Our Visionaries

Savita Chhabra is the Co-Founder, Chairman Emeritus, Board Advisor, and CSR Head of Hygienic Research Institute Pvt. Ltd. (HRIPL), where she has played a defining role in shaping the organisation's growth and legacy. A visionary entrepreneur, she transformed HRI from a modest 1,200 sq ft factory into a multi-crore enterprise with six manufacturing facilities across India and Bangladesh. Under her leadership, the company evolved from a single-product business into a respected multi-brand portfolio that includes Vasmol, Streax, Florozone, and Streax Professional.

That growth has been grounded in a steady commitment to quality, operational excellence, and continuous improvement, which has helped her build a future-ready organisation aligned with global standards. Her leadership extends well beyond business into meaningful social impact through the HRI Foundation, where she champions education, women's empowerment, and skill development initiatives.

These contributions, both in enterprise and in society, have earned her several prestigious honours. She received the Special Award for Women Entrepreneurs from the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, along with the National Award for Business Excellence, the Pride of India – Society Achievers Award, and the Women Super Achiever Award. Two initiatives close to her heart have drawn particular recognition: Project ASHRAY, honoured among the Best Girl Child Education Programmes, and HRI's Skill Development Programme, both celebrated for their meaningful community impact.

Widely regarded as one of India's most inspiring women entrepreneurs, Savita Chhabra has seen her story chronicled in the acclaimed book Millionaire Housewives: From Homemakers to Wealth Creators. Yet her journey from homemaker to business leader is defined less by the accolades it has gathered than by the enterprise she built and the lives she continues to uplift along the way.

With over three decades of leadership experience in the beauty and personal care industry, Manish Chhabra has been instrumental in building HRI into one of India's leading hair colour and haircare companies. His journey with the organisation began on the shop floor as a chemist and grew steadily over the years, taking him from Managing Director and CEO to his current role as Executive Chairman.

Under his leadership, HRI has transformed from a family-run business into a professionally managed organisation with a strong presence across India and international markets. Driven by a sharp focus on innovation, consumer insight, and operational excellence, the company today reaches more than 4.2 lakh retail outlets and 45,000 salons directly. That same focus has made him a force for innovation within the category. He has pioneered several firsts across both the professional and consumer divisions, including India's first oil-based emulsion hair dye, Streax Shampoo Hair Colour, and Streax Hair Serum, while strengthening iconic brands such as Streax and Streax Professional through consumer-centric product development.

His influence also extends beyond HRI. An active participant in the investor ecosystem within the beauty and personal care space, he is passionate about mentoring and nurturing emerging start-ups and entrepreneurs across the industry. This combination of enterprise and stewardship has earned him prestigious honours, including India's Best Leaders in Times of Crisis by Great Place to Work, India's Greatest Leaders by AsiaOne, and the ET Business Icon Award for revolutionary leadership in the haircare industry.

A Bachelor of Pharmacy graduate, Manish Chhabra is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and has completed executive management programmes at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. It is this blend of scientific grounding, world-class business training, and hands-on industry experience — from the shop floor to the boardroom — that continues to define his leadership today.

Ashish K. Chhabra is the Co-Founder and Director of Hygienic Research Institute Pvt. Ltd. and a seasoned marketing leader with over three decades of experience in the FMCG and beauty industry. Known for his deep consumer understanding and sharp marketing acumen, he has been instrumental in building Streax and Vasmol into some of India's most trusted and aspirational haircare brands.

Ashish Chhabra played a defining role in positioning Streax as a fashion-forward, youth-centric brand through innovative product launches, trend-led communication, and impactful celebrity endorsements. The "Era of Stars", spanning 2011 to 2015, proved a pivotal period for HRI, as high-visibility campaigns and celebrity partnerships earned the brand national recognition and strong consumer engagement. This instinct for reading the market has remained central to his work: his expertise lies in identifying evolving consumer trends and translating them into successful brand strategies and category innovations.

