A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, then he becomes visible, all of a sudden, albeit through his work. And Pradeep Gupta, MD, IDC India is one such kind of visionaries who prefer working steadily and silently and achieving his goal. An IIT graduate who jumped into the media business and market research, Pradeep did his B Tech from IIT, New Delhi in 1975 and followed it up with a Masters degree in business administration from IIM, Calcutta. It was in 1982, when the IT industry itself was at a very nascent stage in India, he began a niche publication group in India, Cyber Media India. It is this group's publications that have helped record, report, influence and catalyze the IT industry's growth in India.

The group's media business includes the print titles Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice & Data, BioSpectrum, Living Digital, DQ Channels, and DQ Week (Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai). The Group's www.ciol.com is India's largest technology portal and includes online editions of all CyberMedia titles. CyberMedia Events has conducted events including Bangalore IT.com, Nasscom, IT Kerala, Hi-Tech Pune. Known for his creativity, Gupta also founded Cyber Media TV to prepare TV programmes on IT for a wide audience and launched a School of Convergence at International Management Institute to produce content creators and content managers of the future. In fact, it was in 1987 that Gupta formed International Data Corporation (India), in association with IDC USA and was responsible for making IDC India the leading provider of market research information and strategic consulting to all leading IT vendors operating in India.

Today, IDC India is the country's most comprehensive and dependable resource for market research and consultancy in IT, ITeS, and telecom. The firm has its branches at Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai and is headquartered in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi. IDC India forecasts IT markets and technology trends and analyzes IT products and vendors, using a combination of rigorous primary research and in-depth competitive analysis. Gupta, who is also a general partner of Infinity Venture India Fund, an angel fund that provides venture capital to IT start-ups. He is also the non-executive chairman of eGurucool.com and charter member TiE, Delhi and charter member of Association of Indian Magazines.

He has addressed the Indian computer industry at numerous seminars and conventions organized by Nasscom, the Computer Society of India (CSI) and Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT). Recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award by IIT Delhi, Hellen Keller Award by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, Bharat Vikas Award by International Business Council and Award of Excellence by IEC Software Ltd., Gupta is among the few IT experts in the country who, with his holistic approach his knitted the Indian IT sector into an organic whole. With a person like him, Indian IT has come to an age and is sure to prosper in days ahead.