Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Member of Rajya Sabha
for Karnataka State (Bangalore Urban Constituency)
Assumed office
24 April 2012
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Jupiter Capital
Assumed office
20 July 2005
Personal details
Born (1964-05-31) 31 May 1964
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Nationality Indian
Political party Independent
Spouse(s) Anju Chandrasekhar
Parents Air Commodore M K Chandrasekhar and Mrs Valli Chandrasekhar
Residence Bangalore, India
Alma mater Manipal Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Website www.rajeev.in

Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Kannada: ರಾಜೀವ್ ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಕರ್; born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving a second term as an independent member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. He represents Karnataka and Bangalore Urban Constituency, and is an established entrepreneur. Rajeev is the founder and chairman of Jupiter Capital, a financial services and investment company, and founder of BPL Mobile, a major mobile phone service provider in India.

Early life and career

Rajeev was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to Indian Air Force Officer, Air Commodore M. K. Chandrasekhar and Mrs. Valli Chandrasekhar. His parents are from Kerala. He studied in various schools across India, and enrolled to study electrical engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology in 1981, leaving briefly to work for Softech, a start-up IT firm. He completed Masters in Computer Science in 1985 from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Rajeev then worked for Intel as Senior Design Engineer and a CPU architect on the 80486 and Pentium Microprocessors before returning to India in 1991.

Entrepreneur

In 1994, Rajeev founded BPL Mobile, which became a major mobile phone service provider, valued at US$1.1 billion in 2005, when Rajeev entered politics. Rajeev founded Jupiter Capital in 2005, with an initial investment of US$100 million, and currently has investments and managed assets of over US$800 million in technology, media, hospitality and entertainment. In April 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, for his work as an entrepreneur.

Member of Parliament

In April 2012, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha for a second six-year term as a BJP Parliamentarian representing Karnataka. He has advocated for governance reforms, institution building, Internet freedom, national security, welfare of the Armed Forces Personnel and sustainable city building of Bangalore and Karnataka.

In 2008-9, he served as the President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) –India’s apex industry chamber.

Currently he serves as Member on the Standing Committee on Defence, Consultative Committee on Defence, Central advisory committee for the National Cadet Corps, Select committee on Real Estate and Select Committee on GST.

Positions held

Personal life

Rajeev is married to Anju Chandrasekhar. They have a son, Ved, and a daughter Devika.

External links

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