An heiress to watch

Nisa Godrej, the 31-year-old daughter of industrialist Adi Godrej is one of two Indian women who feature on this year’s Forbes list of Ten Billionaire Heiresses to Watch. Sharing the honors with her is Roshni Nadar, daughter of technocrat and philanthropist Shiv Nadar of Hindustan Computers Limited. Forbes describes them as women "who choose to live a lower-key life... and working to make a difference behind the scenes,” reported Mumbai Mirror (MM) on June 23, 2010.

Nisa Godrej: "lethal DNA”

A close friend of Godrej, author Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi describes her as someone with "lethal DNA: her mom’s ferocious charm and her dad’s outstanding moral integrity... (She) would blush before she thou­ght of herself as an ‘heiress’... Her sense of inheritance is what she’s lucky enough to pass on. Like her forebears, she knows it’s as gracious an act to receive as it is to give.” Godrej, a member of the Indian Philanthropy Forum, has also been involved with the NGO (nongovernmental organization) Dasra since 1999, working for the betterment of women, children and rural families in association with like-minded initiatives in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya and Sri Lanka, MM notes. Shanghvi reveals that "her work with Dasra occurs silently, but surely. Recently (Nobel Prize winner) Prof Amartya Sen spoke admiringly of Nisa to me. It’s obvious to people of his perception that Nisa is furnishing not only important answers about corporate India but asking very riveting questions about how we work in postmodern India.”