Ajit Gulabchand (born 1948) is an Indian

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

. Gulabchand is the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Hindustan Construction Company. Gulabchand serves as chairman of the board of governance at National Institute of Construction Management & Research (NICMAR) and as chairman of Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli.

Early and personal life

Gulabchand was born to a Jain trading family, originally belonging to Wankaner in the

Kathiawar Kathiawar (), also known as Saurashtra, is a peninsula in the south-western Gujarat state in India, bordering the Arabian Sea and covering about . It is bounded by the Kutch district in the north, the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest, and by the ...

region of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, which had settled by the early 20th century in

Solapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the States and Territories of India, Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. He is the son of Gulabchand Hirachand (1896-1967), one of the four brothers who founded the Walchand group, a business conglomerate which flourished in the first half of the 20th century. Ajit has eight brothers and sisters, and his eldest sibling is twenty-eight years older than him. He was nineteen years old when his father died in 1967. The surname of the family is "Doshi," but this is rarely used. Art historian Saryu Doshi was a relative of Ajit Gulabchand through her husband, Vinod Doshi. Ajit Gulabchand was formerly married to Meera Gulabchand, daughter of film-maker Vasant Joglekar and actress Sumati Gupte Joglekar. The marriage did not have the support of Gulabchand's family, since Meera came from a very different background. The couple separated after a few years of marriage and may have divorced; They have a daughter named Shalaka Dhawan. Since around the mid-1980s, Ajit Gulabchand has been in a steady relationship with journalist Tavleen Singh. They have no children together, but Ajit has been involved in raising Aatish Taseer, Tavleen's son by a previous relationship. Aatish is a distinguished writer and journalist. Gulabchand and Tavleen reside in one of the most expensive sea-facing apartment complexes in south Mumbai.

Career

Gulabchand has been a director of Indian Hume Pipe since 1993. He has served as director of HCC Infotech, Hincon Technoconsult, Ucchar Investments, Hincon Realty, LAVASA Corporation, Motorsports Association of India, Constructmall.com, and as an independent, non-executive director of Bajaj Electricals. He continues to serve as a Director in Hincon Finance, Hincon Holdings, Western Securities, Champali Garden, Shalaka Investment, and Gulabchand Foundation. He is a founding member of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

's Disaster Resource Network and a member of the National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He is a promoter of the Lavasa township, which was intended to be India's first new hill station since

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

Education

Gulabchand graduated from Sydenham College, Mumbai University, with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

References

External links

* Hindustan Construction Company
Executive Biography: Ajit Gulabchand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulabchand, Ajit Businesspeople from Mumbai Living people Businesspeople in construction 21st-century Indian Jains Gujarati people Walchand family Construction industry of India 1948 births