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Convocation speaker and recipient of
Jehangir Ghandy Medal
In a career spanning over 30 years,
Mohandas Pai has served in the areas
of finance, accounting, information
technology, human resources,
education, social impact innovation,
policy formulation, heritage
preservation, philanthropy and the
venture and startup ecosystem.
Mr. Pai is currently the Chairman of
Aarin Capital, Chairman of Manipal
Global Education, an Advisor to
the Board of Manipal Education
and Medical Group, a Member
of the Boards of Havells India, a
Member of the Board of Ascendas
Property Fund Trustee, the Trustee-
Manager of Ascendas India Trust,
Member of the Boards of Manipal
University and the Institute of Public
Enterprises, Chairman of the FICCI
Skills Committee, President of the
All India Management Association,
Chairman of the Regulatory and
Financial Technology Committee of
the Securities and Exchange Board
of India (SEBI), Founder-Trustee of
the Akshaya Patra Foundation, an
Investment Committee Member of the
SIDBI India Aspiration Fund and the
India Fund of Funds and a Member
of the Board of the National Stock
Exchange of India.
He was bestowed the prestigious
Padma Shri award by the President
of India in 2015 and the Karnataka
Rajyotsava Award in 2004. Mr. Pai
has helped launch over 14 different
investment vehicles across private
equity and venture capital which have
cumulatively invested in over 250
companies with a capital base of over
$400 million. He is also an Investment
Committee Member of the SIDBI India
Aspiration Fund and the India Fund
of Funds which has a corpus of $1.8
billion. His family office has invested in
over 30 different investment vehicles
to grow the startup ecosystem in the
country. He is consistently named as
one of India’s top angel investors.
Mr. Pai served as a Member of the
Board and CFO at Infosys, one of India’s
largest software services companies.
He was voted CFO of the Year multiple
times — CFO of the Year in 2001 by IMA
India, the Best CFO in India award by
Finance Asia in 2002, and Best Chief
Financial Officer in India in the Best
Managed Companies poll conducted
by Asia Money in 2004. At Infosys, he
also spearheaded the first listing of an
India-registered company on NASDAQ
and the first sponsored secondary
offering of American Depositary Shares
by an Indian company, besides leading
multiple business units over 17 years.
In 2000, he co-founded the Akshaya
Patra Foundation, Bangalore — a mid-
day meal program for school children.
Today, this program feeds over 1.6
million children each day in more than
13,500 government schools across 12
Indian states. Mr. Pai also supports over
a dozen other non-profit institutions
and organisations in multiple impact
areas in India.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in
Commerce as a University Rank Holder
from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce,
Bangalore, a Bachelor’s Degree in Law
(LLB) from Bangalore University, and
is a Fellow Member of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of India as an
All-India Rank Holder.
Convocation 2018
Mr. TV Mohandas Pai
Co-founder and Chairman,
Aarin Capital
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