Under his leadership, HRI introduced disruptive offerings across the hair colour and styling categories while expanding the Streax Professional division to thousands of salons across India. He has also driven the brand's global expansion into markets including the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Mauritius, and Latin America, extending its reach well beyond home shores.

A graduate of the University of Mumbai, Ashish Chhabra has completed a leadership programme at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. It is this blend of marketing vision, consumer insight, and global perspective that continues to shape both the brands he has built and the markets they now reach.

Kaveesh Chawla is a Partner on the private equity team at Premji Invest, where he leads investments across the consumer and consumer tech sectors while actively serving on the boards of portfolio companies.

Before joining Premji Invest, Kaveesh Chawla spent 23 years with prominent companies, including Amazon, Coupang, and Infosys across North America, Europe, and Asia. As a founding member of Amazon India, he played a pivotal role for more than a decade in establishing and scaling the company's business in the country.

He holds an MBA with distinction (Beta Gamma Sigma) from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. Together, this academic foundation and a global operating career across three continents inform the investment perspective he brings to Premji Invest today.

Vineet Agrawal retired in January 2026 as Chief Executive Officer of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCLG) and Managing Director of Wipro Enterprises. During his tenure as CEO of WCCLG, he grew the business from INR 3 billion in 2003 to INR 100 billion in 2023 — a 33-fold increase over 20 years. The WCCLG business, which operated only in India in 2003, expanded to 60 countries, with 51% of revenues coming from overseas. His retirement in January 2026 marked the end of a 40-year career that began in sales, took in multiple leadership roles, and ended in the chief executive's chair.

For WCCLG, he led the largest overseas personal care acquisition by an Indian company, acquiring Unza, Southeast Asia's leading personal care company, for INR 12 billion in 2007. He also established Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, the company's venture capital arm, with a corpus of INR 2 billion, investing across start-ups and funds in India and Southeast Asia. He launched a new food business in 2022 through the acquisitions of Nirapara and Brahmins. His tenure saw 15 acquisitions in India and abroad, representing an investment of more than INR 100 billion. Known for his strong focus on customer relationships, he travelled extensively to engage directly with customers throughout his tenure.

Earlier in his career, Vineet Agrawal served as Corporate Vice President at Wipro Corporation, responsible for Mission: Quality, the Wipro brand, and innovation. He led the repositioning of the Wipro corporate identity, culminating in the launch of the new Wipro identity in April 1998, and drove key initiatives, including Wipro Applying Thought in Schools and the company's Six Sigma consultancy practice.

Vineet Agrawal holds a B.Tech from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, and was awarded IIT Delhi's Distinguished Alumnus award in 2008. Across four decades, his career has been defined by building businesses through acquisition and international expansion, and by a conviction that the customer relationship is where that growth begins.

Mallika Arjuna is a Vice President at Premji Invest, where he leads the firm's Portfolio Finance for the Financial Services and Consumer verticals. He supports the investment team in deploying capital efficiently and effectively, assists portfolio companies on the finance front, and partners with the investment teams on timely exits.

Before his portfolio management role at Premji Invest, Mallika Arjuna headed the entire core finance function, handling controllership, treasury, taxation, FP&A, and investment support for the private equity and public equity teams. Earlier in his career, he worked with large corporates and a unicorn startup, including Wipro, GE, and InMobi, taking on multiple roles across business finance, internal audit, and FP&A, with a consistent focus on partnering with the business to achieve its objectives.

A Chartered Accountant, Mallika Arjuna is also a keen motorbike enthusiast who spends most weekends touring on two wheels.

Aditya Ghosh, a business leader and Co-Founder of Akasa Air, currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the FabIndia Group, OYO Hotels & Homes, GreenCell Mobility, Tweet Foundation, and Ashoka University, and as an Independent Director at Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) International Airport. His commitments extend across the social and industry spheres as Chairperson of the Social Enterprise Central body of SEWA, a Member of the CII National Committee, and Co-Chairman of its National Committee on Skill Development and Livelihood. As one of the founders of Ashoka University, he is also a Member of the Circle of Sponsors, where he heads the Service Excellence Committee.

