Who was SB Ravi Pandit? KPIT Technologies founder passes away at 71

KPIT Technologies founder and Chairman of the Board, SB (Ravi) Pandit, passed away on May 8 in Pune at the age of 71, the company said in an exchange filing.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our Founder and Chairman of the Board, Mr. S. B. (Ravi) Pandit on the morning of May 8, 2026 in Pune,” the company said in the filing.

Pandit was regarded as one of the pioneers of India’s mobility and engineering technology ecosystem. Over the last three decades, he built and led multiple organisations spanning software-defined mobility, professional services, sustainability and public policy.

He served as co-founder and chairman of KPIT Technologies, the Pune-headquartered automotive software and engineering company focused on software-defined mobility solutions. The company has operations across 15 countries and works with global automakers on areas such as autonomous driving, electrification and clean mobility technologies.

Pandit also chaired Kirtane & Pandit Chartered Accountants (KPCA), one of the largest Indian-origin professional services firms, with more than 1,200 experts operating across 15 countries.

He also co-founded institutions, including Pune International Centre and Janwani, while also supporting policy research initiatives at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

He also served as President of Jnana Prabodhini and was associated with organisations such as Thermax, World Resources Institute India and Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India.

Pandit represented Indian industry on national platforms, including as President of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture and Chairman of the Research Council at Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute.

He was also the only private-sector member of the government’s Empowered Group for the National Green Hydrogen Mission and had recently launched HRIDAY (Hydrogen Revolution for India’s Development of Agriculture & EnergY), an initiative focused on inclusive clean-energy development.

A gold-medalist chartered accountant, Pandit was an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management in the US and was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.

He was also the co-author of the award-winning book Leapfrogging to Pole-Vaulting.