Vineet Nayyar, Former Tech Mahindra Chief, Dies At 85

Vineet Nayyar, former chief executive officer and vice chairman of Tech Mahindra Ltd., has died at the age of 85.

Nayyar had worked with various public and private corporate sectors, global multilateral institutions, and governmental authorities during his four-decade career.

"India has lost one its finest leaders today," former CEO of the tech firm CP Gurnani condoled Nayyar's death on Thursday in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra too condoled Nayyar's death in a post on X. "Vineet was a larger than life figure in the Indian Business landscape," Mahindra said.

Tech industry body Nasscom too expressed condolence in a post on X. "We will always remember the significant contributions of Vineet Nayyar," Nasscom said.

Born in 1939, Nayyar held master’s degree in development economics from Williams College, Massachusetts and started his career with the Indian Administrative Service.

Over the course of his 40-year career, Nayyar has worked with numerous public and private corporate sectors, worldwide multilateral institutions, and governmental authorities. He held a number of prominent positions at the World Bank throughout the course of his more than 10 years there, most notably Chief for the Energy, Infrastructure, and Finance Divisions for East Asia and the Pacific.

Nayyar was known for his crucial role in the revival of the collapsed computer services company Satyam in 2009.

His legacy also includes his role in the debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Group, where he held the position of executive vice chairman for two years.

He was the founding chairman and managing director of the state-owned GAIL. Nayyar also served as the managing director of HCL Corporation and as the vice chairman of HCL Technologies Ltd.

Besides, Nayyar held directorships on the boards of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Great Eastern Shipping, Business Standard, Kotak Life Insurance, The Mahindra United World College of India, The Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd, and the Tech Mahindra Foundation.