K R Naik

Kamlaksha Rama Naik, better known as K R Naik (Hindi: क़ रा नायक़) is an Indian industrial engineer. He founded D-Link Ltd. (India) in 1993. In 1994 he entered into a joint venture with a multinational - D-Link Corporation under the name “D-Link India” with a manufacturing facility in Goa and corporate office in Mumbai. Early life and education Naik was born in Karwar, Karnataka on 19 November 1947. He completed his schooling in Karwar and later shifted to Mumbai. Naik is a mechanical engineer with a P.G. Diploma in Industrial Engineering and Licenciate in Plastic Engineering. He earned a Business Management degree from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute in Mumbai.

Career His first job at Mumbai was with Bradma, but soon after that he joined IBM India in 1970 starting as a Mainframe Peripheral Assembly Engineer. In 1977 he contributed significantly to the development of an indigenous line printer at the 'Big Blue' center. He worked to develop indigenous computer peripheral parts of plastic and metal until IBM closed its Indian operation in 1978. and helped constructing new buildings and importing SMT lines from Japan.

In 1995, Naik set out to create a completely new channel for D-Link products. Rather than going after large distributors he decided to put a regional distribution model in place—arguably the first in India among the IT channel.

Honours and awards Year Name Awarding organization Ref 2012 Outstanding Channel Contribution CRN, UBM India 2011 TOP SME ENTREPRENEUR 2010–11 SME Channels 2003-4 President of MAIT MAIT

Personal life

Naik's wife Sudha Naik is a homemaker; they have 2 daughters: Arati Naik and Dr. Lakshana Sharma (who is married to Dr. Amit Sharma).