Earlier in his career, Aditya Ghosh served for ten years as President and Whole-time Director of IndiGo, where he was instrumental in turning the airline into the largest and most profitable carrier in India, and one of the fastest-growing low-cost carriers in the world. He subsequently led OYO Hotels & Homes as CEO for South Asia, before joining its board.

A recognised supporter of the start-up ecosystem, Aditya Ghosh invests in consumer-facing businesses through his investment arm, Homage Ventures, whose portfolio includes Blue Tokai, Wholsum Foods, Genepath Diagnostics, CreditEnable, SpeakIn, Vsync, Juggernaut, Ladies Who Lead, EasyRes, Caterland UK, and Chourangi. His own achievements have earned him wide recognition as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and in Fortune's 40 Under 40 globally, as well as in Fortune India's 40 Under 40 for three consecutive years.

A lawyer by training, Aditya Ghosh is now an alumnus of Harvard Business School, having completed its flagship Advanced Management Program (AMP). It is this combination of operating excellence, entrepreneurial conviction, and a deep commitment to social impact that defines his work across the many organisations he serves today.

S. C. Srinivasan, a corporate and finance leader with 37 years of experience across the consumer, automotive, services, and industrial sectors, has served as CFO, Joint Managing Director, and board member of listed companies, bringing deep expertise in governance, regulatory affairs, compliance, and board committees. His career spans both Indian and global markets, and he has led multicultural teams across the UK, Germany, and Singapore.

Beginning in operations, he has since taken on senior leadership roles spanning strategy development and execution, P&L and performance steering, finance excellence, treasury and investor relations, business and functional transformation, talent strategy, and digital. His experience also extends to mergers and acquisitions, start-up investments, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships. He has also led global business services, risk management, procurement, and supply chain teams.

He continues to serve as an Independent Director on the boards of listed companies and as Chairman or member of various board committees. A keen advocate for ESG, he holds a certification in climate science and action from Terra.do and has translated that commitment into entrepreneurship as Co-Founder of Treeties, a nature-conservation start-up that applies science and technology to ecosystem restoration, and Co-Founder of an edtech NGO that brings digital education to remote monastic and village schools in Ladakh.

Alongside these ventures, he advises private equity-backed start-ups on strategy, growth, regulatory matters, functional excellence, and governance, and works as an executive coach, helping CXOs and start-up founders grow into well-rounded, successful leaders.

As Managing Director and CEO of Hygienic Research Institute Pvt. Ltd. (HRI), Dheeraj Arora leads the company's vision of building future-ready beauty brands driven by innovation, consumer insight, and sustainable growth. With over two decades of experience in the FMCG industry, he brings deep expertise across general management, sales and customer development, modern trade, and e-commerce, having held leadership roles at global organisations including Hindustan Unilever and Britannia Industries across India and developing and emerging markets.

Before joining HRI, Dheeraj Arora played a significant role in shaping modern trade and organised retail growth at Unilever, where he was instrumental in driving transformative initiatives. Chief among them was the landmark Winning in Many Indias strategy, which enabled highly localised business models across the country's diverse markets.

An engineer by qualification, Dheeraj Arora holds an MBA in Sales and Marketing from MDI Gurgaon and a certification in Digital Strategy from INSEAD. His leadership philosophy blends a strong data-driven approach with a deeply human perspective, guided by his belief in the Butterfly Effect – the idea that every small action contributes to a larger impact – a principle he follows closely in both business and leadership. Under his guidance, HRI continues to strengthen its position as one of India's leading beauty and personal care companies, with a sustained focus on innovation, agility, and consumer-centric growth.

His contributions have earned prestigious industry honours, including Most Influential eCommerce Professional and Business Icon of the Year 2023 and The Extraordinaire – Most Powerful CEO in 2024. An esteemed member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – FMCG, Dheeraj Arora brings a rare combination of analytical rigour, market intuition, and purpose-led leadership to the brands he builds.