VanessaColls18 at 22:55, 7 February 2026

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{{Short description|Indian businesswoman (1936–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Indu Jain
| image = Indu-jain.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|09|08|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Ayodhya]], [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2021|5|13|1936|09|08}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], [[Delhi]], India
| occupation = Chairman and CEO of <br> Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd.
| spouse = [[Ashok Kumar Jain]]
| children = [[Samir Jain]], [[Vineet Jain]]
| known_for = The Times Foundation<br>The Oneness Forum
}}

'''Indu Jain''' (8 September 1936 – 13 May 2021) was an Indian media executive and philanthropist. She belonged to the [[Sahu Jain family]] and was the chairperson of India's largest [[media group]], popularly known as [[The Times Group]].

As of 2006, Indu Jain had an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion, making her the 317th-richest person in the world.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://images.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/SU4J.html |title=Indu Jain|website=Forbes|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref> She was involved in philanthropy related to development and disaster relief, as well as literary endeavours.

==Career and philanthropy==
In 1999, following the death of her husband, publishing magnate [[Ashok Kumar Jain]], Indu Jain became chair of [[The Times Group]], India's largest [[media group]] (formally named Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hiscock|first=Geoff|title=India's Global Wealth Club: The Stunning Rise of Its Billionaires and Their Secrets of Success|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2008|isbn=978-0-470-82238-8|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YiLBD_IpgIkC&pg=PA73 73]|language=en}}</ref> This group owns ''[[The Times of India]]'' and other newspapers and media outlets.<ref name="times">{{cite web|date=14 May 2021|title=Indu Jain, Times Group chairman, attains nirvana|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indu-jain-times-group-chairman-attains-nirvana/articleshow/82611933.cms|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514001711/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indu-jain-times-group-chairman-attains-nirvana/articleshow/82611933.cms|archive-date=14 May 2021|work=[[The Times of India]]|accessdate=14 May 2021}}</ref> In 2012, the Times Group employed 11,000 people, and controlled 38 per cent of the Indian newspaper market.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/05/15/layoffs-hit-economic-times-is-times-of-india-next |title=Layoffs hit Economic Times. Is Times of India next?|website=News Laundry|date=15 May 2020 |access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref> The key to the success of the Times Group is that the newspapers are not about investigative reporting, but selling advertisements with large parts of the papers dedicated to [[Bollywood]] and paid editorials.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain |title=Citizens Jain|magazine=The New Yorker|date=1 October 2012|author=Ken Auletta|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref>

According to ''[[Forbes]]''{{'}}s 2006 rankings, Indu Jain had a net worth of $2.4 billion and was the 317th-richest person in the world.<ref name=":1" /> In 2006, Indu Jain filed charges against ''Forbes'' for breach of privacy and stated that the estimates were speculative. The [[Delhi High Court]] dismissed the case in October 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/58117fb72713e17947946af7 |title=Indu Jain V. Forbes Incorporated|website=Case Mine|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref> As of 2007, she was estimated to be the richest woman in Asia.<ref>Eng, Dennis. "Crown of Asia's Richest Woman Will Now Pass to India Or the Mainland." ''South China Morning Post''. 5 April 2007: 3. {{ProQuest| }}</ref>

In 2000 Jain founded The Times Foundation, which she also chaired.<ref name="lifetimeachievement">{{Cite news|date=30 November 2019|title=Times Group Chairman Indu Jain gets Lifetime Achievement Award|work=[[The Times of India]]|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/times-group-chairman-gets-lifetime-award-from-icsi/articleshow/72301722.cms|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=5 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705185725/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/times-group-chairman-gets-lifetime-award-from-icsi/articleshow/72301722.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> The Times Foundation runs Community Services, Research Foundation and Times Relief Fund for relief from disasters such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes and epidemics.<ref name="lifetimeachievement" /> In 2000, Jain addressed the [[Millennium Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders]] at the [[United Nations]].<ref name="times" />

