New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) A new book, "The Maverick Effect", tells the untold story of how in the 1970s and 80s a 'band of dreamers' joined hands to create NASSCOM and pave the way for the IT revolution in India.

The book, touted to be an authoritative biography of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the apex body of software and IT service companies, is written by Harish Mehta, the co-founder and first elected Chairperson of NASSCOM.

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"The impact that NASSCOM and the Indian IT industry have had on India is unparalleled. I have often been asked about the inside story of how NASSCOM was started. I realised that I could not point anyone to a definitive source. And thus, I took upon myself to write a book, which is aptly titled 'The Maverick Effect'," said Mehta.

"The book talks about some of the fiercest of competitors collaborating, and thereby creating an unstoppable flywheel that is India's technology industry," he added.

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Valued at a staggering USD 200 billion today, the Indian IT industry directly employs more than four million people. As the largest forex earner, it has helped millions of Indians beat poverty and rise to the middle-income group.

Walking down the memory lane, Mehta recounts in the book how as a 20-something man in the mid-1970s, he decided to throw away a lucrative job in America and came back to work in India.

This was a time when India had no IT industry, computers were still a novelty, and the nation was trapped in a labyrinthine 'License Raj'.

"As young Harish Mehta struggled to find his stride, he realized that India's nascent and fragmented IT industry acutely needed a unified voice that could speak to the government, change laws and harness the country's potential," read a section in the book.

Honest, open and inspiring, according to publisher HarperCollins, Mehta's journey proves that "no vision is impossible if unrelenting, kindred spirits unite".

"The world today understands and respects the might of India's IT industry but there's an incredible backstory behind how this global leadership was achieved. The 'Maverick Effect' presents a brilliant inside account of how some competitors got together, created an industry body called NASSCOM and transformed a nation," said Sachin Sharma, executive editor at HarperCollins.

The book is also endorsed by top IT industry leaders, including Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran.

While Murthy called the book a "definitive and authoritative" biography of NASSCOM, Chandrasekaran said there is" no shortage of inspiration in the pages of this book" for readers.

"Future historians will rely on this work when they do research on the role of NASSCOM in removing the bureaucratic hurdles during the initial years of the software services industry in India," said Murthy in his praise for the book.

"The Maverick Effect", priced at Rs 559, is currently available for sale on offline and online stores.

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