Shiv Nadar is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of HCL and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. As of March 2019, his personal wealth is estimated to be US$12.9 billion.
Nadar was born on 14 July 1945 in Tamil Nadu, India. His father was a government employee and his mother was a homemaker. He has two sisters. Nadar studied at the D.A.V. Higher Secondary School in Chennai and graduated from PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore with a degree in electrical and electronics engineering.
In the early 1970s, Nadar co-founded HCL with six other engineers. HCL was a hardware company that manufactured microprocessors, PCs, and servers. The company went public in 1991 and today has a market capitalization of over US$20 billion.
Nadar is also a philanthropist and has set up the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which runs the not-for-profit Shiv Nadar University and the Shiv Nadar schools. The foundation also provides scholarships and support for rural schools in India.
In 2008, Nadar was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors, for his contributions to the information technology industry.
Shiv Nadar Quotes
1. “If you are calm about your aspiration and ambitions, then you become confident of achieving what you set out to do.” – Shiv Nadar
2. “If you have excellent people, then you have to give them the power.”– Shiv Nadar
3. “It is always good to start at a younger age. The only crucial thing is, to carve out your vision and assess your readiness to begin giving. And the commitment and purpose are core to give.” – Shiv Nadar
4. “Adaptability and constant innovation are key to the survival of any company operating in a competitive market.” – Shiv Nadar
5. “When you are running a business, there is a constant need to reinvent yourself. One should have the foresight to stay ahead during times of rapid change and rid oneself of stickiness in any form in the business.” – Shiv Nadar
6. “I admire companies that give back to communities. It is an absolute essential for organisations to watch, mitigate, and improve their impact on the environment, people, communities, their health and overall well-being. This is a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition.” – Shiv Nadar
7. “Any organisation has to go through at least one depression to see how it survives, and a normal economic cycle takes seven years.” – Shiv Nadar
8. “The younger you are, the more courage and audacity you will have to set long-term goals and be there to personally work towards your vision. You will have the confidence to take risks because you have time by your side. You can bring innovation into everything you do and constantly reinvent yourself.” – Shiv Nadar
9. “We need a world-class institution which will create leaders out of the children who have not had a good start in life.” – Shiv Nadar
10. “Our belief is that aspirations, meritocracy, and a world-class institution are the three ingredients our country needs.” – Shiv Nadar