Anant Bajaj (18 May 1977 – 10 August 2018) was an Indian

business magnate 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 ...

. He was the

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 Bajaj Electricals Ltd which was originally founded in 1938 as Radio Lamp Works. He was also on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of Hind Lamps Ltd, Hind Musafir Ltd. and Bachhraj Factories Ltd. In addition to this, he was also a member of the Young Entrepreneur Wing of the Indian Merchants' Chamber and a member of

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Early life

Anant Bajaj was born on 18 May 1977 in Mumbai,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. His parents were Shekhar Bajaj and Kiran Bajaj. His father is the chairman of

Bajaj Electricals Bajaj Electricals Ltd. is an Indian consumer electrical equipment manufacturing company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Bajaj Group. It has diversified with interests in lighting, luminaries, appliances, fans, LPG based gene ...

Ltd.

Education

Anant Bajaj had a degree in commerce from Hassaram Rijhumal College of Commerce and Economics, commonly known as HR College, Mumbai and a

postgraduate diploma fILE:Prédio Pós Graduação IMECC Unicamp.jpg, The State University of Campinas, as well as many Brazilian universities, offer Postgraduate courses in Brazil A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PGD) is a postgraduat ...

from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai. He has also pursued OPM (Owner President Management) program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 2013.

Career

Anant Bajaj officially started his career in Bajaj Electricals Ltd. as a project co-ordinator in the year 1999, though he was associated with the company since 1996 itself. He was responsible for setting up the ₹ 450 mn high mast manufacturing and galvanizing plant for the company at

Ranjangaon Ranjangaon is a village in the Pune district of Maharashtra, India, located at a distance of about 50 km from Pune. Located there is the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Industrial area and a shrine to Mahaganapati. ...

, near

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

in 2001. In 2005, he was appointed

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, special assignments. Under his leadership, the exports arm, Bajaj International Pvt. Ltd. made successful forays into businesses as diverse as IT and solar products. In February 2006, he was appointed to the board of Bajaj Electricals Ltd. as executive director. Subsequently, from 1 April 2012, he was selected as joint managing director (JMD) and on 1 June 2018, he was promoted as managing director by the Board of Directors of the company. Anant Bajaj was primarily responsible for setting up the integrated R&D centre that focuses on cutting-edge technologies to create next-generation appliances. He also got the entire organisation on board with IoT analytics – a move that he believed will drive

product development New product development (NPD) or product development in business and engineering covers the complete process of launching a new product to the market. Product development also includes the renewal of an existing product and introducing a product ...

and create better offerings. In the year 2014, he initiated the

digital transformation Digital transformation (DT) is the process of adoption and implementation of digital technology by an organization in order to create new or modify existing products, services and operations by the means of translating business processes into a d ...

journey of Bajaj Electricals and carried it forward through a plan known as Project Evolve. This strategic move is guiding the company towards the digital path to enhance the customer experience in the B2B and

B2C Direct-to-consumer (DTC or D2C) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually transa ...

segment. He was also responsible for building a state-of-the-art digital centre in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

that focuses on real-time monitoring, social listening and IoT analytics. Anant Bajaj was the driving force behind Bajaj Electricals to partner with WISeKey International Holding Ltd. to build the first IoT Trusted Platform connecting to a secure cloud to enable a digitally certified eco-system for connected appliances or objects. In an interview with Forbes, he mentioned about launching

customer success Customer success, also known as customer success management or client advocacy, is a business strategy focused on helping customers achieve their goals when using a product or service. It involves providing support and guidance to ensure customers ...

/support

Chatbot A chatbot (originally chatterbot) is a software application or web interface designed to have textual or spoken conversations. Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of main ...

, which will help engage customers and solve queries in lesser turnaround time. Another initiative by Anant Bajaj has been to connect with the youth demographic of the nation. With this aim in mind, he has ensured that the organisation partnered with youth-centric artists like

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

as its exclusive lighting partner. Under his leadership, Bajaj Electricals became the sponsor of events with nation-wide appeal such as Pro Kabaddi, Badminton World Championships and

International Federation of Sport Climbing The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competition climbing, which consists of the disciplines lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. Charter The IFSC describes itself ...

. In 2015, Bajaj Electricals also partnered with

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

to participate in government's 100 smart cities project wherein active services and fittings of

radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the u ...

, video display, cameras and street lighting will be taken care of. Anant Bajaj Limitless Ideas Hub, a hub for entrepreneurs located in Jaipur, India is dedicated to the memory of Anant Bajaj. The hub started its operations in January 2021 and is an Initiative of Bajaj Electricals Foundation and CIIE.CO

Death

Anant Bajaj died on 10 August 2018 in Mumbai,

of a cardiac arrest.

References

External links

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Anant Bajaj Profile @ Money Control
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Anant Bajaj Video Interview on CNBC Awaaz
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bajaj, Anant 1977 births 2018 deaths Businesspeople from Mumbai Indian business executives Anant Harvard Business School alumni