Balaraman joins Polaris after a long stint as the executive director (exports) and a member of the companys management committee with Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL). Balaraman, who was the managing director of the erstwhile Ponds (India) and was responsible for much of its strong early growth, made significant contributions to integrate Ponds with HLL. As director (exports), Balaraman streamlined and consolidated HLLs export operations for sustainable and profitable growth.

A chemical engineer from University of Madras and an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad, he joined the former Ponds (India) in 1970, as its first management trainee in marketing. After various assignments in marketing and sales, product development, quality assurance and purchasing, he became Ponds (India) executive vice president (technical and exports) in 1984. In 1991, he took over as the managing director of the company. After the merger of Ponds with HLL, V Balaraman took over as HLLs executive director (exports).

Says Polaris Software Lab chairman and managing director and CEO Arun Jain: Balaraman brings with him a wide repository of experience and knowledge that will be of fundamental value in developing the brand positioning for the company, in sales and marketing and in evolving and implementing the overall strategic direction to take this company forward in its next thrust of growth. We warmly welcome him into Polaris.

Says Balaraman: I am excited with the opportunity that Polaris presents in its plans to be foremost among Indian companies in tapping into and exploiting the global market. Polaris, with its entrepreneurship spirit and its pool of high-quality technology professionals, strong alliances and partnerships, is poised to grow very fast. I am proud to be associated with this Indian company with plans to put Indian talent and expertise on the global map. It is a privilege for me to be a partner to this process in the organisations strategic journey into the next orbit of growth.

Balaramans induction also emphasises the strategic broad-basing of the Polaris board that already includes stellar names from various facets of India Inc. These experts from various fields provide the company with strategic direction to take Polaris into the next growth orbit.

Polaris Software Lab is a global software house providing quality and customised IT solutions to several multinational clients through its 16 offices worldwide. Polaris Software is the worlds first CMMi (capability maturity model integrated) Level 5 company, certified by the Software Engineering Institute, US.

Polaris is also among the top 25 best employers in India, rated by Hewitt Associates and Business Today. Polaris has 2,544 professionals spread all over the world, who develop and maintain mission-critical application software. Recently, Polaris has underlined its global leadership in the BFSI space through a merger with OrbiTech Solutions Ltd, a technology subsidiary of Citigroup.

With the international roadmap clearly strategised, the new entity, which will continue to be called Polaris, will have an associate-base of around 3,800 associates and a turnover in the range of around Rs 600 crore, and Polaris will now be firmly placed in the premium league of BFSI solution providers, both in India and globally.

Polaris has its worldwide headquarters at Chennai, five development centres in India, and offices in Chennai, Hong Kong, London, New Delhi, Dubai, and four more in the US. The company also operates as wholly-owned subsidiaries in Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Singapore, the UK, Ireland and Japan.