Promod chaudhari biography for kids

The Dean ACR Newsletter is delighted to launch our newest Social Impact Trailblazer series with one of our most Distinguished Alumni – Dr. Pramod Chaudhari.

Through this series, we aim to highlight alumni who are exceptionally successful in their chosen careers and driving meaningful change in society. Dr. Chaudhari’s journey in pioneering sustainable technologies by setting up Praj Industries (a global leader in Bioeconomy) and his dedication to fostering social and environmental impact perfectly embodies this mission. Dr. Chaudhari’s vision has played a pivotal role in shaping India’s sustainable energy landscape and has demonstrated how business success and social responsibility can go hand in hand.

In this conversation, Dr. Chaudhari reflects on his journey—from his formative years at IIT Bombay to his entrepreneurial success, his focus on social impact, and the importance of giving back to the community.

We have also included a profile of Praj Industries after our conversation and the impact it continues to make on the renewable energy sector in India and globally.

• Thank you, Dr. Chaudhari, for speaking to the Dean ACR Newsletter. We would like to begin by asking you to share some of your fondest memories from your time at IIT Bombay. How did your time at the institute shape your professional journey and outlook on giving back to society?

My desire to contribute to society was partly influenced by my time at IIT Bombay, where I was exposed to ideas of social responsibility and philanthropy. The Institute fostered these values in me but also, my family background in service— my grandfather was a freedom fighter and my father upheld similar values— instilled in me the importance of giving back. These influences, coupled with experiences at IIT Bombay, became a foundational aspect of my commitment to social impact.

One key event I recall from my time as a student was when many of us were mobilized to assist in relief work following a

Our Partner, Our Pride

April 16, 2018    

He is a nationalist in an influencing entrepreneur, a dreamer who dreamt with open eyes and went full throttle to make his dreams come true: and a leader who inspired many with his compelling life-story. Read how an IITian lad emerged to have become one of the leading entrepreneurs in Engineering sector.

I thought I should jump the ladder and start my own firm

Tell us something about your background.

I hail from an interior part of Phaltan in Satara, Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. My father worked in a sugar mill and my mother was a teacher. We are three siblings, with two sisters, and belonged to a typical middle class family. After I completed my schooling from Pune, my excellent academic record secured me a seat in IIT-Mumbai and I graduated as a mechanical engineer. During that time IITians were famous for becoming expatriates, and 80% students from my batch did move abroad. However, the roots to which I belonged kept me grounded, and I took up a job in Pune in an automobile company, then called Bajaj Tempo. After a five year stint in my first job, I moved on to join a German company, now known as Kennametal, which was involved in tooling and industrial materials. I worked for almost 12 years with these two firms, however, the dream of becoming an entrepreneur still tugged at my heart. I thought I should jump the ladder and start my firm. I always had an inclination to do something for the environment, agri processing and energy conservation. Remember, India was under a license Raj in the mid 80s and it was not easy to start a business. While ruminating once, I went back to my native land, where I studied and watched sugar mills very closely. My passion to do something for our agriculture sector and the love towards my nation was strong enough to provide me the trigger and I decided to do something of my own in agricultural processing. In 1983-84, I finally real

Dr. Pramod Chaudhari started Praj Industries nearly 40 years ago with a humble dream to build something innovative that would contribute to the making of a modern India. What started off as an entrepreneurial venture four decades ago, is today India’s most successful company in the field of bio-based technologies and engineering with presence in more than 100 countries across all five continents over the world. Praj is focused on the environment, energy, and Agriprocess industry.

Bio-MobilityTM and Bio-PrismTM are the mainstays of Praj’s contribution to global Bioeconomy. Bio-MobilityTM platform of technologies envisages utilization of bio-based resources for production of low carbon transportation fuels across all modes of mobility namely Surface, Air and Marine. Bio-PrismTM portfolio comprises of technologies for production of renewable chemicals and materials (RCM).

RCM produced from bio-based feedstock, are sustainable alternatives to products made from fossil resources. Praj Matrix, the state-of-the-art R&D facility, forms the backbone for the company’s endeavors. The zeal of working toward making the world a better place has been at the heart of all his efforts and still continues to fuel the fire.

FIRMLY GROUNDED IN VALUES AND GUIDED BY ETHICS

Dr. Chaudhari is an IIT Bombay alumnus in Mechanical Engineering (1971) and also holds an advanced management degree from Harvard Business School (1995). After graduating from his alma mater, he tried the usual route of working with the MNCs and building a corporate career. But, his dream was bubbling inside so in 1983, he gave his all to his venture – Praj Industries.

The organization started as a supplier of ethanol plants and today it is one of the most renowned socio-economic ventures with a wide range of sustainable solutions for bioenergy, high purity water, critical process equipment, breweries and industrial wastewater treatment. Owing to his foresight of creating a business in ethanol and scaling it

Soon after he moved to Pune, Chaudhari took up cricket post-school and that made him travel to many parts of the city. “We used to take our cycles and at times we travelled by bus,” he says. Thanks to the then Pudumjee Trophy, the young man got to travel and explore various parts of the city. “The river was the border between the peths and the areas which developed post the Panshet floods (of 1961). Areas like Deccan Gymkhana and others had more flats and bungalows whereas the peths had the traditional wadas,” he remembers. Chaudhari stayed in the peth areas and a visit to the other side saw a distinct shift of culture. A student of the New English School in Ramanbaug, Chaudhari got what he said was the first shock of his life when he managed to secure a rank in the SSC Board examination. From Ramanbaug, Chaudhari was admitted to the Fergusson College which proved to be a “culture shock”.

“Fergusson College was on the other side of the river and for a boy from the peth areas it was a culture shock. To start, I came from a boys’ school and Fergusson College had a mixed population of both girls and boys. Girls in peths were in sarees, whereas the girls in those parts of the city were in modern clothes,” he adds. Deccan, Fergusson College Road and Jungli Maharaj Road were the hangout spots and Chaudhari vividly remembers restaurants like the now-closed Madras Health Home, Delight, and the iconic Roopali and Vaishali as the popular spaces there.

On completing his pre-degree course, Chaudhari got what he says was the second shock of his life when he figured among the ten top scorers in his class of 110 students. “Students in Fergusson College were much more fluent in English and the modernity of the other sex was to be noted,” he says. Post his pre-degree, Chaudhari left for IIT Bombay for his graduation in the