In a significant restructuring, technology giant Dell has for the first time created the position of president, Dell India ? a role that would represent all the different entities of the company in the country and present a single face to the government, the IT industry and the community.

Dell veteran Ganesh Lakshminarayanan has taken over as president of Dell India. He would lead the company?s many arms in India ? the domestic hardware and services business, R&D, the global analytics group and the contact centre business, among others. Lakshminarayanan headed the company?s contact centre in India and will continue in that role. He played a critical part in establishing and ramping up the organisation.

Dell this year displaced HP as the No. 1 PC vendor in India and is growing fast and wants to transition into a strong solutions player that sells both hardware and services. The firm grew 55% during the third quarter in the country and has a revenue run rate of over a billion dollars.

In line with its growing clout in India, Dell is eyeing an influential role in policy matters and wishes to play a proactive part in shaping the future of the Indian IT industry. The new structure is expected to help towards achieving this goal. ?Dell wants to influence market expansion in India ? whether it is by building a manufacturing ecosystem, in terms of broadband penetration, influencing the e-waste policies or green IT policies. We want to ensure Dell maintains a strong presence and one face in the government,? Lakshminarayanan said in an interaction with FE.

?Maintaining a single face of Dell in the community is very important. We want to be the No 1 corporate social responsibility (CSR) company in the country as well,? he added. The position of president, in fact, has been created in nine other important geographies of the company including China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand in the Asia Pacific. ?This is Dell?s attempt to leverage the talent and the market locally and at the same time, maintain a global consistency as a company. This structure would help us to transform Dell into a solutions company. It is more relevant in India because we have a huge employee base,? Lakshminarayanan said.

Besides the external function, the president of Dell India would play a significant internal role as well.