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As the Head of Accenture’s India Delivery Centre
Network, Chaitanya Kamat is driving the company’s software delivery
operations. Kamat’s dream is to see Accenture India grow to its
full potential, says Abhinav Singh
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Chaitanya Kamat -
Head of Accenture’s India Delivery Centre Network |
Chaitanya Kamat has always
been focused on what he wanted in life and was passionate about
achieving it. As a teenager his heart was in subjects like mathematics
and computer science and he put his heart and soul into excelling
in these subjects. The result was that he stood first in his specialisation—the
"Number Theory" —during his BSc in Mathematics at Mumbai
University. Doing well in his Masters in Computer Science from the
same varsity, Kamat was awarded a state government merit scholarship.
Swimming and taking part in quiz programmes were his hobbies. "Today
parents force their children to do things that they don’t like,
therefore, the child doesn’t take an interest in things that are
forced upon him, and ends up faring badly. The key lies in understanding
a child’s interest and encouraging him to do what interests him
the most to achieve optimum results," says Kamat.
Kamat started working with
the Bank of India as a teller while still in his final year at college,
but he did not let the job affect his studies. "I earned a
sum of Rs 761 per month, which was quite a lot during that time,
plus I was able to maintain a balance between studies and the job,"
he adds. After quitting his first job at Bank of India, he joined
the Tata R&D lab, which was at that time working closely with
the Government of India’s Defence Department. "At the Tata
R&D Lab I was part of a strategic project which involved developing
radar-related applications at military airports," he informs.
After the military project got over, Kamat joined the Indian Institute
of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), to pursue his MBA. He excelled in
his first year at IIMA and secured the 11th position in a batch
of 168 students.
Kamat joined Accenture in 1986
as an analyst and started working on a consulting project at the
company’s Mumbai office. A few months later he was sent to Accenture’s
office in Chicago, US. During his first two years at Accenture,
Kamat worked as an analyst, later as a consultant, and then as a
manager for five years. As part of his overseas assignments, Kamat
has worked at Accenture locations in the US, Sweden, Hungary and
Philippines. Some notable projects on which he worked include the
Hungarian Railway project (involving managing the cargo system)
and another project with a chain of retail stores in Sweden.
In most of his projects Kamat
has managed a team of 50 to 100 people. In 1995, he returned to
Accenture Mumbai and worked on projects affecting various industry
segments. In 1999, he left the company to start his own venture,
but returned in 2000 to head the India Delivery Centre for Accenture
in Mumbai. The main task of the centre is to deliver technology
solutions. He now heads the company’s delivery centres, both in
Mumbai and Bangalore. "My aim is to further strengthen the
high quality of software delivery capability for Accenture from
India and to bring more jobs into the country," says Kamat,
who is busy spearheading the organisation’s recruiting exercise.
He feels that the international exposure he has received during
his years with Accenture have helped him acquire a better understanding
of diversified viewpoints. Presently he has a singular focus: "I
would like to see Accenture grow steadily and I am sure it will
do very well do in the years to come."
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