Gauri Kirloskar on doubling revenues by 2030 at Kirloskar Oil Engines

Joining a 138-year-old family business in a senior leadership role is an opportunity Gauri Kirloskar recognises as an exception rather than the norm. The 41-year-old Vice Chairperson and MD of Kirloskar Oil Engines is cognisant of her privilege, and the responsibility that comes with it. “This is my only reality; it comes from the advantage of being from the promoter family of a reputed business house. I know that things are very different being a woman in the workplace,” she says.

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, Kirloskar worked at Merrill Lynch as an investment banking analyst, and then at Pearson’s Corporate Finance and Strategy group before moving back to India to join the family business, starting with the real estate division.  

Her being appointed MD before she turned 40 may have caused some heads to turn, but she was clear about what had to be done. “My focus was about how to build the business and make sure that we have the right leadership,” she says. Having her father Atul Kirloskar, and uncle,

Rahul Kirloskar to guide her has been a big source of strength.

She led the company through a challenging period in 2023 when the entire product range had to be changed to meet new emission norms and later turned around the business through a focused business transformation plan. Last year, she initiated an ambitious diversification exercise to double the revenues across the listed Kirloskar Group companies to $5 billion by 2030, including its NBFC and real estate business. This is the biggest bet made by

The enterprise. Through all of this, holding up the family legacy remains core. “Promoters must consider their roles and positions as a privilege — a privilege to serve, a privilege to make someone’s life better. I see my role in that lens.”