Chandru Lachmandas Raheja (born 1941) is an Indian billionaire businessman, and the chairman of

K Raheja Corp K Raheja Corp is a property developer in India with interests in commercial and residential projects, malls and hospitality across multiple cities in the country. It owns the brands Mindspace, Commerzone, Crossword Bookstores and Shoppers St ...

which is involved in developing IT parks, hotels, malls, and running department store chains including Shoppers Stop. Raheja led his company to diversify into different businesses ever since the family businesses were split in 1996.

Early life

Chandru Raheja was born in 1941, the son of Lachmandas Raheja, and has four brothers. He has a bachelor's degree in law from the

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

. His cousin Rajan Raheja is also a billionaire.

Career

Raheja established his own real estate firm in 1996 when the business was divided into three groups between Gopal Raheja, chairman of K Raheja Constructions, Suresh Raheja, chairman of K Raheja Universal and Chandru Raheja, the chairman of

, and Shoppers Stop Ltd. In the book ''India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation,'' Harish Damodaran stated that Raheja-owned K Raheja Corp has emerged as the biggest business of the various entities which were formed after the split. Under Raheja's leadership, K Raheja Corp had made major progress in the residential and commercial real estate space, and ventured out into other segments. With the departmental store chain Shoppers Stop, established in 1991 under the banner of K Raheja Corp, the group expanded into building malls like InOrbit in 2004. He guided K Raheja Corp for the development of the brand Mindspace which was dedicated to acquiring land for the construction of IT Parks. Apart from expanding the company, Raheja has been involved in sustainability through green buildings under the brand Mindspace.

Personal life

Raheja is married to Jyoti C. Raheja, they have two children, Ravi and Neel, and live in Mumbai. Ravi and Neel Raheja are group presidents of K Raheja Corp.

References

1941 births Indian billionaires Living people {{India-business-bio-stub