Dr. Jamshed J Irani

December 13, 2008, 3PM - 5.30PM

About the Speaker

Dr. Jamshed J Irani is a director with Tata Sons and a well-known personality in the iron and steel industry. He is a Member of the Council of the Institute In 2007 he received the award of Padma Bhushan for his services to trade and industry in the country. Born on 2 June 1936, he obtained his master's degree in geology from Nagpur University in 1958, an M.Met in 1960 and a PhD in 1963 from the University of Sheffield, UK. He began his career at BISRA, Sheffield, where he rose to the position of head, physical metallurgy division. On returning to India, he joined The Tata Iron and Steel Company and rose to the position of CEO. Presently, he is a director on the board of Tata Steel. Tata Motors, Tata Teleservices, BOC (India), Electrosteel Castings, Repro India and HDFC. He is chairman of Tata Refractories, TRF and Kansai Nerolac Paints. He is a fellow of the Institute of Metals, Institution of Engineers, All India Management Association, Institute of Standards Engineers, Indian Academy of Sciences and Institution of Industrial Managers. In 1993, the University of Sheffield conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Metallurgy. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him honorary knighthood (KBE) for his contributions to Indo-British trade and co-operation.

Dr Irani has been national president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), co-chairman of the Indo-British Partnership, a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary International, and a Melvin Jones Fellow of the Lions International Foundation. He has been the president of the Indian Institute of Metals and has served as the president of the All India Management Association (AIMA). He was the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, and is currently chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C), Government of India. Dr Irani was the recipient of the Metallurgist of the Year Award in 1974 from the Ministry of Steel and Mines. He was awarded 'Platinum Medal' in 1988 by the Indian Institute of Metals. The Ministry of Steel and Mines, Government of India has conferred on him the inaugural 'National Metallurgist Award' in 1997 for his extraordinary achievements in the field of metallurgical industry. He was awarded the Michael John Memorial Gold Medal for the year 1998 for fostering harmonious employee-management relations in industry. He was awarded the Qimpro Platinum Standard and Indian Merchants' Chamber's Juran Quality Medal. He is also the recipient of the Ernst & Young's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Banaras Hindu University conferred upon him the Degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa in 2004.