Mrs. Rajashree Birla
Mrs. Rajashree Birla is an exemplar in the area of community initiatives and rural development. She spearheads the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, the Group’s apex body responsible for development projects.
Mrs. Birla oversees the Group’s social and welfare driven work across its companies. The footprint of the Centre’s work straddles over 9,000 villages, reaching out to 11 million people. The Aditya Birla Group runs 24 hospitals and 6,000 medical camps treating over a million patients. Its 56 schools pan India impart quality education to over 46,500 children. Both its hospitals as well as schools are ‘Not For Profit’ institutions.
Mrs. Birla is the Chairperson of the FICCI – Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence, Habitat for Humanity (India) and is on the Board of the Asia Pacific Committee as well as Habitat’s Global Committee.
She is the Chairperson of FICCI’s first ever Expert Committee on CSR. She serves on the Board of Director’s CSR Committee of State Bank of India. She is on the Board of BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune and Population First, Mumbai. She serves on the Akhil Bharatvarshiya Maheshwari Education Trust, Indore. As a patron of arts and culture, she heads the ‘Sangit Kala Kendra’, a centre for performing arts, as its President.
In recognition of the exemplary work done by Mrs. Rajashree Birla, leading national and international organisations have showered accolades upon her. Among these the most outstanding one has been that of the Government of India which bestowed the ‘Padma Bhushan’ Award in 2011 on Mrs. Rajashree Birla in the area of social work.
In recognition of Mrs. Birla’s unrelenting endeavours towards polio eradication, Mrs. Pratibha Patil, the former President of India, honoured her with the much coveted 'Polio Eradication Champion' Award at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
Some of the other distinctive awards conferred upon Mrs. Birla include –
2019: Guest of Honour Award for path breaking work in CSR, AsiaOne
2019: Purpose-Led Group Brand 2019 Award, Business World – BW Pure
2019: Lifetime Contribution Award, Navbharat Times
2019: Gandhi Champion Award, Gandhi Going Global (New York)
2018: Distinguished Fellowship Award, Institute of Directors (IOD)
2018: Lifetime Achievement Award, CSR Times
2018: Lifetime Achievement Award, FICCI FLO GR8 Beti Awards
2017: The Torch Bearer of Humanitarian Service, Rotary International
2017: Serving Humanity Award, Rotary International
2016: WISE Lifetime Achievement Award, Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC)
2015: SIES Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award, South Indian Education Society, India
2014: The CEO India: CSR Leader
2014: ‘FAS Stree Ratna Award’, Fine Arts Society, Mumbai
2012: ‘Corporate Citizen of the Year’, The Economic Times
2011: ‘Corporate Citizen of the Year Award’, The All India Management Association (AIMA)
2010: ‘Global Golden Peacock Award for CSR’ presented by Dr. Ola Ullsten, the former Prime Minister of Sweden in Portugal
2009: ‘Rajiv Gandhi Award’, for Eminence in Social Field
2009: ‘FICCI FLO Golden Laurel Award’
2009: ‘Lifetime Achievement in CSR’, Suryadatta National Award
2008: ‘Reader’s Digest Pegasus Star Award’, India Today
2004: Doyenne of Benevolence, Rotary Club of Thane Hills
2004: The Pride of India Award, Rotary Club of Mulund
2003: The Citizen of Bombay Award, Rotary Club of Bombay
2003: The Seva Shiromani Award, Rotarians in Action
2001: The Woman Achiever in 2001, Archana Trust
2001-2002: ‘Corporate Citizen of the Year’, the Economic Times
Mrs. Birla is a humanitarian par excellence, and compassion is her only currency. In acknowledgement of the family’s continuing commitment to polio eradication and raising literacy levels in India, the portraits of Mr. Aditya Birla and Mrs. Rajashree Birla have been placed in the Rotary International Hall of Fame in Evanston, USA.
Mrs. Birla is a Director on the Board of all the major Aditya Birla Group of Companies; viz., Grasim, Hindalco and UltraTech Cement Ltd. Additionally, she serves as a Director on the Board of the Aditya Birla Group’s International Companies spanning Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Egypt.
Born in Bikaner and raised in Madurai, Mrs. Birla studied arts, graduating from the Loretto College at Kolkata. Mrs. Birla lives in Mumbai, with her family comprising, son Kumar Mangalam Birla, his wife Neerja and grandchildren, Ananyashree, Aryaman and Advaitesha. Her daughter Vasavadatta is married to industrialist Mr. Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, and they have a daughter, Anandmayi and two sons – Yugadikrit and Vishwarupe.