NASSCOM the premier trade body and the “voice” of the Indian IT industry, today announced the constitution of the ‘Product Business Guidance Panel’ (PGBP), under its Product Forum Special Interest Group.

The PGBP will comprise of a core group of industry representatives, with the objective of functioning as a sounding board for entrepreneurs and/or organizations who wish to be guided on the various aspects of setting up and running a software product company.

Commenting on this development, Mr. Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM said – “In keeping with NASSCOM’s overall agenda of continuously identifying new opportunity areas and creating an enabling environment for the growth of the industry, we are happy to announce the setting up of the Product Business Guidance Panel today.”

“Even though India has won global recognition as a software powerhouse, the indigenous software product sector is still at an early stage of development and needs guidance from experts, which is what this panel aims to do. Taking a cue from countries like Ireland, Israel, the U.K. and Singapore who are all emerging as strong locations for software development, we need to ensure adequate government support and create an ecosystem that is suited for growth of this segment. We hope to make a beginning towards this objective by setting up this expert panel, under the guidance of the chair of the NASSCOM Product Forum, Mr. Subash Menon,” he added.

Speaking about the objectives of this panel, Mr. Subash Menon, Chair – NASSCOM Product Forum and Founder Chairman, Managing Director & CEO, Subex Azure Limited said “The objective is to aid the companies and entrepreneurs to build strong software product companies by helping them to overcome a multitude of challenges. The key strength of this panel is the real life experience that the members have – a team of people who have built / are currently building successful product companies.”

The members of PGBP are