O P Khanna brief profile:
Philanthropy
Having returned from a UN assignment in 2001, when Mr. Khanna underwent an angioplasty, his encounter in the hospital made him realize the many children and adults in India die due to lack of access to healthcare. That is when he decided to become a full-fledged philanthropist and set up Need Heart Foundation. In the last 20 years, Mr. Khanna has donated over seven hundred thousand US Dollars for heart surgeries. Even today at the age of 85, he works for over 12 hours a day, striving how to better the community and society he lives in.
With over 61 years of corporate experience, Mr. Khanna was the Chairman, MD and CEO of various large corporations for over 16 years. He has had the opportunity to be associated with some of the top industrialists – like JRD Tata, S Moolgaonkar, C K Birla, L M Thapar, Ratan Tata, Hrishikesh Mafatlal, during his work tenure.
He has extensively traveled across the world (49 countries), and he has been instrumental in the turnaround of three large manufacturing Companies.
Board membership and affiliation
Mr. Khanna was actively involved in many national and state-level professional bodies. He was the national chairman of the Indian Institution of Production Engineers (2003-2005); chairman of CII, western region-central Gujarat (1992-1994); on the managing committees of Indo German Chamber; Indo American Chamber; Joint Business Councils; -Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry; Bangalore Management Association; Institute of Engineering Technology (UK); etc.
OP Khanna, The Author
A voracious reader, Mr. Khanna has authored books on health and various life experiences. He has authored the following:
- Common Ailments & Home Remedies
- Foods & Herbs that heal
- Amazing World Festivals
- Extraordinary Indians
Honours and Awards
He has been bestowed with prestigious awards like Sir Visvesvaraya, Inspiring Leader from Indian Express, and RBI Lifetime Achievement Award among many others.
Early Life and Education
Mr. Khanna’s father was in Railways, a transferable job where they moved around a lot. The family was stationed at Lahore during partition, one of the toughest times of Indian History. They witnessed struggle at a very young age. Having deep-rooted values for the country, Mr. Khanna comes from a family of patriots that took part in the freedom struggle as well. He graduated from the prestigious IIT Kharagpur and completed his postgraduate from Halle, Germany.