People from India

Vijay Amritraj

Tennis player, commentator and actor; Hall of Fame inductee

Born 1953

Sri Aurobindo

Philosopher, yogi, poet and early nationalist leader

1872 – 1950

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Founder of Biocon and pioneer of Indian biotechnology

Born 1953

Garima Arora

Chef; first Indian woman to earn a Michelin star

C. V. Raman

Physicist; Nobel laureate who discovered the Raman effect

1888 – 1970

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Aerospace scientist and 11th President of India

1931 – 2015

Sunil Chhetri

India’s record goalscorer and most-capped footballer

Born 1984

Sandesh Jhingan

Centre-back for FC Goa and the India national team

Born 1993

Sam Pitroda

Telecom engineer and inventor credited with India’s telecom revolution

Born 1942

S. H. Raza

Painter known for the bindu and a founder of the Progressive Artists’ Group

1922 – 2016

Rohan Bopanna

Doubles specialist and oldest first-time world No. 1 in tennis history

Born 1980

Ritu Kumar

Pioneering fashion designer who revived Indian textile crafts

Born 1944

Ravi Shankar

Sitar virtuoso who brought Indian classical music to the world

1920 – 2012

R. K. Narayan

Novelist and creator of the fictional town of Malgudi

1906 – 2001

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Actress and producer working in Hindi cinema and Hollywood; Miss World 2000

Born 1982

Princepal Singh

Basketball player; first Indian to sign with the NBA G League Ignite

Born 2001

P. T. Usha

Sprinter and hurdler; president of the Indian Olympic Association

Born 1964

Mukesh Ambani

Chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries

Born 1957

Kapil Dev

All-rounder who captained India to its first Cricket World Cup in 1983

Born 1959

Kalpana Chawla

NASA astronaut; first woman of Indian origin in space

1962 – 2003

Kailash Satyarthi

Children’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Born 1954

Homi J. Bhabha

Nuclear physicist and father of India’s nuclear programme

1909 – 1966

Guru Nanak

Founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus

1469 – 1539

Freida Pinto

Actress who rose to fame in Slumdog Millionaire

Born 1984