NEW YORK, USA: ExlService Holdings, Inc., a provider of transformation and outsourcing solutions, today announced the election of Kiran Karnik to its Board of Directors with effect from September 25, 2008.

The former president of Nasscom, Karnik is expected to draw on his three decades of leadership experience in providing strategic focus to EXL's long-term development strategy, talent acquisition and management initiatives and infrastructure development.

Referring to the announcement Karnik said, "I am glad to be on EXL's Board of Directors. This association helps me continue with the initiatives I had taken up at Nasscom for the advancement of Indian expertise in the services sector to the global arena as well as working toward equitable spread of the supply of talent across India to meet the employment demands generated by this sector."

During his tenure as the president of Nasscom, Karnik worked closely with the industry as well as the central and state governments in India to advance this sector in India and globally.

Before his tenure at Nasscom, Karnik was the managing director at Discovery Networks in India where he spearheaded the launch of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in South Asia. Earlier, Karnik was the founder-director of the Consortium for Educational Communication, which was responsible for the UGC's Countrywide Classroom broadcasts and other ICT initiatives.

He has also worked for over 20 years at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in various positions including Founder-Director of ISRO's Development and Educational Communication unit and was also a key player in the pioneering India-USA Satellite Instructional TV Experiment (SITE).

Vikram Talwar, executive chairman of the Board of Directors, EXL commented, "We are delighted to have Kiran Karnik on the board. His remarkable career with extensive and diverse experience is a valuable addition to EXL's Board of Directors."

Rohit Kapoor, President and CEO of EXL commented, "Kiran is an offshore stalwart. His presence on the Board and guidance will be a great advantage in consolidating and sustaining EXL's leadership position in transformational outsourcing."

Karnik is a recipient of the Padma Shri award by the Government of India in 2007 and the 'Dataquest IT Person of the Year 2005'.

BusinessWeek named Karnik as one of the 'Stars of Asia' in 2004 and he was selected as Forbes magazine's 'Face of the Year 2003', for being a driving force behind India's offshoring wave.

A post-graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Karnik holds an Honours degree in Physics from Bombay University.