India’s foremost business leader and former Bajaj group chairman Rahul Bajaj passes away at 83

Veteran industrialist and billionaire Rahul Bajaj, and former chairman of Bajaj group passed passed away in Pune today. He was 83 years old.

Reportedly, he had been suffering from cancer for several days.

Rahul Bajaj was born on June 30, 1938 in Kolkata. Rahul's grandfather Jamnalal Bajaj founded the Bajaj Group in 1926 and his father Kamalnayan Bajaj succeeded him un 1942. Kamalnayan started the precursor to Bajaj Auto.

Rahul Bajaj graduated from St Stephen's College in Delhi in 1958 and also earned a degree in law from Bombay University. Then he went on to pursue MBA from Harvard Business School in the US and became CEO of Bajaj Auto in 1968.

He was in charge of key departments in the company like marketing, accounts, purchase, and audit. etc.

In 2008, he split Bajaj Auto into three units - Bajaj Auto, finance company Bajaj Finserv and a holding company. His sons Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv Bajaj are now managing the day-to-day affairs of the company.

He was appointed the chairman of Indian Airlines in 1986 and was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2001. In June 2006, Rahul Bajaj was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. In 2005, he resigned as chairman, his son Rajiv became the Group's managing director.

On the Forbes 2016 list of the world's billionaires, he was ranked No. 722 with a net worth of US$2.4 billion.

Published on: Saturday, February 12, 2022, 04:43 PM IST