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Newsmakers of the Week FEBRUARY 07, 2025 | The Indian Eye 27

DIGVIJAY “DANNY” GAEKWAD RAJAT CHABBA

Businessman competes for William Davidson Institute

controlling stake in Religare names Senior Director

he William Davidson Institute
at the University of Michigan
T(WDI) has named Rajat Chab-
ba as Senior Director of Innovation
and Partnerships, a new position for
the Institute. Chabba’s experience
blends well with WDI’s direction as
an enterprise accelerator, systems
catalyst and knowledge hub. He will
focus on enterprise acceleration in
emerging markets and strengthening
innovation ecosystems.
“With its expertise in energy, cli-
mate and health, WDI is primed to create, support and accelerate entrepre-
neurial ecosystems in low- and middle-income countries,” Chabba said. “I’m
excited to work across innovation, platform, and ecosystem levels in emerging
markets to create new collaborations that support innovators and entrepre-
neurs.”
Before joining WDI, Chabba served as the Technical Director for Market
Solutions at the Innovations Hub at Jhpiego, where he spearheaded private
sector engagement to drive health impact across Southeast Asia, Africa, the
Middle East and Latin America. He established Jhpiego’s Worldwide Inno-
vation Support Hub, providing targeted support to over 100 social innovators.
Chabba previously served as the Global Lead for Healthcare Practice &
Innovations Lab at Intellecap, a social development consulting firm focused
on solving critical health challenges in underserved communities through
igvijay “Danny” Gaekwad is a 65-year-old, US-based businessman of technology, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Indian origin. He was born in Vadodara, India, and moved to the Unit-
“Despite significant potential, energy, climate and health sectors still lack
Ded States in 1987. Gaekwad is known for his serial entrepreneurship a sufficient number of scalable innovations to address pressing global chal-
across various sectors, including retail, real estate, hospitality, IT, and financial lenges,” Chabba said. “That’s where WDI can play a huge role in advancing
services. innovators and enterprises to scale, but also supporting existing incubators,
Recently, he has emerged as a competitor to the Burman family in their
bid for a controlling stake in Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL). Gaekwad ini- accelerators, investors and above all governments in strengthening the en-
abling environment for these innovations to thrive and sustain.”
tially proposed an open offer for 26% of Religare’s equity at `275 per share,
which is a 17% premium over the Burman family’s bid of `235 per share. He
later revised his offer to 55% of the company’s equity on 26 January. To read more about Indian diaspora and Global Indians, log on to and follow
Gaekwad’s interest in Religare aligns with his financial philosophy of creat- our website www.TheIndianEYE.com
ing value for stakeholders rather than seeking personal profit. He believes that
Religare presents significant hidden value and potential for transformation.
As per the Burman family, Gaekwad has not formally made the open
offer but has just sought Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI)
permission make an offer.
These events follow Religare Enterprises’ December 10, 2024, announce-
ment that the Burman family was authorized by the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) to increase its ownership stake in the company.
By March 31, 2026, the Religare Group and the Burman family are re-
quired to consolidate their non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) under
a single organization.
This came after roughly a year of intense competition between the Bur-
man family of Dabur India, which has progressively raised its ownership of the
company over the previous five years, and Rashmi Saluja-led Religare.
Over the last decade, Gaekwad has been watching India’s econom-
ic growth with keen interest, particularly after Narendra Modi became the
Prime Minister of India.
As per Gaekwad, India has high growth potential and in particular, Re-
ligare offers substantial hidden value. Its acquisition is a strategic move aimed
to create value for the stakeholders as he has the knack for identifying under-
valued assets and turning them into high-value investments.
Danny Gaekwad Developments & Investments has asked the regulator
to allow the US-based company to submit a competing open offer in a letter
sent to the SEBI Chairperson and posted by REL.

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