Anu Aga, also known as Arnavaz Rohinton Aga, is an Indian entrepreneur known for her social work and never-say-die attitude. She has stood strong even after facing many difficulties in her life. She also holds her name among the top richest women of India.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Anu Aga was born on Monday, 3 August 1942 (age 81 years; as in 2023) in Matunga, Mumbai. Anu did her schooling from Wadia Wacha High School. Later, she went on to pursue graduation in Economics at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and post-graduation in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work at Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 4″
Eye colour: black
Hair Colour: White
family and caste
She comes from an upper middle class, Parsi family and she practices Zoroastrianism.
parents and siblings
Anu’s father’s name was Ardeshir Sorabji Bhathena, who was an entrepreneur and her mother Jini was a housewife.
He has two elder brothers.
Relationships, Husband and Children
Anu fell in love with a boy, Rohinton Dhunjishaw Aga (died of a second heart attack, in 1996), he was a Cambridge graduate and was working with Anu’s father at Vanson India when she met Anu. . They dated each other for some time and later married each other on 3 May 1965.
Anu Aga with her husband Rohinton Aga
They had two children, a daughter, Meher Pudumjee (Chairman of Thermax Limited), and a son, Kurush (died in a fatal car accident at the age of 25).
Anu Aga’s son
Address
She lives at 701, Brahmaputra Apartment, Dr BD Marg, New Delhi. 110001.
livelihood
In 1996, Anu’s father Ardeshir Sorabji Bhathena founded a company. At that time the company was in cooperation with the Belgian company Vanson. Earlier this company was known as a hospital equipment company. Later it emerged as a boiler manufacturing company. After Anu’s marriage, she worked in a child guidance clinic in Mumbai, while her husband, Rohinton, worked with his father in Wansan. After a few years, in 1980, Vanson India was separated from its Belgian partner and reorganized as Thermax Private Limited; Furthermore, within a year, Anu’s father retired and handed over the responsibility to his son-in-law Rohinton Aga, who was appointed the next chairman of the re-established firm. Later, in 1985, after her husband suffered a heart attack and a paralytic stroke, she joined the family business as head of HR for the company.
award
national film awards
- Padmashree Award for social work in 2010
Anu Aga receiving the Padmashree Award
other awards
- Lifetime Achievement Award by MIT Group of MAEER, Pune in 2015
- BML Munjal Award for Business Excellence through Learning and Development in Private Sector (Manufacturing) Category in 2015
- Zee Astitva Business Woman of the Year Award, 2007
- Awarded the ‘Power Brands: Bharatiya Manavitya Vikas Puraskar (BMVP) – Edition 2019’ for his business leadership and philanthropy.
Note: He has many more awards and honors to his name.
Favourite Things
Facts/General Knowledge
- After Anu’s marriage with Rohinton, the couple gave birth to their first child, Mehar. Unfortunately, they had to lose their second child who could not survive due to some unknown disease. In 1972, another boy was born with a hole in his heart.
Anu Aga with her daughter Meher Pudumji
- One misfortune after another came in Anu’s life. In 1982, Rohinton suffered his first heart attack leaving him bedridden for two years. According to Anu. During his recovery, he suffered from various mood swings and anger issues. During that period, Anu started getting involved in business. As soon as he recovered, Rohinton took charge. Rohinton and Anu shared an interest in reading and writing; Additionally, he also wrote a book during his recovery.
- His company went public in 1995. The company was progressing well under the leadership of Rohinton Aga until a disastrous event occurred in his life. In 1996, Anu was returning to India from the UK after a six-month hiatus as her daughter gave birth to her first child, while Rohinton was traveling from Pune to Mumbai to pick up Anu. On the way, he suffered a second massive heart attack which took his life. This gave a big shock to Anu. While she was grieving the loss of her late husband, shareholders began accusing her of letting them down as Thermax share prices rose from Rs 400 to Rs 36 in a short period of time; Additionally, the company had gone public just a year ago. Talking about this, his daughter Mehar said in an interview,
This was a huge responsibility. Within 48 hours of his father’s demise, the board had to take the difficult decision of making him the head of the organization. My mother’s convictions came to the fore and she had to plan a change.”
- It was just the second day after her husband’s demise and the board held a meeting and decided to appoint her as the next chairman of Thermax Pvt. Ltd. Anu was not yet ready for this responsibility. According to Anu, she was made the chairperson of Thermax because her family owned 62% of the company’s shares and could be easily intimidated. Seeing the company’s losses, Anu decided to take charge. At first, she was not prepared because she was not from an engineering background. Soon, he conducted various training sessions to gain knowledge about the working of the company. In an interview he said,
You don’t need to know everything…in fact, one of my beliefs is that skills can be hired. The leader has to show wisdom – he cannot be hired.
