Dr. Mukund Rajan, 50, is a corporate strategist and liberal thinker. After a distinguished 23 year career with the Tatas which ended in March 2018, Dr Rajan has chosen to pursue certain entrepreneurial opportunities, including what could be Corporate India’s largest MBO. In his last role at Tatas, Dr Rajan served as the group’s Chief Ethics Officer, oversaw the foreign offices of the group’s investment holding company, Tata Sons, and chaired the Tata Global Sustainability Council.
Dr. Rajan held a number of senior executive positions through his career with the Tata group, including Managing Director & CEO of one of the group’s telecom businesses, head of private equity, and member of the Group Executive Council advising the Group Chairman at Tata Sons. He served on the boards of various Tata companies including Tata Teleservices, Tata Communications, Tata SIA Airlines, Tata AIG, TCS Foundation, Roots Corporation and Piem Hotels. He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Lakshmi Machine Works. Dr Rajan has also served on a number of industry bodies, including as Commissioner of the Energy Transitions Commission, Chairperson of the Environment Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Chair of the India@75 Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as well as the CII Core Group of CEOs on China.
In 2007, the World Economic Forum honoured Dr. Rajan as a Young Global Leader. He was also part of the inaugural class of the CII-Aspen Institute India Leadership Initiative.
Dr. Rajan graduated from the Bachelor of Technology program at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 1989. He received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, where he completed a Masters and Doctorate in International Relations. His doctoral dissertation titled “Global Environmental Politics – India and the North-South Politics of Global Environmental Issues” was published by Oxford University Press in 1996.
