Balagopal Chandrasekhar IAS (Former)

Balagopal Chandrasekhar IAS (Former)

Categories: Board of Advisors

Mr Balagopal is the former Chairman of the Board of Federal Bank Ltd. He is also a Trustee of Anaha Trust; Member of the Governing Council of the Centre for Management Development, Trivandrum; Member of the Advisory Board of Fourth Wave Foundation; Member of the Board of TIMed Medical Devices Incubator of SCTIMST. Balagopal Chandrasekhar completed his BA and MA from Loyola College, Madras University, and joined the IAS in 1977 and worked in Manipur and Kerala. In 1983 he resigned from the IAS to promote a venture to make hi-tech biomedical devices for the first time in the country. Acquiring the knowhow from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum (SCTIMST) and with the support of National Research Development Corporation and KSIDC, he set up his venture, Penpol Ltd, near Trivandrum. In 1999, Penpol entered into a joint venture with the Terumo Corporation of Japan. Today, Terumo Penpol Ltd is the biggest manufacturer of blood bags in India and one of the world’s biggest makers of high-tech bio-medical devices. In 2012, he sold his stake in the company and turned to investing in startups, mentoring entrepreneurs, writing (four books to his credit), travel, and his many other interests. Mr Balagopal runs a Trust, which supports social projects in Kerala and Manipur in primary health, primary education, and rural livelihoods.