Anand Mahindra gifts US$ 10 million to alma mater Harvard

In what is being billed as the largest grant to the Humanities Center at Harvard University, Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra, is offering his alma mater US$ 10 million for the study of humanities. The grant, in honour of his mother Indira Mahindra, would see the centre being renamed the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard.

According to sources close to the development, the grant has been catalyzed by the 50-year-old bond that the Mahindra family has with Harvard. Anand’s father, the late Harish Mahindra, earned a Bachelor’s degree at Harvard College in 1946. Anand followed in his footsteps and graduated from Harvard in 1977 with a major in visual and environmental studies. During the’70s, Indian regulations did not permit the provision of foreign exchange for undergraduate studies overseas, and Anand was therefore awarded a full scholarship by Harvard. This is something he has not forgotten.

He then went on to earn an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981. Mahindra is reticent in talking about the grant, but is of the view that to address complex problems in an inter-dependent world, it is vital to encourage the cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary exchange of ideas in an international setting. “I am proud to be part of the intellectual legacy of India’s contribution to global thinking across the arts, culture, science and philosophy. I am convinced of the need for incorporating social and humanistic concerns into the core value proposition of business and have sought to do so with tremendous support from my peers and colleagues at work and outside,” he said.

As Mahindra frequently says, the liberal arts experience was a transformational one for him, and he firmly believes that it provided him with a strong foundation for personal and career growth. He has also never forgotten the university’s generosity, and this gift is one way of expressing his gratitude.

The Humanities Center, located at Harvard University, is a site for inter-disciplinary exchanges and is open to the entire academic community and the public, and is a place where discourses on various topics that make up the study of humanities are held.

Source: The Times of India, October 4, 2010

Old boy shells out Rs. 320 million for Mumbai University

The University of Mumbai has received its largest private donation from an old boy in the city. A commerce graduate from Podar College, Asit Koticha (52), Chairman and founder-promoter of the ASK Group, a financial services and investment company, gifted his alma mater a purse of Rs. 32 crore (Rs. 320 million), to set up an international convention centre and a school of philosophy. But the plans drawn up for the project require roughly Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion) for execution, and Koticha says he is talking to some of his friends to chip in too.

Probably the largest gift a conventional Indian university has received in recent times has enthused its heads, who have drawn up mega plans for its utilization. “There is need for a convention centre. I plan to set up a self-sufficient facility that holds conventions, conferences, as well as hosts visiting scholars. Apart from a large conference hall, it will have accommodation facilities and many halls to hold parallel sessions”, says MU Vice-Chancellor Rajan Welukar.

I am what I studied during graduation, says alumni Asit Koticha
If one were to draw up a balance sheet, Asit Koticha has made a windfall. A commerce graduate from Matungas Podar College who paid Rs. 1,000 for his course,rose up the financial order: market analysts put Kotichas net worth today at Rs. 1,000 crore (Rs. 10 billion). A media-shy Koticha and his brother Sameer Koticha have been gifting money since the time day they started earning. The CSR (corporate social responsibility) arm of their 25-year-old company ASK Group works in areas of health, education and housing. Apart from constructing 51 schools in Rajkot and setting up blood bank centres in Gujarat through the Life Foundation, Koticha has handed keys to hundreds of tribal families in Karjat through the Habitat for Humanity organisation, which builds low-cost housing for the underprivileged.

The financial wizard spends his time at home reading on investments, and when he is not doing that, he is poring over philosophical texts. That, says Koticha, is how he has always been. Three generations of the Kotichas have studied at the university. And they decided not to miss an opportunity of giving back, which came their way through a former employer. A colleague from ASK joined the university’s philosophy department as faculty member. “When he told me that the university was setting up a philosophy school, I got interested and wanted to contribute Rs. 2 crore (Rs. 20 million) for it. Later, when I met the Vice-Chancellor, he spoke about a convention centre.I was more than happy to help”.

Speaking to TOI about his days as a young student, Koticha said: “A lot of factors have been responsible for pushing him to open his heart to the university. As a student of Podar College, I not only benefited from the education, but also participated in a lot of activities. I learnt valuable lessons. I paid Rs. 1,000 at Podar and made all this. I am what I studied during my years of graduation”.

Source: The Times of India, August 25, 2010

Old boy shells out Rs. 320 million for Mumbai University

The University of Mumbai has received its largest private donation from an old boy in the city. A commerce graduate from Podar College, Asit Koticha (52), Chairman and founder-promoter of the ASK Group, a financial services and investment company, gifted his alma mater a purse of Rs. 32 crore (Rs. 320 million), to set up an international convention centre and a school of philosophy. But the plans drawn up for the project require roughly Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion) for execution, and Koticha says he is talking to some of his friends to chip in too.

Probably the largest gift a conventional Indian university has received in recent times has enthused its heads, who have drawn up mega plans for its utilization. “There is need for a convention centre. I plan to set up a self-sufficient facility that holds conventions, conferences, as well as hosts visiting scholars. Apart from a large conference hall, it will have accommodation facilities and many halls to hold parallel sessions”, says MU Vice-Chancellor Rajan Welukar.

I am what I studied during graduation, says alumni Asit Koticha
If one were to draw up a balance sheet, Asit Koticha has made a windfall. A commerce graduate from Matungas Podar College who paid Rs. 1,000 for his course,rose up the financial order: market analysts put Kotichas net worth today at Rs. 1,000 crore (Rs. 10 billion). A media-shy Koticha and his brother Sameer Koticha have been gifting money since the time day they started earning. The CSR (corporate social responsibility) arm of their 25-year-old company ASK Group works in areas of health, education and housing. Apart from constructing 51 schools in Rajkot and setting up blood bank centres in Gujarat through the Life Foundation, Koticha has handed keys to hundreds of tribal families in Karjat through the Habitat for Humanity organisation, which builds low-cost housing for the underprivileged.

The financial wizard spends his time at home reading on investments, and when he is not doing that, he is poring over philosophical texts. That, says Koticha, is how he has always been. Three generations of the Kotichas have studied at the university. And they decided not to miss an opportunity of giving back, which came their way through a former employer. A colleague from ASK joined the university’s philosophy department as faculty member. “When he told me that the university was setting up a philosophy school, I got interested and wanted to contribute Rs. 2 crore (Rs. 20 million) for it. Later, when I met the Vice-Chancellor, he spoke about a convention centre.I was more than happy to help”.

Speaking to TOI about his days as a young student, Koticha said: “A lot of factors have been responsible for pushing him to open his heart to the university. As a student of Podar College, I not only benefited from the education, but also participated in a lot of activities. I learnt valuable lessons. I paid Rs. 1,000 at Podar and made all this. I am what I studied during my years of graduation”.

Source: The Times of India, August 25, 2010