Dr. Punita Kumar-Sinha
Award Year: 2012 | Degree Year: 1985
Dr. Punita Kumar-Sinha received her Bachelor of Technology degree in Chemical Engineering with Distinction from IIT Delhi in 1985. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the years 1992 and 1993 respectively. She received an MBA from Drexel University in 1987.
Dr. Kumar-Sinha currently is Founder and Managing Partner, Pacific Paradigm Advisors, an independent investment advisory and management firm. She is also a CFA charter holder, and member of the CFA Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prior to founding Pacific Paradigm Advisors in 2012, Dr. Kumar-Sinha was Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone Group, leading Blackstone Asia Advisors as the business unit head and Chief Investment Officer. Earlier, Dr. Kumar-Sinha was a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Oppenheimer Asset Management and CIBC World Markets. She has also been Portfolio Manager on the emerging markets team at Batterymarch (a Legg Mason company) and member of the international equity management team at Standish Ayer & Wood (a BNY Mellon company). Dr. Kumar-Sinha was one of the early investors in emerging markets and one of the first foreign investors into India. She managed the largest India Fund (which peaked at $2.7 billion in assets) in the US for almost 15 years. She has also managed several Asian funds.
During Dr. Kumar-Sinha’s management, the India Fund was awarded the US Lipper Performance Achievement Certificate for being the number one performing closed-end emerging markets fund over 10 years. She was awarded Woman of the Year at the Global Indian Awards in 2003. Her investing career on Wall Street has been featured, among other places, on the cover of Savvy and in the book Corporate Divas (showcasing the life stories of India’s leading corporate women). Dr. Kumar-Sinha has spoken on career growth topics to various professional women’s groups such as 100 Women in Hedge Funds and Asian Women in Business. She also has just anchored a TV series on ET NOW, Global Insights with Punita Kumar-Sinha, which analyzed leading economies and their impact on India.
In honouring Dr. Punita Kumar-Sinha, IIT Delhi recognizes the outstanding contributions made by her as a Corporate Leader. Through her achievements, Dr. Punita Kumar-Sinha has brought glory to the name of the Institute.
