Gautam Thapar
Chairman & CEO, Avantha Group
India

Born in 1960, Gautam Thapar was educated at the Doon School in India, and studied chemical engineering in the USA. Upon returning to India, he worked as a factory assistant in one of his family-owned manufacturing companies. He rose steadily and steered the organisation through a strategic and visionary turnaround. Gautam became Group Chairman in 2006, and the conglomerate was rebranded as Avantha in 2007. With a global footprint in over 20 countries, Avantha today has business interests in diverse areas, including pulp & paper, power transmission & distribution equipment and services, food processing, farm forestry, chemicals, energy, infrastructure, information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services. Gautam passionately promotes education, leadership development and sports. He is President of Thapar University, Chairman of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Chairman of The Aspen Institute India, Chairman of the CII-Avantha Center for Competitiveness for SMEs and President of the Professional Golf Tour of India. He is a Member of the National Security Advisory Board. One of India’s youngest and brightest global business leaders, Gautam received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Manufacturing in 2008.

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About Avanta Group

The US$ 4 bn Avantha Group, led by Chairman & CEO Mr Gautam Thapar, is one of India’s leading business conglomerates. The Avantha Group has business interests in diverse areas, including power transmission and distribution equipment and services, paper and pulp, food processing, energy, infrastructure, farm forestry, chemicals, glassware, information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services. With an impressive global footprint, the Group operates in more than 20 countries with 22,000 employees worldwide. Group companies include Crompton Greaves Limited, India’s largest power equipment company, and Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT), India’s largest paper manufacturer, both listed on the Indian stock exchanges. Avantha Group’s other successful companies include The Global Green Company, Solaris ChemTech Industries, Avantha Power & Infrastructure, Biltech Building Elements, JG Containers Sdn Bhd, Salient Business Solutions and Avantha Technologies.