Ajit Balakrishnan

Ajit Balakrishnan is an Indian entrepreneur, business executive and administrator. His origin is from Kannur, Kerala and currently resides in Mumbai, India. He is the founder and current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rediff.com, an internet company based in Mumbai. Balakrishnan is also the current Chairman of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta).

Balakrishnan holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kerala and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management with Master in Business studies (MBA) from IIM Calcutta (1971).

Balakrishnan's first business was Rediffusion, now known as Rediffusion DY&R (Dentsu Young & Rubicam), which he co-founded when he was 22. In 1995, he founded Rediff.com, which became a highly successful internet site, and was listed on NASDAQ in 2001.

He writes a column in Business Standard and has written a book published by Macmillan Publishers called The Wave Rider. He has co-authored a research paper, Generic Framework for a Recommendation System using Collective Intelligence, with Alkesh Patel which was presented at the International Conference on Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, 2009.

Balakrishnan is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIM Calcutta. He was named as the Chairman Emeritus of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). He has served as the Chairman of the Govt of India, Ministry of Information Technology Working Group on Internet Governance and Proliferation. He chaired a Committee appointed by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development on 'Research and Faculty Enhancement at the 7 IIMs'. He has in the past served as a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education of the Government of India.