Microsoft India Appoints Anant Maheshwari As President

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Anant Maheshwari has been appointed as President, Microsoft India. He will join Microsoft on September 1. Maheshwari will take over the operations of the company from Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, with effect from January 1, 2017. Pramanik will retire from the company in March 2017.

Maheshwari formerly worked with Honeywell where he was their President for India. In this role, he was responsible for the continued growth of India operations across all three strategic business groups of Honeywell: Aerospace, Automation and Control Solutions (ACS), and Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT).

At Microsoft, he will be responsible for all of Microsoft’s product, service, and support offerings across India and, continuing the company’s transformation into the leading productivity and platform company for the mobile-first, cloud-first era.

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 organisation 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 organisation 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.”

Maheshwari commented, “Microsoft’s mission – empowering people and organisations across the planet to do more – is deeply energising, 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.”

Anant Maheshwari is an experienced global technology leader and held various business leadership roles in Honeywell for over 12 years. Among his prior roles, as Managing Director of public listed Honeywell Automation India Ltd. (HAIL), he led the transformation of the ACS business portfolio. He successfully tapped the Asia-Pacific region’s high growth potential, adapting its global distribution business model to Asian markets. He also successfully conceptualised and set up security operations in India for Honeywell.

Prior to Honeywell, Anant was with McKinsey & Company for six years where he worked with clients across multiple industries including telecom, IT and e-commerce, private equity, engineering equipment, automotive, steel and pharmaceuticals.