The inheritors

Be it pushing the envelope at their businesses or throwing themselves into a social venture or getting behind the camera at Bollywood, passion unites these rising daughters in India Inc.

NANDINI PIRAMAL, 29, Executive Director, Piramal Healthcare Ltd

A two-year stint at McKinsey & Co. made it clear to Nandini Piramal that she liked to see through a strategy to execution. This zeal got Piramal Healthcare Chairman Ajay Piramal’s daughter to focus on operational excellence when she joined him in 2006. An Oxford and Stanford alumnus, she has inculcated an entrepreneurial spirit in the organisation.
- Anamika Butalia

ROSHNI NADAR, 27, CEO & Executive Director, HCL Corp.

Roshni Nadar, the only daughter of HCL Group Chairman Shiv Nadar, has decided, at least for now, to stay away from the $5 billion tech business her father built. Instead, the former Sky News journalist is sold on education. Her maiden effort, Vidyagyan School at Bulandshahr in UP offers free English education. She plans to spend up to Rs 400 crore in five years building schools and expanding SSN University, near Chennai.
- Puja Mehra

VINITA GUPTA, 40, Group President & CEO, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Director, Lupin Ltd

Watching her father Desh Bandhu Gupta build Lupin with grit and passion made Vinita Gupta’s career choice easy: She wanted to be in the drugs business. A degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a Kellogg MBA later, she charted Lupin’s moves into the US and Europe. Next on her to-do list may sound ambitious, but she doesn’t think so. “It is my dream to see Lupin (become) a top 10 global generics powerhouse,” she says matter-of-factly.
- Anamika Butalia

AMBIKA HINDUJA, 30, Chairperson, Owner & Producer, Serendipity Films

For Ambika Hinduja, daughter of the youngest of the Hinduja brothers, Ashok, films are an overwhelming passion. After graduating from the London International Film School, she returned to Mumbai to assist well-known directors Subhash Ghai, Mahesh Manjrekar and Farhan Akhtar. Saif Ali Khanstarrer Being Cyrus was the first movie to be produced by Serendipity Films. “We are currently working on Teen Patti, which is a huge achievement for me considering we have two illustrious actors in the movie, Amitabh Bachchan and Sir Ben Kingsley,” she says.
- Anamika Butalia