Home » The Company » Management

The Company

Ashok Hotchand Advani
Chairman & Publisher

Ashok Hotchand Advani is the founder publisher of Business India Group of Publications. By education and profession he was a leading lawyer and practiced at the Bombay bar for over 20 years. Educated at the Cathedral School, Bombay (where he was head boy in 1963) and at Lincoln College, Oxford University (1964-1967) where he read Philosophy, Politics & Economics (P.P.E.), he is a member of the Middle Temple, London where he was called to the Bar in 1968.

Pheroza Bilimoria
Managing Director

Pheroza Bilimoria is the Managing Director of Business India Publications Ltd. She has been with the Group since inception. In charge of all marketing activities for the Group, she also set-up the Exhibitions Division and the Cable TV business for the Group.

Pheroza was President of the Advertising Club, Bombay, (the first woman President); Vice-Chairperson of the Media Research Users Council; president India Chapter, International Advertising Association; and is currently Honorary Secretary on the International Advertising Association, New York, USA - the world's largest advertising and marketing communications body.

Atul Deshmukh
Executive Director

Atul Deshmukh, Advisor, has over 40 years experience in publishing including 12 years with Pergamon Press, UK where he worked in circulation, sales promotion and the advertisement departments. Deshmukh who has been with the Group since 1977, is responsible for the administration, HR and production functions of the Group's magazines and books.

Sheila Shahani
Editor, Inside Outside

Sheila Shahani, has been with the Group since 1981. She is a post-graduate in Sociology and Economics from Bombay University. Ms. Shahani is a member of the Executive Committee of the Group and an honorary member of the Indian Institute of Interior Designers.

Parthasarathi Swami
Managing Editor, Business India

Parthasarathi Swami holds a B.A. (History) from Osmania University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGM) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Parthasarathi has over 25 years experience as a business journalist and has worked with several leading business and news publications in India including Business Standard and India Today. Before taking up this assignment, he was the Managing Editor of Business World.

Gautam Sen
Consulting Editor

Gautam Sen is a honours graduate in Economics from Presidency College, Calcutta, and holds a post-graduate degree in Business Management from Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur. Gautam joined a very young Maruti Udyog Limited in 1984 as a part of the marketing team, where he was involved in the launch of the Maruti 800DX, the Maruti Omni and the Maruti Gypsy.

After setting up the regional office of Maruti Udyog in Bombay, in 1986, Sen switched careers - launching India's first automobile magazine, Indian Auto, as its founding editor. As Auto India's founder editor in 1993, he led the magazine's extraordinary growth that made it the bestselling auto magazine ever in India. Though he left Auto India in 2000, he returned to lead it again in 2007, re-launching an extensively revamped magazine that has seen considerable resurgence.

Bob Rupani
Managing Editor

Bob Rupani belongs to the pioneering lot of Indian automotive journalists starting with the Indian Auto Journal in 1986.

Bob has raced cars in the heat of competition and also customized and traded in them. He is one of India's most respected and trusted test drivers and evaluators and over the years has clocked almost 2,000,000 km on Indian roads. He also helped run the first International Vintage and Classic Car event in India (Jewel of India) and the first International Off-Roading event (Isuzu Challenge) in India.

Bob has authored the critically acclaimed book 'Driving Holidays in India'.

Jai Talwar
President, Advertising Sales

Prior to joining Business India, Jai was Sr. President with Last Minute Media Pvt. Ltd. , a company promoted by Dentsu for their on line trading portal lastminuteinventory.com. Beginning his career with leading advertising agencies such as Clarion and Ulka advertising and media experience with the Telegraph, Jai has over 27 years experience in Media and has held senior positions in publications such as The Reader's Digest, Hindustan Times, Zee TV and Khaleej Times Dubai.

He returned to India from the UAE as Associate Publisher of Reader's Digest in 2002 and successfully launched their 50th anniversary edition and other off lines such as "Best of Inspiration", "Best of Drama in Real Life" and for the first time a RD Women's special in A4 size. He also introduced for the first time in India the Reader's Digest Trusted Brands Awards in May 2006. He has served on the steering committee and on the Board of Governors of Media Research Users Council (MRUC).

Mira Lawrence
Sr. Vice President

Mira Lawrence joined Business India in 1983 at the age of 21 years and has risen to her present position of Sr.Vice President, Advertising with hard work and professional competence. Heading a 25 person team all over India, Mira and her team continued to deliver even in difficult periods of economic downturn. She is well respected in the advertising fraternity.

M.D. Ravindra Pai

M.D. Ravindra Pai, has been with the Business India Group since October, 1985. He holds a B.Com degree from the University of Mysore. His previous employment was with an engineering firm. He has more than 22 years of work experience in MIS, Financial Accounting & Management. He is currently designated Chief Accountant and looks after the day-to-day management of finances and legal cases of the group.

Mohini Kewalramani
Vice President, BI Exhibitions

Mohini Kewalramani, General Manger Sales and Promotion, Business India Exhibitions, joined the group in March 1999 as Corporate Communication Manager - Business India Exhibition. Mohini, together with the Business India Exhibitions team is responsible for organising all the exhibition activities for the group. Mohini worked for many years in the US including a stint with Japan Airlines in New York as National Accounts Manager, Corporate Sales, East Coast USA.

Sridhar R. Iyengar
VP-Marketing & Sales, BI Exibitions

Sridhar R. Iyengar has been with Business India Exhibitions since August 1995. He has over 12 years of work experience in the areas of Sales & Marketing. Currently designated as Deputy Manager - Sales with the Exhibitions Department, he looks after the Sales & Marketing activities in organizing specialized trade fairs across various cities in India.

Umesh Warang

Umesh Warang has been working with Business India Exhibitions since June 1992. He holds a B.Com degree from the University of Mumbai. Previously, he worked with a Chartered Accountancy firm for over 3 years, handling internal auditing. He has more than 10 years of work experience in the areas of MIS, Internal Audit and Operations. He is currently designated as Manager - Accounts, Business India Exhibitions and is a key member of the division.