The sudden demise of Ranjan Das, Managing Director (India) of German Software major SAP AG, is a great loss not only for his company but for India Inc and the Assamese community as well. Ranjan died of a heart attack on Wednesday. The 42-year-old was known to be the youngest MNC head in the country.
An Assamese by birth, Ranjan grew up in Guwahati. After his 12th standard, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US with a full scholarship, where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He later went on to attain an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
I recently had the opportunity to meet this gentleman for a one-on-one media interview at the SAP World Tour held in New Delhi a few months back. As we introduced ourselves, both of us were elated to discover our Assamese origin and we conversed in Assamese for a long time. Based on our interaction, I wrote an interview-based article titled “Next set of best practices likely to come from India” on SAP and the IT industry, which I shall cherish forever.
Little did I know that it would be my last interaction with him. I can’t help but feel extremely sad realising that he is no more. I cannot forget the contagious smile Ranjan always carried on his face that made everyone around him smile. He spread an aura of positive energy wherever he went.
Ranjan relocated to Mumbai in July 2007 from SAP’s Silicon Valley office in the US to lead the Indian subcontinent region. Under his leadership, the region delivered its best-ever performance in 2007 by doubling software revenue and customer base as well as achieving record customer and employee satisfaction and became the fastest growing region globally for SAP and won the “Region-of-the-year” award.
Prior to joining SAP, Ranjan founded Patkai Networks Inc., a Silicon Valley-based venture capital-funded software setup. As we bid farewell to Ranjan, I offer my deepest condolences to his family and friends. Dear Ranjan, you will always remain in our hearts wherever you are.
Ayushman Baruah
THE SENTINEL
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