wn
Vikram Singh Mehta is an Indian business executive turned analyst. Best known as a former CEO of Shell India, Mehta has also served as executive chairman of the
Brookings Institution. Currently, Mehta a director with the HT Media group and Chairman and Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP).
[
] Mehta also serves as an independent, non-executive director of
Larsen & Toubro,
Mahindra & Mahindra, Colgate Palmolive India, and Apollo Tyres.
Biography
Mehta comes from a family with a feudal background. His ancestors served the rulers of
Mewar
Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and Man ...
in present-day
Rajasthan. In more recent times, his father,
Jagat Singh Mehta
Jagat Singh Mehta (17 July 1922 – 6 March 2014) was an Indian politician and diplomat who was Foreign Secretary of India from 1976 to 1979. His daughter, known as Rani Vijay, is married to the Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad, son of Mohammad Ali ...
, was a career diplomat who retired as Foreign Secretary of India.
Mehta's sister, Rani Vijay, is the wife of
Raja Sulaiman Amir Khan, son of the notorious
Mohammad Amir Ahmed Khan; she is the mother of
Ali Khan Mahmudabad.
Mehta completed his schooling from
Mayo College in
Ajmer. He then graduated from
St. Stephen's College, Delhi
St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges for arts and sciences in India. It was established in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The college ...
and post-graduated from
Oxford University.
At Oxford, Mehta was a classmate and friend of
Imran Khan and
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
(two time prime minister of
Pakistan). All of them had PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) as their common subject.
Returning to India, Mehta appeared for the
UPSE exam and was selected for the
Indian Administrative Service. He joined the service but quit after only a couple of years due to incompatibility of temperament. He then went to study at the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at
Tufts University, USA, and secured a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD).
Immediately upon graduating from Tufts, he accepted an offer from
Royal Dutch Shell to join its Middle East operations. No part of his extensive education at St. Stephans, Oxford or Fletcher/Tufts had anything to do with business or industry, but this was not a problem, because his job profile at Shell was mainly about high-profile networking. Subsequently, he was moved by Shell from the Middle East to India, where his networking resources would find greater scope. He worked with Shell India for about 24 years. He retired from this position on 1 October 2012 and was succeeded by Yasmine Hilton.
After retiring from Shell, Vikram Mehta became the chairman of
Brookings India for many years before joining the Centre for Social and Economic Progress as Chairman.
References
External links
Vikram Mehta at Shell
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Indian chief executives
Businesspeople in the oil industry
Shell plc people
Petroleum industry in India
{{India-business-bio-stub