Parents Gujarmal Modi Organization founded Spice Global | Uncle Kedar Nath Modi | |
Books Hinduism, the Universal Truth, Performance, a Manager's Challenge Similar Krishan Kumar Modi, Gujarmal Modi, Dayawati Modi | ||
B. K. Modi or Bhupendra Kumar Modi, now famously known as Dr. M, is a social entrepreneur, a philanthropist and an author with more than 30 years of business leadership experience. He is also a recognized pioneer in the areas of office automation, telecom, healthcare, electric vehicles, global citizenship and omniscience. Amongst his other efforts, Dr. M also organised the UN World Peace Summit and received appreciation for his global peace efforts from the United States House of Representatives. He is currently realizing his vision to bring revolutionary new technologies to life which can transform human living for generations to come.
Contents
- Personal life
- Business career
- Global Citizen Forum
- Philanthropy
- Other Projects
- Awards and honours
- Milestones
- References
In 2016, Forbes estimated Dr M's net worth at US $645 million.
Dr. B.K.Modi has authored many books, including One God, Hinduism – The Universal Truth, Performance – A Manager's Challenge and Whispers of Peace.
Personal life
Dr M was born in 1949 to the visionary industrialist Mr Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi & Mrs. Dayawati Modi. He was born in Modinagar, an Indian city established by his father. The first amongst his siblings to be born after independence, he was the 9th child of Mr. Modi.
He completed his primary schooling from the Scindia School, Gwalior. He graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU) and received an MBA from the University of Southern California. He also received a PhD. in Philosophy and Doctor of Letters in Industrial Management.
Dr M is married to Veena Modi. His son, Dilip Modi, was the youngest ASSOCHAM president in 2011 and also the youngest COAI president in 2004–05. His daughters, Divya (Director, Spice Finance) and Ritika, are both married.
Business career
Dr M began his career in Modi Steel, one of the prime units of his family business, Modi Industries.
Dr M revolutionized multiple industries like tyre, office automation and telecom by bringing global giants to the Indian sub-continent. Dr M is an ardent advocate of conscious capitalism and built all his ventures with this vision.
In 1975, as head of Modi Rubber, Dr M sealed the first Indo-International technical collaboration in the tyre industry with Continental (Germany). Modi Rubber set up the first world-class tyre manufacturing facility in the country.
In 1981, Dr M laid the foundation for his business empire by setting up Graphics India which became the sole distributor of Rank Xerox copiers in India. In 1983, he formed Modi Xerox as a joint-venture with Xerox. Modi Xerox became the first Indian manufacturer of high-end laser copier. Then in 1987, he formed a joint-venture with Olivetti (Italy), Modi Olivetti. This became the first Indian joint venture to manufacture advanced PCs and floppy disks.
In 1992, he entered into a joint venture with Alcatel (France), Alcatel Modi Network Systems. This became the first Indian private sector company to manufacture telecom equipments and export digital switching systems. It was also the first in setting up a GSM network in India.
In 1993, Modi Telstra became the first company to launch cellular services in India. They also received the first Telecom Engineering Commission Certification of Quality.
In 1994, Dr M entered into a joint-venture with International Paper, Plus Paper FoodPac, which pioneered the manufacture of eco-friendly paper containers for the foodservice industry.
1995 was a ground-breaking year for the Indian telecom industry. The first ever mobile call was placed on the Modi Telstra network by the then Chief Minister of Kolkata, Jyoti Basu. Then Dr M formed Axiata Spice Communications, a joint-venture with Axiata Group Network. This went on to become the leading telecom operator in Northern and Southern India.
Then in 2000, Cellebrum (now Spice Digital) was established by Dr M as the first Indian mobile value added services company for telecom operators. In 2004, he founded Spice Hotspot (now Spice Retail) which was the first Indian mobile retail chain. In 2009, he formed Si2i, a listed company in the SGX, by acquiring a major stake in the i2i. The company offers Operator products and services and ICT & Managed services.
In 2013, entered into the healthcare industry with the launch of Smart GMMH. It is a healthcare ecosystem spanning over 2.4mn Sq. ft. of premium real estate in New Delhi and includes advanced medical and independent living facilities, super-speciality hospitals, medical offices and a life sciences & research center.
Dr M has been quoted as saying
"Climate change is the defining issue of our century. It will decide the direction of our future technologies and policies."
To contribute towards the development of clean energy sources, in 2015 Dr M launched Moditiciti. Situated just a few hours away from New Delhi, Modiciti is a private smart city in making which includes an electric vehicle manufacturing unit and the presence of brands like Modiciti Solar Lamp, Modiciti Hospital, Modiciti IB School and Modiciti Multiplex.
This year, Dr M collaborated with BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, to form Smart Dreams which is envisioned to be a potential leader in the pure electric space, covering India, Singapore and beyond. He also launched the first 100% electric vehicles experience center, service and charging station in Singapore.
The various subsidiaries of the Spice Global conglomerate established by Dr M :
Global Citizen Forum
Dr M is on a worldwide mission to unite everyone as a global citizen beyond the boundaries of gender, nationality and religion. To this end, he founded the Global Citizen Forum on 5 January 2013. The Global Citizen Forum works towards creating a sustainable and integrated world community in an ever-changing world. GCF periodically organizes events across the globe that are attended by a wide ranging audience from business leaders and head of states to ordinary citizens.
Philanthropy
Dr M is a keen humanitarian who tirelessly works to help those in need. Be it his business ventures or social initiatives, everything Dr M does in an effort to make the world a better place for all. For his global peace efforts, he received appreciation from the United States House of Representatives and was recipient of the "Ambassador of Peace" Award conferred by the Universal Peace Foundation.
Other Projects
Dr M produced the Bollywood action comedy film, No Problem, starring Anil Kapoor. He also produced the critically acclaimed satire comedy- OMG(Oh my God) starring Akshay Kumar & Paresh Rawal. Zee TV serial Buddha – The King of Kings was one of the pet projects produced by Dr M.
Awards and honours
Milestones
Dr M is admired for his unconventional wisdom which has helped him become one of India's first visionary techno-entrepreneurs. Here are the major milestones in his professional career :