Mr. Vijay Mahajan
Award Year: 2003 | Degree Year: 1975
Shri Vijay Mahajan was born in Pune in October 1954. He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering in 1975. Thereafter, he worked at Philips in a marketing position for four years, mostly in Eastern India. His work took him to several industrial project locations in the hinterland. This sharpened his desire to work for India’s development. In preparation for a vocation devoted to rural development, Vijay decided to pursue management studies at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, from where he graduated in 1981 with a gold medal for scholastic performance.
Vijay started work in rural economic development in 1981. Soon after, in 1983, he established PRADAN. PRADAN is one of India’s more effective NGOs, specialising in rural livelihoods and micro-finance. It works with over 1 lakh rural and poor households. Thereafter, in 1991, Vijay decided to work as an independent trainer, consultant and researcher and to focus exclusively on the issue of rural livelihood. Realising the need to attract mainstream financial resources, Vijay conceptualised the establishment of BASIX. BASIX is a new generation institution devoted solely to promoting rural livelihoods. It is among the first micro-finance companies in the world to attract commercial debt and equity investments, both internationally and from within India. From 1996 to March 2003, the BASIX group has extended micro-credit worth over Rs. 150 crore to nearly 90,000 poor households in nine states in India.
Vijay has been an advisor to the Planning Commission, Government of India, the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Sikkim, and to the RBI and NABARD. Vijay has co- authored a book “The Forgotten Sector” on rural, non- farm sector in India. He has published over 50 articles on rural livelihood, development and micro-finance in international journals. Vijay was honoured by the prestigious Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship as “one of World’s Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs”. As part of this fellowship, Vijay Mahajan participated in the World Economic Forum in January 2003 at Davos, Switzerland.
Vijay Mahajan could have chosen one of many different paths in life and lucrative careers. Instead, he has channeled his talent, education, and energy to improve rural Indian society. In his own words, he has been inspired by several people, including Ravi Matthai of IIM Ahmedabad, Verghese Kurien of NDDB, Prof. Mohammad Yunus of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh and Ela Bhatt of SEWA.
In honouring Vijay Mahajan, we recognise the outstanding contributions made by him as a social entrepreneur. Through his achievements, Vijay Mahajan has brought glory to this Institute.
