Ina Dani (Ashwin Dani’s

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ina Dani

• Ina Dani is an Indian businesswoman . She is the widow of business tycoon Ashwin Dani.

• She was married into a Hindu Jain family. Her father-in-law, Suryakant Dani, is the co-founder of Asian Paints. He founded the company along with his three friends Champaklal Choksey, Chimanlal Choksi, and Arvind Vakil in February 1942.

• Her husband, Ashwin Dani (1944–2023), was a billionaire, businessman, and the non-executive chairman of Asian Paints Ltd, India’s largest paint company. Ashwin ranked #49 on Forbes India’s The 100 Richest Indians 2013 list for a net worth of $1310 million. ^[3]Forbes India He passed away after a brief illness on 28 September 2023. On the date of his death, his net worth was $7.8 billion. ^[4]Forbes

• Ina Dani is a keen yoga practitioner and a disciple of well-known yoga teacher B. K. S. Iyengar. Ina and Ashwin were introduced to Iyengar’s yoga in 1980 when Ashwin was dealing with an obstinate slipped disc. Remarkably, after just one yoga session with Guruji Iyengar, Dani experienced 75% relief in his back, and he stopped visiting his physiotherapist. Thereafter, the couple became disciples of Iyengar. During those days, Guruji would commute from Pune to Mumbai every weekend on the Deccan Queen train, and Ashwin and Ina eagerly attended his classes. The couple had a strong desire to establish a lasting presence of yoga in their life. Hence, when they built their residential building Home Villa in the 1990s, they built an Iyengar Yoga Centre on its first floor. That’s how Yoga became an integral part of the Dani family’s daily life.

• Eventually, Ina started teaching yoga to pregnant women at the centre. Later, Ina also served as managing trustee to Guruji’s Light on Yoga Research Trust (LOYRT). Yoga became an integral part of the Dani family’s daily life.

• Ina Dani’s son Jalaj Dani is a businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the public face of Asian Paints for 18 years during which he worked in various capacities, including being responsible for Supply Chain and Chemicals Business and spearheading the Human Resources, Corporate Quality and Safety Functions at the group level. He resigned from Asian Paints in 2017 and became its co-promoter. He is the Chairman of Addverb Technologies and IIM Trichy and an Independent Director of HDFC and Havells.

• Her son Malav A. Dani is a businessman and entrepreneur. He is a Non-executive Director and Chairman of CSR Committee at Asian Paints. Apart from that, he is also a Managing Director of Hitech Corporation Limited, a BSE-listed plastic and packaging company.

• Her son Hasit Dani is also a businessman and a board member of Asian Paints.

• In 1979, she took on director roles at Dani Enterprises and Geetanjali Trading And Investments.

• On 9 May 1992, she was appointed as a director of Dani Securities. Her directorship expanded to include Pragati Marketing Private Limited in 1996.

• In 1998, she became a director in four more companies, Dani Finlease, Hitech Specialities Solutions, Dani Trading And Investments, and Dani Holding And Trading Company.

• On 8 May 2008, she became a director of Suryakant Paint Accessories.

• In 2013, she took on director roles at Rituh Holding And Trading Company and Avinash Holding And Trading Company.

• In 2020, she became a director of the S C Dani Research Foundation.