Mukesh Ambani's future son-in-law Anand Piramal is 'unfailingly polite' and has no 'airs', say insiders

Anand Ajay Piramal, the 33-year-old scion of the Piramal Enterprises Group, will wed his beau, 26-year-old Isha Ambani, the only daughter of the richest Indian, Mukesh Ambani, this December. [caption id=“attachment_4459325” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Anand Piramal (L) with Ajay Piramal. Courtesy: Sachin Gokhale /Firstpost.[/caption] Anand, who needs no introduction, also runs Piramal Realty, which focuses on developing property in-an-around Mumbai. It had over 15 million sq ft of commercial and residential projects under development as of January, 2018. In 2015, some three years after he founded the firm, Anand made the news – Piramal Realty raised Rs 1,800 crore from Warburg Pincus and an additional Rs 978 crore from Goldman Sachs. Spiritually-inclined, polite and punctual best describe Anand, said people who have known him since his days at Harvard University. “He smiles at every one. He is unfailingly polite and has no airs,” they told Firstpost, on condition of anonymity. Some chose to talk of his punctuality, about how he makes it a point to hit work at 9.30 AM without fail. “I have never heard him raise his voice, ever,” said one Piramal employee. Another pointed out to his ‘professionalism’. Entrepreneurship runs in his blood, which probably explains why Anand decided to step out of his comfort zone and move to Rajasthan. In 2008, he helped the group roll out the ’e-Swasthya’ pilot project in the desert state, that aimed to provide villagers access to modern medicine via mobile telephony. Anand has served as the youngest president of the Indian Merchant Chamber’s youth wing. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. But Anand cut his teeth at the NGO that he founded at the age of 19 – Dreaming of an Indian Awakening or DIA, which focused on boosting entrepreneurship in rural Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district. Earlier, at the age of 17, Anand received tuition in the Bhagwad Geeta from Brahmachari Sattvika Chaitanya of the Chinmaya Mission, according to a 2006 document sourced from the International Spirit at Work Award.