Shiv Nadar Biography

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Shiv Nadar Factsheet

Shiv Nadar
NameShiv Nadar
Born on14th July 1945
Place of BirthTiruchendur, Tamil Nadu
EthnicityTamil
Educated fromPSG College of Technology
Works forHCL technologies
Valued atUS $14.8 billion
PositionChairman HCL Technologies, Founder of SSN Trust
Married toKiran Nadar
ChildrenRoshni Nadar
FatherSivasubramaniya
MotherVamasundari Devi

About Shiv Nadar

Shiv Nadar is the Indian business tycoon and pioneer. He is the chairperson and chief strategy officer at HCL technologies, a global IT service company, with it's head quarters in Noida, India. He is the only Indian to establish computer systems industry in India. He's one of India's richest person and a Forbes billionaire with a net worth of US $14.8 billion dollars. He founded HCL technologies in mid 1970's and transformed the IT hardware company to an IT enterprise over three decades. In 2008 he was honored with Padambhushana for his efforts in the IT industry.

Early life and Education

Shiv Nadar was born in 1945, in Tiruchendur, Tamil Nadu. His father was Sivasubramaniya and mother Vamasundari Devi. He completed his graduation from The American College, Madurai and degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from PSG college of Technology. He started his career at Walchand Group's Cooper Engineering in Pune in 1967.

Shiv Nadar's Career


Nadar was committed to keeping aside well over 10 percent of his wealth for philanthropic endeavors. In the coming five years, his philanthropic educational ventures will entail an expenditure of Rs. 4,000 crore. In the recent past he has sold his 2.5 percent equity in HCLT and drawn off the entire Rs. 585 crore proceeds into his philanthropic projects.

In 1996 Nadar founded SSN college of Engineering in Chennai, in the name of his father Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar.

Now, his focus is on :
  • completely free residential schools
  • Shiv Nadar University
  • Museum of Art named after his wife

The first of the schools, called Vidya Gyan established in 2008, spreads over a 20 acre campus, established in Bulandshahar in UP . The Foundation has winded up with land acquisition for the second one at Sitapur, nearby Lucknow and two more will be set up in the state.

The planned university will come up at Dadri in UP, with facilities to cater to at least 8,000 students in multiple disciplines. Around, 5,000 students a year will study in the schools and it will be funded via the Foundation's resources.

Museum of Art, which is proposed to be set up in Delhi, will have in store Nadar's private art collection of over three hundred paintings.

Shiv Nadar's HCL- Company Profile


First decade- Startup to India's No. 1 IT Company

Shiv Nadar along with Ajai Chowdhry, chairman HCL infosystems, Arjun Malhotra, Subhash Arora, Yogesh Vaidya and DS Puri, started with Microcomp to sell teledigital calculators under the brand name of “Televista”.

He started HCL later in 1976 with an initial investment of Rs. 187,000 from six founders. The company enjoyed unexpected gains when companies like IBM left the country because of the policies incorporated by the then Industrial Minister George Fernandes, providing Shiv Nadar with a wide market space for his microcomputer in India.

In 1980 Shiv Nadar entered into the international market with commencement of his Far East Computers in Singapore to sell IT hardware. Shiv Nadar along with three other people started with NIIT, acting as investors addressing the then need for computer education market. Nadar was its largest shareholder. He held his shareholding in NIIT till 2003.

In 1984 Shiv Nadar also started with development of Personal Computer solutions called Busybee and UNIX platform based solutions. In the IT hardware business, his company started with an auxiliary called HCL office automation which became India's leader in office solutions. By 1987, HCL earned a revenue of ` 100 crores and was ranked as India's no.1 company.

Second decade-Transition to software services business

After having captured leadership in the Indian IT market, Shiv Nadar started looking for an opportunity in the global arena. HCL America was setup in 1989. However the move boomeranged as Shiv Nadar and HCL wrongly estimated the requirements of the market and the venture failed in the world's largest market. In its second decade HCL joined HP and created a Joint Venture - HCL HP Ltd. The joint venture built solutions to target the local computing market and also provided HCL with its 1st experience in outsourced Research and Development. In the mid nineties, Shiv Nadar entered into a sale agreement with Nokia and Ericsson to circulate their products in India.

By 1995, HCL had 40 subsidiaries. Nadar then shifted his focus from IT hardware to IT services. HCL Consulting was formed to address the IT services and the Research and Development division of HCL-HP was merged into HCL Consulting. The company was renamed as HCL Technologies in 1996, the same year the Joint Venture with HP broke off.

By early 1998, Nadar had amalgamated his business into five companies - HCL Technologies, HCL Infosystems, HCL Comnet, HCL Perot and NIIT.

Third decade- Global IT service company

HCL technologies were made public by Nadar in 1999, at the time of Initial Public Offering, HCL was the second largest IT company .With emergence of the Internet in 2000, HCL was left behind by its competitors because of their first crack in the Enterprise application services.

Nadar made an effort to tie up together HCL with acquisitions in 2001. HCL acquired Deutsche Software Limited and Apollo Contact center from BT to target the Business process outsourcing and financial services market. Still HCL continued to underachieve in relation to its competitors through 2005.

By 2004, the number of entities in HCL was consolidated from five to two - HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems.

In 2007, Vineet Nayar was titled as the CEO of HCL Technologies and Nadar continues to be the Chairman of HCL Technologies and also its largest shareholder.

Achievements of Shiv Nadar

  • At the time when there were just 250 computers in all in India, at that time Shiv Nadar led a team that was passionate about boasting the growth of the IT Industry. From designing India's first PC at the same time as global IT peers in 1978; to working on the Boeing Dream liner's Flight Management Systems now, HCL has stayed a true leader of contemporary Computing.
  • In 1996 Nadar founded SSN college of Engineering in Chennai, in the name of his father Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar. He enthusiastically participates in the events and activities of the college.
  • In March 2008, Nadar's SSN Trust declared the establishment of the seven Vidyagyan Schools in UP for rural students where free scholarships will be provided for hundred students from ten districts of UP.
  • In 2005, Nadar became a member of the Executive Board of Indian School of Business.
  • Shiv Nadar is a member of the governing board of the Public Health Foundation of India. This foundation was initiated by Rajat Gupta to “redress the limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health”

  • Awards won by Shiv Nadar

  • In 1995 he became the Dataquest IT Man of the year.
  • In 2005 he was bestowed with CNBC Business Excellence Award.
  • In 2006 received an Honorary Fellowship of All India Management Association-AIMA.
  • In 2008 honored by Government Of India with Padambhushana.
  • In 2009 he was counted amongst Forbes 48 Heroes of Philanthropy in Asia Pacific.
  • In 2010 received Dataquest Lifetime Achievement Award.

  • Last Updated on June 8 2015