The much-awaited 5th GESIA Annual Awards acknowledging Excellence in various realms of ICT industry were announced at a grand function held on 15th February 2012 at Aangan Party Plot, Bh. Jodhpur Gam, Satellite, Ahmedabad. The function witnessed attendance of crème-de-la-crème companies and top brass of the leading companies including Promoters, Directors, CEOs, CFOs, Presidents and Top Executives of over 400+ Software, BPO/KPO/ITES, Telecoms & Electronics companies of Gujarat State & from other parts of the country.

Shri Pankaj Shah – Vice President, GESIA and Convener – 5th Annual Awards welcomed all the Dignitaries, Govt officials, Sponsors & Delegates. Further he invited President–GESIA, Shri Sunil Kakkad, Chief Guest – Shri S D Shibulal, Co-founder and Member of the Board & Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Limited, Guest of Honor, Shri Ravi Saxena, IAS – Additional Chief Secretary, Dept of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat for lightening of the lamp.

Shri Sunil Kakkad, President-GESIA welcomed Chief Guest, Shri S D Shibulal, Co-founder and Member of the Board & Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Limited, Guest of Honor, Shri Ravi Saxena, IAS – Additional Chief Secretary, DST, GoG, Shri Jwalant Trivedi - Deputy Secretary, DST, Shri K R Gururaja Rao, Chairman cum Managing Director, Gujarat Informatics Ltd., Dr Neeta Shah-GIL, Shri N D Panchal & other Senior Govt officials, Sponsors and Jury Members.

In his address Shri Kakkad said, “Historically, Gujarati’s have been a trader community. Trading survives only in opaque conditions where information is not available. However in today’s world governed by internet, information is available everywhere, anywhere and at any time. If we do not understand importance of value addition & manufacturing our edge of having business sense will be lost. Except for textile industry, manufacturing started in a big way in Gujarat only after our independence and today even though we are de facto leaders in sectors like Chemicals, Pharma and Automobiles, there is a lot of scope of improvement in ICT area. ICT is a first generation business. ICT entrepreneurs of Gujarat are like raw diamonds. A little bit of polish and these diamonds will start shining.” If we do not understand importance of innovation, value addition & manufacturing our edge of having business sense will be lost.

In his speech, Shri S D Shibulal, Co-founder and Member of the Board & Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Limited, said, “It is my privilege and pleasure to be part of the Annual GESIA ICT Awards Ceremony. The initiatives taken by GESIA to encourage the growth of ICT industry in Gujarat are commendable. I congratulate the winners for their achievements in their respective domains.”

Shri Sam Pitroda – Advisor to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure & Information addressed the gathering through Video Conferencing from USA. He said, “GESIA has unique opportunity to provide needed leadership in Gujarat to develop new markets and new business models related to novel ICT applications for Governance, Education, Health, Delivery of public Services, Financial Services, Disaster Management, Urban Development, Panchayats and lot more. I hope that through these awards GESIA will be able to encourage young talent in Gujarat to take global leadership.”

In his speech, Guest of Honor, Shri Ravi Saxena, IAS – Additional Chief Secretary, Dept of Science & Technology, quoted that the “Year on year the awards given away by GESIA have set an increasingly higher benchmark for excellence in the field of innovation, efficiency and productivity in the Information Technology industry. It has helped develop a competitive environment for the member units, and is paving way for making Gujarat an attractive destination for ICT industry from across the globe now.”

In his message to the GESIA on the occasion of its Annual Awards Function, Shri Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., said, “ I am pleased to note the initiatives taken by GESIA in recent past and it is heartening to note that GESIA is trying to put Gujarat based ICT industry on national and international map. Looking to the enterprising spirit of Gujaratis, this is not an uphill task. On the occasion of GESIA Annual Awards for Excellence 2011 function, I wish GESIA and Gujarat based ICT industry a great success in their efforts.”

Shri Bipin Mehta – Jury Member, addressed on Jury Process of 5th Annual Awards.

The 5th Annual Awards witnessed mind numbing entertainment sequences at the venue. Our MCs were Mz Kubra Sait and Mr Gunjan Utreja. The event was followed by witnessed Professional Dance, Theme Based Fashion Show, Laser Angles, Helium Angles and individual performance by famous Singer and Stage performer Mz Jyotsana Navandar.

Shri Jay Ruparel, Hon Secretary, GESIA delivered Vote of Thanks.

We are thankful to GESIA members and Industry representatives from other cities of Gujarat who came specially to attend the Seminar and Award function. The encouragement and support from all Sponsors and supporters, including Department of Science & Technology, Gujarat Informatics Ltd., helped us to make this event possible.

The Media coverage of the 5th Annual Awards was extensive and we thank the media for their support of GESIA activities. The Event received wide acclaim and coverage in various media; both print & electronic.

The success of this function would not have been possible without the active participation and involvement and support of the Office Bearers, Executive Committee, Jury Members, KPMG as Knowledge Partner, Sponsors, Nominees and partners in progress.

The appreciation, feedback and felicitating messages we received post event is extremely positive. This has helped us to further strengthen our resolve to organise relevant events for the benefit of GESIA members and ICT Industry of Gujarat. By organizing this kind of event, GESIA is now been recognised National level.

We hope that those of you who could not participate in the nomination process or the awards function, will definitely get a fair idea about the importance of the event thru this information and that this information will encourage all ICT companies of Gujarat to enthusiastically participate in 6th Annual Awards.

The Recipients of 5th Annual Awards were:

Best Software Company – Gujarat
Enterprise - CIGNEX Datamatics Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Medium - NetWeb Software Pvt. Ltd.
Small & Micro - Openxcell Technolabs Pvt. Ltd.

Best Call Center / BPO / KPO – Gujarat
Winner - Motif India Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Rising Star - Effective Teleservices Pvt. Ltd.

Best Electronics Company – Gujarat
Enterprise - e-Infochips Ltd.
Small & Micro - TechSture Technologies

Best Computer Hardware/System Integrator – Gujarat
Winner - Evolutionary Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Rising Star - Silver Touch Technologies Ltd.

Best Telecom Company – Gujarat
Winner - Tata Teleservices Ltd.

Highest Employment Generator – Gujarat
Enterprise - Azure Knowledge Corporation Pvt. Ltd.
Small & Micro - Teleysia Networks Pvt. Ltd.

Best Innovation by an ICT Company – Gujarat
Enterprise - Guj Info Petro Ltd.
Rising Star - Elitecore Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Best Software Product Company - Gujarat
Enterprise - Elitecore Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Medium - VBSOFT (India) Ltd.

Best Corporate Social Responsibility Company – Gujarat
Winner - Motif India Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

Best Education Institute – Gujarat
Winner - Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG)

Best Mobile Application Development Company - Gujarat
Winner - InfoStretch Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Rising Star - Samyak Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

President's Choice

• Collabera Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
• Successful implementation of IT Projects in Government of Gujarat:
  • Food and Civil Supplies Department, Govt. of Gujarat for The Issuance of Ration Cards with a Barcode
  • Health & Family Welfare Department, Govt. of Gujarat for 'E- Mamata' (A name-based mother and child tracking application)

Photographs of 5th GESIA Annual Awards