Anu Aga (born 3 August 1942) is an Indian billionaire businesswoman and social worker who led

Thermax Thermax Ltd is an Indian multinational engineering conglomerate, involved in clean air, clean energy and clean water, headquartered in Pune. History Thermax manufactures boilers to harness the power of steam. The company started with produc ...

, an energy and environment engineering business, as its chairperson from 1996 to 2004. She was among the eight richest Indian women, and in 2007 was part of 40 richest Indians by net worth according to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine. She was awarded with the Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award by ALL Ladies League, the all ladies wing of

ASSOCHAM The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India () is a Non-governmental organization, non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in New Delhi, India. The organisation represents the interests of trade and commerce i ...

. After retiring from Thermax, she took to social work, and in 2010 she was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

for Social Work by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. She is currently Chairperson of Teach For India. She was nominated to

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the Upper House of Indian Parliament on 26 April 2012, by President

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

Early life and education

Anu Aga was born to a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

family on 3 August 1942 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

. She graduated with a B.A. in Economics from St Xavier's College,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, and with a post graduation in medical and

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psy ...

social work from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences ( TISS),

. She had also been a Fulbright Scholar and studied in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

for four months.

Career

Anu started her career in

in 1985 and later headed its human resources division from 1991 to 1996. After the death of husband, Rohinton Aga, she took over as Chairperson of Thermax, retiring in 2004 and succeeded by her daughter and company vice-chairperson, Meher Pudumjee. Anu has since remained on company's board of directors, and involved with social work. As a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha she served on the following committees * Member, Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (May 2012 - May 2014) and (Sept. 2014 - Present) * Member, Parliamentary Forum on Children (Aug. 2012 - May 2014) * Member, Committee on Empowerment of Women (Sept. 2012 - Sept. 2013) * Member, Committee on Commerce (Aug. - Dec. 2012)

Awards

Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Awar
Anu Aga
'Power Brands: Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar (BMVP) – Edition 2019' for business leadership and philanthropy. Padma Shri award in 2010. Lifetime Achievement award by MAEER’s MIT group, Pune in 2015.

Personal life

Anu was married to Rohinton Aga, a graduate from the Harvard Business School and gave birth to a daughter, Meher, and son, Kurush. Rohinton died in 1996 of a massive stroke, and a little over a year later, her son Kurush died at the age of 25 years. Today, Arnavaz 'Anu' Aga lives in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, Maharashtra. Her daughter, Meher Pudumjee is the current Chairperson of

, taking over from her mother in 2004. She is a post-graduate in chemical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London and joined Thermax in September 1990, and is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Family Business Forum and the Young Indians (YI).

References

External links

Anu Aga – Director, Profile
Thermax India. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aga, Anu Indian billionaires 1942 births Living people Businesspeople from Mumbai Indian women educational theorists St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work Indian social workers Businesspeople from Pune Members of National Advisory Council, India Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha Indian women business executives Women in Maharashtra politics Parsi people 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian businesspeople 20th-century Indian women scientists 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Indian business executives 21st-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesswomen 20th-century Indian businesswomen Women members of the Rajya Sabha Social workers from Maharashtra Women educators from Maharashtra Educators from Maharashtra Businesswomen from Maharashtra Tata Institute of Social Sciences alumni 20th-century women educators