Chandru L Raheja: Transforming a family-run business into a real estate leader

New Delhi, July 15, 2018: ChandruRaheja changed the way India shops in the 90s.Besides being the owner of the popular retail chain Shopper’s Stop and Crossword Book Stores, Mindspace Business Parks and he has several other achievements.

Rahejais the owner of K Raheja Corp. He single-handedly transformed his family’s local property business into a successful real estate corporation. Currently, he is the serving Chairman and head of all major business decisions befitting the growth of the company.

A well-acknowledged realtor and a torch-bearer for the industry, who has seen it transform over the last 4 decades,ChandruRaheja is on the Forbes list of Indian billionaires with a net-worth of$2.2 billion. An innovator, he transformed the realestate industry by reimagining the business, and establishing industry benchmarks.

K Raheja Corporationsowns83 Shoppers Stop stores in 38 cities and 94 Crossword book stores. Also, the company has built numerous IT parks, offices, malls and residential offerings.

Childhood

Born into a business family in 1941,ChandruRahejapicked up business techniques during his early childhood. His interest and intellect brought him closer to their family business. With potent insights, he started helping his father LS Raheja, and made significant inputs in strategies to expand their business.

Education
Chandru Raheja has double masters and double LLB degrees to his name. He acquired his first masters and LLB degrees from University of Mumbai, while his second degrees are from Harvard Business School.

Personal life

Married to Jyoti CRaheja, the realtor has two sons, Neel Raheja and Ravi Raheja. He has an interest in music, and is also an avid reader. Also, he does extensive work in philanthropy.

Career
In the year 1996, ChandruRaheja started K Raheja Corporations after splitting from his brothers. He then launched Mindspace, a solo enterprise that comprises of malls, IT parks and offices. With Mindspace’s presence in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai, Raheja brought in a revolution of sorts in the realty sector. He brought commercial malls and swanky office spaces under one roof, creating thousands of jobs in the country. With his vision, he has accorded the realty business a contemporary and evolved approach.

Raheja has been amongst the key developers of Shoppers Stop, and is also a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. Additionally, he is the Director of Raghukool Estate Development Private Ltd, Casa Mania Properties Private Ltd and Capstan Trading Private Ltd. Raheja also collaborated with Servcop, an Australian firm directed towards construction of services offered.

With exemplary innovations, the K Raheja Corp Chairman expanded the company’s reach into new geographies across India. Apart from various awards that gave the company national and international recognition, he steered the company towards green building spaces, and is a front-runner for the green cause.

ChandruRaheja’s admirable HR policies and people-first attitude earned him tremendous respect. Owing to this, he also received many awards, including the HIFI Hall of Fame Award in 2013, Lifetime Achievement Award by NDTV Property in 2016and the 10th CNBC Awaaz Real Estate Award 2016. He was also felicitated by former president of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, during his visit to Mumbai for the Clinton Climate Initiative.

Under his leadership, the group is also involved in social activities with institutes such as L SRaheja Technical School, L SRaheja Hospital and Diabetic Research Centre and L SRaheja School of Arts and Architecture.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)