Dr. Indu Shahani heads the Hyderabad (Sindh) National Collegiate Board, and being Chief Mentor, is responsible for enhancing the academic standards of all the 29 educational institutions managed by the HSNC Board in Mumbai.
Dr. Indu Shahani is a leading Indian educationist, who has the honor of having served as the first Sindh woman Sheriff of Mumbai in 2008.
Enterprising, versatile, charming, and dynamic, are the words that come to mind when talking about Dr. Indu Shahani, a prominent personality in the fields of education, industry and social work. Having done wonders over the years in education and other sectors, she is considered as the role model and source of motivation for youths and the women.
Indu Shahani has the unique ability to get along with almost anyone and put them at ease immediately. She’s a natural teacher, and had been living and loving every minute of her role as the benevolent teacher.
She not only authored many textbooks on Management, Advertising, Marketing and Finance, single-handed, internationalized the college education while serving as the principal at the HR College, Churchgate, a premiere educational institute under the umbrella of the University of Mumbai, by initiating links with 18 international universities in USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Born on July 17, 1955, Dr. Indu Shahani has teaching experience of over three decades. She was also the Director (Academics), Hyderabad (Sindh) National Collegiate Board (HSNCB), and being Chief Mentor, is responsible for enhancing the academic standards of all the 29 educational institutions managed by the HSNC Board in Mumbai. The HSNC was established in Hyderabad Sindh in 1920s.
Dr. Shahani holds a PhD in Commerce from University of Mumbai on enhancing Academia-Industry linkages. At the University level, she has been holding positions at the Academic Council, Faculty of Commerce and Board of Studies in Business Management. Dr. Shahani is a Visiting Faculty Member at the University of California, Berkeley; New York University Stern School of Business, USA and is a lead speaker at various conferences in India and abroad.
While Dr. Shahani continues to be Chief Mentor of colleges of the HSNC Board, from 1 August 2016, she has also accepted a position as the President & Chair – Academics of the Indian School of Design & Innovation (ISDI), ISDI | WPP School of Communication and the Indian School of Management & Entrepreneurship (ISME); and is the Founding Dean of ISME.
On assuming charge as Sheriff, Dr. Shahani in January 2008, she launched various beneficial initiatives like the Women’s Helpline 1298 against domestic violence and harassment, with the support of twenty leading NGOs, promoted voluntary blood donation for the citizens to free the patients from the pressure of procuring blood, harnessed student energy for the Municipal Corporation’s Clean-Up Mumbai Campaign, the much-needed Green Mumbai Project, and provided for clean drinking water in the Mumbai District Jail. Dr. Shahani also led the Sheriff’s delegations to interact with premier institutions and universities abroad.
The Sheriff of Mumbai is an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of Mumbai. The Sheriff is an officer of the High Court and the nominal Head of the High Court Department which carries out the orders of the High Court for summoning people, and also for attachment and sealing of properties and if ordered for their auction.
She has received many awards, prominent among them are Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award by ASSOCHAM Ladies League; Citizen of Mumbai Award by Rotary Club of Bombay; ‘Sindhu Gaurav Award’ by International Sindhu Chamber of Commerce; ‘Women’s Achievers’ Award’ by Young Environmentalists Program Trust; ‘Woman of the Year Award’ by Junior Chamber International; ‘Excellence in Education Award’ at the FLO Great Women Achiever Awards; ‘The Giants International Education Award’; and ‘Achiever of Excellence – Women Achievers 2012’ by Bombay Management Association recognizing her contribution to society at large.
Dr. Shahani is the first Indian to be appointed vice-chair on the Board of the Governors of the International Baccalaureate where she served from 2001 – 2010.
She was awarded the Honorary ‘Doctor of Letters’ degree by the University of Westminster in London on 16 November 2009. As a tribute to Dr. Shahani, the university had instituted the Sheriff of Mumbai’s Scholarships for Women from Mumbai to study a Master’s program in the years 2009 and 2010 in London. She was also declared as one of the ‘Women of the Decade’ in 2014
Dr. Indu Shahani also holds directorship of many companies that include – Bajaj Electricals Limited; Eureka Forbes Limited; Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited; Clariant Chemical (India) Ltd; United Spirits Limited, Diageo; Franklin Templeton Investments; Indian Oil Corporation (2008-2013) while she is the Member, United Way of Mumbai; Member, Save the Children; Academic Board Positions; Westminster Business School, London; EDHEC Business School, Paris; Member, State Knowledge Advisory Board of Andhra Pradesh; Member, Governing Council, MICA and Member, Oberoi International School.
Indu Shahani has spent a principled life. When Indu Shahani was Principal, after a quick breakfast of some papaya pieces, she used to be at her desk. She lunched at it, and in the evening she snacked on a sandwich. She used to have dinner generally at home with her husband, Ranjit, who headed Novartis (India). Their son, Siddharth, after graduating from the London School of Economics, was working in London.
She’s is fond of her native Sindhi cuisine, and confesses to making some very good Sindhi bhajiyas. Called Sanha pakoras, they are made of gram flour and onions and are double-fried. Surprisingly, it was her father-in-law who taught her how to make them! But, that apart, she confessed in an interview that she’s not much of a cook. “If it comes to me I can cook, but out of choice I would rather read a book!” She recalled the time her son’s teacher at Campion School summoned her over an essay he’d written titled ‘My mother’s cooking’. “Would you believe he wrote just a single sentence: My mother makes very good ‘toast’!”
However, she has mastered one essential Sindhi skill: that of roasting the perfect papad! “It was again my father-in-law who helped me get it right. He used to say that a papad cannot be either underdone or overdone, and I use it as a metaphor for life,” she says sagely.
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Source: Lakshmi Mittal and Family – South Asia Institute, Harvard University, Sindhi Shaan, Wikipedia, Upper Crust India
