Meher Pudumjee, 

Pudumjee joined her parents’ company as a trainee engineer in 1990 and, along with husband Pheroz, went on to manage Thermax’s British subsidiary. She was made director after her father passed away. In 2004, she took over as chairperson, and Thermax’s topline has grown from Rs 850 crore to Rs 3,300 crore since. Goldman Sachs recently upgraded Thermax to a ‘neutral’ rating, from ‘sell’, raising the stock’s target price on the basis of better management of costs and improved valuations. Pudumjee’s next big focus: renewable energy. For that, Thermax acquired a Danish company last November; more than half of the Danish company’s portfolio is based on green energy. A keen follower of Western classical music and choral singing, Pudumjee is a good listener and likes to plan. The best advice she got from her mother Anu Aga? To be her own person.