Nikhil Nanda (born 18 March 1974) is an Indian businessman residing in UK. He is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Escorts Kubota Limited (formerly Escorts Limited), an Indian multinational engineering conglomerate that specialises in agricultural, construction and railways equipment and machinery. He is a third-generation entrepreneur, being the grandson Har Prasad Nanda, who founded the company in 1944, and son of Rajan Nanda, who served as the CMD of the group until August 2018.

Early life and background

Nikhil Nanda was born on 18 March 1974 in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

to a Punjabi Hindu family. His father, Rajan Nanda from Fazilka, was an industrialist and the chairman and managing director of Escorts Group. His mother, Ritu Nanda (daughter of

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (; born as Shrishti Nath Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influen ...

and Krishna Kapoor), worked as an insurance agent for Life Insurance Corporation. He did his primary schooling from Hillgrange Prepratory School in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

. He is an alumnus of

The Doon School The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a Selective school, selective all-boys Private school, private boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer ...

in Dehradun, India. After completing his schooling, he studied business management at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, United States, where he majored in finance and marketing. His maternal grandfather was actor-director Raj Kapoor and his great-grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor, was an actor. Actors Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor are his maternal uncles, while actresses Neetu Singh and Babita are his aunts by marriage. Actors

Karisma Kapoor Karisma Kapoor (; born 25 June 1974) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. One of the leading and highest-paid actresses of the 1990s and early 2000s, Kapoor is a recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Karisma Kapoor ...

, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Armaan Jain and Aadar Jain are his maternal first cousins.

Career

Nikhil Nanda joined Escorts Limited in 1997, initially serving as its Director and group Chief Operating Officer. In 2012, the construction equipment subsidiary Escorts Construction Equipment Limited merged into Escorts Limited. He was promoted to Joint Managing Director of the group in 2007, and in 2013 to Managing Director. Under his leadership, the company launched the Farmtrac premium tractor series in 2014. It also unveiled India's first-ever electric concept tractor in 2017, an automated concept tractor in 2018 and a hybrid concept tractor in 2019. He took over as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the group in August 2018, after the death of his father Rajan Nanda. In 2021, Escorts Limited entered into a collaboration with Kubota Corporation, with Kubota raising its equity stake in the group. The group was eventually renamed as Escorts Kubota Limited in 2022. In 2022, Nikhil Nanda was appointed as the Senior Managing Executive Officer of Kubota Corporation, General Manager of “Value Innovative Farm and Industrial Machinery Strategy & Operations ” of Kubota Corporation.

Personal life

Nanda married Shweta Bachchan, daughter of film actors

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

and

Jaya Bachchan Jaya Bachchan (''née'' Bhaduri; born 9 April 1948) is an Indian actress and politician. She is regarded as one of the greatest actresses of Hindi cinema. She is serving as member of the parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party ...

, on 16 February 1997. The couple has two children, daughter Navya Naveli Nanda (born December 1997), an entrepreneur, and son Agastya Nanda (born November 2000), an actor.

Recognition and awards

In 2001, Nikhil Nanda was selected as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow by 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 ...

, Geneva. He was appointed by the Indian government to represent the country at the Indo-Spain CEOs Forum in 2017. He was named the ‘Best CEO-Auto & Auto Ancillaries’ by Business Today for the period 2019-2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanda, Nikhil 1974 births Living people University of Pennsylvania alumni Businesspeople from Delhi The Doon School alumni Kapoor family Bachchan family Punjabi people Punjabi Hindus