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Who is Shiv Nadar?
Shiv Nadar is an Indian industrialist tycoon and philanthropist who is a former chairman and co-founder of the global IT service company HCL Technologies Limited. He stepped down as chairman of HCL Tech in July 2020 and handed over the position to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra. In July 2021, C Vijay Kumar was appointed as CEO and MD of the organisation.
The billionaire is also the founder and chairman of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Nadar is one of the pioneers of the computing and IT industry in the country. His friends fondly call him ‘Magus’, which means 'wizard' in ancient Persian. In October 2021, Forbes ranked him as the third richest person in India with an estimated net worth of $31.6 billion (Rs 236,600 crore).
Life and education
Shiv Nadar was born on July 14, 1945, in Tamil Nadu to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and Vamasundari Devi. He received a pre-university degree from American College, Madurai and completed his graduation in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology. He is married to Kiran Shiv Nadar who is an Indian art collector and philanthropist.
Career
In 1967, he started his career as an engineer at Walchand Group's Cooper Engineering (COEP) in Pune. After a few years, he left his job to take up a business-oriented career in partnership with Ajai Chowdhry and other colleagues to establish an enterprise -- Microcomp under the brand name 'Televista'. Later, they together founded HCL Tech in 1976 to manufacture microprocessors and calculators.
Nadar founded the SSN College of Engineering in Chennai in 1996 in the name of his father Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar.
Achievements
- Padma Bhushan -- third-highest civilian award in India (2008)
- Honorary doctorate degree from Madras University (2007)
- E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year (2007)
- Forbes' 48 Heroes of Philanthropy in Asia Pacific (2011)
- India Today's India's 50 most powerful people in 2017 list