Indu Jain Biography

Personal Background of Indu Jain

75 year old billionaire, Indu Jain,was born into the country's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. She is the widow of Late Ashok Kumar Jain, and is the mother of Samir Jain and Vineet Jain. Fortune worth US $2.8 billion was inherited by her through Sahu Jain family, the industrial family of India.

Sahu Jains belong to a small town of Najibabad, Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh.

Ideologies followed by Indu Jain

A spiritualist at heart, Indu handles the philanthropic genre of the Times foundation. She also writes spiritual columns for it. She is an active supporter of women's rights, and her passionate fight for various causes is well-known.

Under her guidance, the Times Foundation runs community services, research groups and relief funds for various disaster reliefs such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes and epidemics. She encourages budding entrepreneurs and believes in their abilities to shine, and make way for themselves in the world.

She stressed the need for oneness among faiths, in her speech at the United Nations in 2000, at the Millennium World Peace Summit of religious and spiritual leaders. The Oneness Forum, formally launched by the President of India in 2003, also works under the leadership of Indu Jain.

Awards won by Indu Jain

Recently, Indian Congress of Women (ICW) awarded Indu Jain, an International Lifetime Achievement Award, with women empowerment being the event's backdrop theme. She is the founder President of the Ladies wing of FICCI (FLO).

Bennett Coleman & Co- Company Profile

Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd is the nation's largest media group. It was founded in the year 1838, and is based in Mumbai, India. In 1948, Ram Krishna Dalmia sold out the company to the present group, his son-in law, Sahu Shanti Prasad. It provides media publishing services such as Magazines, Internet and newspapers. Huge brand names such as The Economic Times, Times of India, Femina, Sandhya Times, Times FM and Filmfare are under its ownership. Along with this, various television channels such as Times Now, Zoom and ET Now; and FM radio network like Radio Mirchi also constitute its holdings.

The Times Group acts as its supreme fame-generating source. It is the most circulated English daily newspaper, and is accordingly headed by Indu's sons Vineet and Samir. It was acquired from a British group, and today sells more than 3 million copies worldwide. It employs over 7000 employees, publishes five dailies including two largest in the country, owns fifteen publishing centers, fifteen printing centers and fifty-five sales offices. It further runs two lead magazines, twenty-nine niche magazines, thirty two radio stations and two television channels, producing a turnover in excess of USD 700 million.

Indu, carefully guides every step taken towards the development of The Times Foundation, and has successfully collected national and international acclaim for it. New Delhi is the landmark for its headquarters.

BCCL strives to provide high quality of content in all its spheres of activity. Today, it has risen to the position of India's largest media conglomerate. Initially, it was present in areas of print media, but it's century old policy of innovation and birth of fresh ideas has diversified it into new fields. The company gets its name from the partnership of Thomas Bennett, The Times of India's first professional editor and F M Coleman.

The Bhartiya Jnanipath, which was established in 1944, by the then President of BCCL, awarded excellence in creative literary writing to Indians in any language. Today, this prestigious award lies within the powers of Indu Jain, herself. She is the chairperson of the Bhartiya Jananipath Trust, and rightfully heads the post being a true patron of art and literature herself.

Today, The Times Group is India's most profitable media company, and enjoys 50 percent urban market share of English dailies. Indu Jain acts as the guiding force of the group, and continues to infuse new energy into it, leading ways and heading all, like a true matriarch.

Failures faced by Bennett Coleman & Co

Doubts have been raised on the credibility of reports published in the TOI, time and again. Revenue generation through advertisements is amongst the most easy and efficient route, taken up by the media. Although, its usage is inevitable, the ever-rising advertisements in TOI, at times, mislead the reader from the news, and direct him towards the flashy advertisements.

The recession of 2009 acted as a bonanza for its chairperson, shifting her a few places ahead in her billionaire list, like her contemporaries. While the crisis had hit the poor and the working class hardest, the billionaires whose greed and unscrupulousness caused it in the first place, only grew richer; this act became an unethical blotch on Indu, although she might not be blamed for any of it directly.

Last Updated on June 5, 2015