Jain was the founder and president of the ladies' wing of [[FICCI]] ([[FICCI#Ladies Organisation|FLO]]) as of March 2017. From 1999 to her death, she chaired the [[Bharatiya Jnanpith]] Trust, a literary organization founded by her father-in-law [[Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain]] in 1944.<ref name=":0" /> The Trust administers the [[Jnanpith]] award, the highest honour for authors writing in Indian languages.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/article/sachin-tendulkar-pays-tribute-to-times-group-chairman-indu-jain-as-she-passes-away-due-to-covid-complications/756849 |title=Sachin Tendulkar pays tribute to Times Group chairman Indu Jain as she passes away due to Covid complications |website=Times Now News|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref>

Jain was an author, who published a two-volume ''Encyclopedia of Indian Saints and Sages'' in 2012 and 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|last2=|last3=|first3=|title=Book throws new light on India's mystics and their message {{!}} India News|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/book-throws-new-light-on-indias-mystics-and-their-message/articleshow/69669270.cms|access-date=14 May 2021|website=The Times of India|date=6 June 2019|language=en}}</ref> Co-authored with N. K. Prasad and published by Times Group Books, the second instalment was launched at an event for World Environmental Day with religious leaders.<ref>{{Cite news|date=6 June 2019|title=Spiritual leaders attend Indu Jain's book launch, give green push|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/spiritual-leaders-attend-indu-jains-book-launch-give-green-push/articleshow/69669738.cms|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref>

==Awards==
[[File:The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Bhushan Award to Smt. Indu Jain, at a Civil Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 12, 2016.jpg|thumb|Indu Jain awarded Padma Bhushan Award by President [[Shri Pranab Mukherjee]]]]

Indu Jain was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] by the government of India in January 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=Times Group chairman Indu Jain, Rajinikanth and 50 others receive Padmas from President|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Times-Group-chairman-Indu-Jain-Rajinikanth-and-50-others-receive-Padmas-from-President/articleshow/51803010.cms|website=Times of India|access-date=7 June 2017|date=13 April 2016|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615082453/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Times-Group-chairman-Indu-Jain-Rajinikanth-and-50-others-receive-Padmas-from-President/articleshow/51803010.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 2019, she received the Lifetime Achievement award from the [[Institute of Company Secretaries of India]] "for translating excellence in corporate governance into reality".<ref name=lifetimeachievement/>

She also won a Lifetime Contribution to Media award from the All India Management Association in 2018 as part of the group's annual Managing India Awards for excellence in leadership and nation building.<ref>23 April 2018. "AIMA honours Indu Jain, chairman emeritus, Bennett Coleman & Co." ''The Times of India (Online)'' {{ProQuest| }}</ref> She won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the [[Indian Congress of Women]].<ref name=":0" />

==Personal life==
Indu Jain was married to [[Ashok Kumar Jain]], with whom she had two sons, [[Samir Jain|Samir]] and [[Vineet Jain]], and a daughter.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.livemint.com/news/india/times-group-chairperson-indu-jain-passes-away-11620933848815.html |title=Times Group chairperson Indu Jain passes away|website=Live Mint|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://india.mom-rsf.org/en/owners/individual-owners/detail/owner/owner/show/the-jain-family/ |title=The Jain Family|website=Reporters without Borders|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref>

She died on 13 May 2021 in Delhi due to complications from [[COVID-19]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Times Group chairperson Indu Jain dies |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/times-group-chairperson-indu-jain-dies/article34552791.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |date=13 May 2021 |publisher=PTI |access-date=13 May 2021 |archive-date=13 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513175305/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/times-group-chairperson-indu-jain-dies/article34552791.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2010–19}}
{{The Times Group}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jain, Indu}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesswomen]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India]]
[[Category:Female billionaires]]
[[Category:Indian billionaires]]
[[Category:Indian mass media owners]]
[[Category:People from Faizabad]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in trade and industry]]
[[Category:The Times Group people]]
[[Category:The Times of India]]
[[Category:Indian Jains]]

Indu Jain - Revision history

VanessaColls18 at 22:55, 7 February 2026