This was announced by Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India in New Delhi on Thursday.

The present managing director, Rajiv Kaul has been promoted as senior director� Windows Client Emerging Markets Group in Microsoft's Redmond headquarters.

Neelam Dhawan, a former Hewlett-Packard India executive has been associated with the IT industry for 22 years.

She has served as vice president, Customer Solutions Group, HP India with a focus on enterprise, public sector and SMB sectors for all computing products and services. Prior to joining HP in 1999, Dhawan had served in IBM and HCL [Get Quote].

"Neelam Dhawan is very highly respected in the industry and has an excellent track record of managing customer and partner relationships. She will provide the required direction and leadership in delivering significant value to our customers across India," said Venkatesan in a statement.

Dhawan said she is excited to lead Microsoft India at a very interesting time and would look forward to combining her experience with the unique depth of technology and resources of Microsoft to drive customer success.