After becoming the chairperson, he made many amendments in the functioning of the company. He hired Boston Consulting Group and initiated “Project Green”. He dissolved the entire board along with his daughter. He introduced new members who could reorganize the company’s business. He eliminated unnecessary investments made by the company. Initially, many members welcomed his decision, even his own family, but it later led to better results.
- Within a year, another tragedy occurred which turned Anu’s life upside down. Anu had to bear the grief of her mother-in-law. Soon after, his son Kurush meets with a car accident and loses his life. Her son died 14 months after her husband’s death. According to Meher, this was one of the most difficult phases for her family.
- According to Anu, after all the sorrows in her life, it had become difficult for her to manage her professional and personal life. To overcome those deprivations, he started practicing Vipassana, a Buddhist method of meditation. This gave him a lot of strength and positivity. Describing his experiences in an interview, he said,
Another important lesson I learned after Kurush’s demise was that one should stop asking why things happened and instead, start accepting the Almighty’s design of things, which may sometimes be incomprehensible. You will die as soon as you are born. The sun rises and sets. Similarly, we all have to vacate this earth and can you imagine the chaos if we don’t do so? Therefore, we cannot shy away from death. This acceptance will teach you to find time and work while people are alive. Don’t postpone it, don’t delay it.”
- Over the years, Thermax has successfully established itself as a profitable organization with an income of Rs 1281 crore. In 2008, Anu retired from the company and appointed Mehar Pudumjee as the next Chairman of Thermax Limited.
- Anu has been supporting philanthropy since the beginning of her life. He continued this even after his retirement. He chose to work for the betterment of underprivileged children. She supports those organizations financially and is mainly working for the spread of education and is associated with many organizations, Teach for India, Give India and an NGO called Akanksha, which provides education to around 4,400 underprivileged children. Provides direct education to. Between 1996 and 2004, Anu had already decided to donate one percent of all profits of her company to charity. Thermax Social Initiative Foundation (TSIF) runs more than nine primary government schools in Pune and Mumbai. In an interview, Meher supported this and said,
We believe that if given opportunity and equal access to education, everyone can make something of their life if they want. Here the relevant word is given a chance and most people do not get it. That’s why she is trying to bring change through Teach for India Akanksha.
Anu Aga in her NGO
- Even after retirement, Anu Aga follows fitness routine. She thoroughly practices Vipassana and exercises, walking, cycling and yoga to keep herself fit and positive. She is also fond of aerobics but the doctor has advised her to stay away from heavy exercise as she had a back surgery a few years ago.
Anu Aga doing yoga
- In an interview, Anu Aga expressed her views on being religious and said,
I am not a religious person, although I was born a Parsi, and I go to the fire temple. But it doesn’t mean much to me. I don’t feel God there. However, sometimes, when you don’t understand things on Earth, I feel like there must be someone out there who has a master plan. For example, when you scold a child, the child may think that you are cruel; But you have a plan and your intentions are good. Yet, God’s intentions are good. You come into this life to experience what you have chosen to experience, whether it is death, poverty, or disability. So you might be wondering: why is Anu in so much pain? But I think of it as an opportunity, a learning process. And when you take the perspective of thousands of rebirths, how much this small point in time matters here. But the beauty of life is that each person has to find his own meaning. There is no right or wrong answer. You have to keep exploring to find what matters to you.”
- Despite all the sorrows in life, Anu tries to remain positive. According to him, his biggest supports are his close friends and his family. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, grandson, Zhaan, and granddaughter, Lee. Talking about him Anu said,
The time I spend with them brings pure, unadulterated joy.”
- Former President of India Pratibha Patil nominated Anu as a member of the Rajya Sabha in April 2012. She held this post for two years i.e. May 2012-2014. She was also a member of the National Advisory Council of India, chaired by Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh. She also served as a member of the Women Empowerment Committee from September 2012 to September 2013.
- Author Gunjan Jain has written a book titled Arnavaaz ‘Anu Aaga’, which was published in November 2018. It is a summary of Anu’s life and the hardships she faced.
A book on Anu Aga by Gunjan Jain
- According to Business Today magazine, she was listed among the top 7 richest women in India in the year 2007.
- According to him, he does not have much interest in technology. He is not interested in fancy cars and gadgets.
- Anu is also not fond of wearing jewellery, even her husband did not like her wearing jewellery. According to him, jewelery is a waste of money; Furthermore, she likes to wear clothes that are not too bright or flashy. She dislikes nylon stuff. She prefers to remain understated rather than exaggerated.
- As claimed by Anu, the happiest day of her life was when she was dating her late husband Rohinton Aga, talking about which she said,
Well, in those days I was very happy when I was in a love marriage with my husband (I had a love marriage) and I was very happy when my daughter got married…”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn