Quite often, turning 65 means hanging up one’s boots. But here have been some notable exceptions, too. Captain CP Krishnan Nair set up the first Leela Hotel in 1987 when he was 65 and built it into one of India’s best-known luxury hotel chains. Ashok Soota, the technology veteran, started Happiest minds in 2011 when he was 68, and is today among India’s richest people with a net worth of $1.2 billion. Although not quite 65, Falguni Nayar founded Nykaa at 49 and turned it into a beauty and fashion behemoth by the time she is nearly 60.
But long before they all did that, and inspired many others, it was perhaps Hasmukh Thakordas Parekh, who disregarded conventional norms of his time to start a venture that has now gone on to rewrite corporate India’s annals. HT Parekh founded Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC), India’s first retail housing finance company, soon after he had retired as the chairman of Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) at the age of 65.