Dr. Ajai Chowdhry

Dr. Ajai Chowdhry is one of the six founder members of HCL. HCL was started with a dream ‘to take the microprocessor and change the world’ in 1976. Starting from India, Dr. Chowdhry took HCL to Singapore in 1980 & created a business spanning ASEAN, China and Hong Kong. Dr. Chowdhry has been at the forefront of helping create the Electronics Industry in India. In 2009 he headed a Task Force created by MEITY which made path breaking recommendations where the task force warned that the electronics import bill will exceed the oil import bill. In 2011, in recognition for helping build the IT & Electronics industry in India, the Hon’ble President of India, conferred the prestigious Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honour in India. He has received many awards including Electronics Man of the Year 2010, CNBC’S India Innovation of the Year Award 2010 and Cybermedia Business ICT Award 2013 for Lifetime Achievement in ICT.

From 2011, he has been deeply involved in investing in, nurturing & mentoring startups. He is on the Board of the largest Angel Network in India, IAN and has personally invested in more than 50 startups. He is on the Investment Committee of IAN Fund, Electronic Development Fund and Canbank Venture Capital Fund. He also is the Chairman of FICCI Startup Committee. Dr. Ajai Chowdhry is the Chairman of Electronics Sector Skills Council of India. In 2021, Dr. Ajai Chowdhry co-founded EPIC Foundation. He is currently the Chairman of EPIC Foundation and has created a fabulous team of more than 50 Eminent Global leaders to provide impetus to this important national initiative. Dr. Chowdhry has focused on giving back to the society and has set up a Charitable Trust called Swayam where he contributes to many areas including education, women empowerment & providing relief during Covid to Delhi & Goa citizens. Dr. Chowdhry has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering from Jabalpur Engineering College & attended the Executive Program at the School of Business Administration in the University of Michigan in the US. He has also been awarded Honoris Causa (D.Sc) by IIT Roorkee, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur and University of Engineering & Management Kolkata.