Lila Poonawalla
One of the first women to head a large engineering company in India, and founder of the Lila Poonawalla Foundation for girls' education.
Quick facts
- Known for:
- Alfa Laval, Tetra Pak, girls' education
- Pune link:
- Lila Poonawalla Foundation
Life and work
Lila Poonawalla trained as a mechanical engineer at a time when very few women did, and rose to lead Alfa Laval in India. She was later in charge of the Tetra Pak business in India. She was among the first women in the country to head a large engineering company.
She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1989, and Sweden honoured her with the Order of the Polar Star in 2003.
Pune link
Her Lila Poonawalla Foundation in Pune gives scholarships to girls for higher and professional education, and has helped thousands of young women from Pune and Maharashtra.
Something wrong or missing on this page? Suggest a correction
More in Business Personalities of Pune
-
Rahul Bajaj
The industrialist who led Bajaj Auto for decades and made its Akurdi factory in Pune a household name across India.
-
Cyrus Poonawalla
Founder of the Serum Institute of India in Hadapsar, which makes vaccines used by children in many countries.
-
Shantanurao Kirloskar
The engineer and industrialist who built the Kirloskar group into one of Pune's first great engineering companies.
-
Baba Kalyani
Chairman of Bharat Forge in Mundhwa, which supplies forged parts to vehicle and aircraft makers around the world.
- Anand Deshpande Founder of Persistent Systems, one of the IT companies that made Pune a software city.
-
Chitale Bandhu
The Chitale family's sweet shop, started in Pune in 1950, whose bakarwadi is now known all over India.
Sources: Written by PuneDiary. Facts checked 29 October 2026.