by the news that FC Kohli passed away this afternoon. 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. Kohli led innovations in areas far-ranging from adult literacy, water purification, software engineering, software automation, complex-systems and cybernetics," said N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons.
Born on March 19, 1924, in Peshwar, he did his BA and BSc from the Government College for Men in Lahore under Punjab University. Later he went to Queen's University in Canada and completed B.Sc (Hons) in Electrical Engineering in 1948. He also did his MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1950.
Kohli returned to India in 1951 and joined Tata Electric Companies and rose to become its Director in 1970. During this tenure, he was responsible for the use of digital computers for power system design and control.
In September 1969, Kohli became the general manager of TCS. In 1994, he became deputy chairman of the company and the rest is history. In 1991 he actively worked to bring IBM to India as part of Tata-IBM. He retired in 1999 at the age of 75.
