Times Group’s Indu Jain dies of Covid-related issues

TIMES GROUP Chairman Indu Jain died on Thursday night of Covid-related complications. She was 84. She is survived by two sons – Samir and Vineet Jain.

Indu Jain took over as the company chairman in 1999 after the death of her husband Ashok Jain, the owner of Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited.

She also headed the board of trustees of Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust, founded by her father-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain in 1944, which confers the prestigious Jnanpith Award for literature.

Times Group said in a statement she was a “lifelong spiritual seeker, pioneering philanthropist, distinguished patron of the arts, and passionate proponent of women’s rights”. It said that after “becoming chairman of the Times Group in 1999 she evolved a distinctive leadership style, characterised by compassion and inclusiveness, that helped propel the group to new heights”.

Jain was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for Trade and Industry.

The Times Group includes The Times of India, Navbharat Times and Economic Times newspaper apart from news and entertainment channels such as Times Now, Mirror Now, Movies Now, Zoom and Romedy Now.