Roshni Nadar Malhotra takes over HCL baton from Shiv Nadar

IT firm HCL Technologies (HCL Tech) said it has appointed Roshni Nadar Malhotra as the Non-Executive Director and the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the company from Friday.

She takes over the baton from her father Shiv Nadar, who expressed his desire to step down from the position of Chairman. However, “Nadar would continue to be the Managing Director of the company with the designation of Chief Strategy Officer of the company,” HCL Tech said in a statement.

The news does not come as a surprise because in January 2013, Nadar had announced to the world that his then 31-year-old daughter will take over the reins of HCL Group which owns the IT services company HCL Technologies and the hardware business under HCL Infosystems.

Though he did not set a timeframe, it was widely believed that the business will be handed over to Roshni when Nadar retires.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the only child of HCL's founder, Shiv Nadar and she has worked in various companies as a producer before joining HCL. Within a year of her joining HCL, she was elevated as Executive Director and CEO of HCL Corporation.

She had been serving as the trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which runs the not-for-profit Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering in Chennai and also been involved in brand building across the HCL Group.

She grew up in Delhi and graduated from Northwestern University majoring in Communication with a focus on Radio/TV/Film. She also graduated with a Masters in Business Administration having a focus on Social Enterprise Management and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management.

Roshni worked in various companies such as Sky News UK and CNN America as a news producer. After her brief career in media and communications, she was inducted into HCL and spent time learning the ropes of the business, including the critical function of treasury management.

Roshni is also a trained classical musician. She got married in 2010 to Shikhar Malhotra who is the Vice-Chairman of HCL Healthcare and they have two sons.