Sanjay Kirloskar

Chairman and Managing Director, Kirloskar Brothers

Date of Birth: 22/03/1957
Place of Birth: Nagpur

India-Africa trade will grow to US$75 billion by 2015, according to Anand Sharma, India’s Commerce Minister. With trade now at $45 bn., India’s most influential business association and its trade promotion bank co-organised a conference to make sure that goal is reached. The meeting also laid the ground for the second India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa on 20-25 May.

The 7th annual Conclave on India Africa Project Partnership, hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Export-Import Bank, took place on 27 March and brought delegates from 36 African countries to Delhi. Tanzania and Mozambique walked away with Exim credit lines of $36 mn. and $20 mn., respectively. Some 204 projects worth $18.4 bn. were discussed. The Chairman of CII’s Africa Committee is Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman of Kirloskar Brothers, an engineering group with holdings in construction and energy. Based in Pune, Maharashtra State, it specialises in pump and valve systems for irrigation and industrial uses.

Sanjay Kirloskar is the grandson of Shantanurao Laxmanrao Kirloskar, who took the family shop, established in 1888, and built it into an engineering giant. The younger Kirloskar is driving the company’s international expansion, and Africa provides a lucrative market for its products. Kirloskar has offices in Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. In 2010, it acquired Braybar Pumps in Gauteng, South Africa, a manufacturer of pumps for the mining industry. Born 1957 in Nagpur, Kirloskar studied mechanical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States. Returning to India, he worked at the group’s subsidiaries until 1985, when he was made Managing Director of Kirloskar Brothers.