Jitu Virwani is the Chairman & Managing Director of Embassy Group, India’s leading property developer. Over the last three decades, Embassy together with its promoters has developed over 66+ million sq ft. of commercial, residential, industrial & warehousing, retail and hospitality spaces in India and overseas.
Embassy Group’s India operations span across Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Trivandrum, and currently it has international operations in Serbia in Eastern Europe and has also completed projects in Malaysia. Embassy’s commercial tenant relationships include the world’s leading corporations such as IBM, Microsoft, Fidelity, TCS, Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz, Yahoo, Goldman Sachs and Swiss Re, among others. Today, Embassy is one of the leading providers of IT/ITES space in the country.
Jitu joined the property development business in 1985, at the age of 19. From 1993, he has been at the helm of affairs of the company and seen his vision for a world-class property development organisation, both in terms of size and excellence, transform into reality. Starting his career as the liaison executive in the organization, Jitu managed and led the company during the most challenging and exciting periods in the history of the real estate industry. His expertise and experience permeate the entire spectrum of the property development scenario in India. In the year 2019, Embassy was a sponsor of India’s first REIT, the largest office REIT in the Asia Pacific. The Group has partnered with global investors, including Blackstone and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), at the Group and project levels.
Apart from real estate, Jitu has built and developed properties around education. In 2008, Jitu built Stonehill International School in North Bangalore. It was one of the first schools in Bangalore to offer all the three IB programmes. With highly trained international faculty, a culturally diverse school community and world-class infrastructure spread across a 34-acre campus, Stonehill International School is one of the most preferred international schools in Bangalore today. Jitu believes that Education is the propelling force for economic development and progress. In line with his vision, he has incorporated Embassy Education which will drive significant initiatives in establishing educational institutions in India.
Jitu is also a dedicated equestrian and owns and maintains a state-of-the-art international riding academy in Bangalore. The school provides training in equestrian sports & boasts of a highly accomplished equestrian team, competing at International events and championships.
With several contributions to social causes, Jitu has made a difference in the lives of many. He is committed to improving the standards of education and employment in the country and has successfully undertaken and implemented multiple initiatives in these areas. Under Embassy’s CSR initiative, the Group has partnered with 143 Schools, benefiting over 42,000+ students. He is a member of the Room to Read board, a global non-profit organisation that works towards improving literacy and gender equality in education across India and the developing world.
Jitu has been recently honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award at the CREDAI STATECON, Karnataka 2019 among other accolades in the Industry over the past decades.
Aditya Virwani
Chief Operating Officer
Aditya Virwani, a dynamic young professional is one of the heirs and the COO of Embassy Group, one of India’s largest and among the finest property developers. Over the last three decades, Embassy together with its promoters has developed over 66+ million sq. ft. of prime commercial, residential and retail space in India as well as Malaysia and Serbia.
Aditya has been exposed to the world of Real estate and Property development from a very early age of 15 years. Aditya is keenly involved with the strategy and operations of the Embassy Group and its diversified businesses, along with his father Mr. Jitu Virwani, Chairman and Managing Director of Embassy Property Developments Private Limited.
Prior to joining Embassy, Aditya interned with an NGO Episcopal and a start-up called Brevitas, an off-market commercial real estate platform in San Francisco. Aditya studied Business Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and University of San Francisco (USF).
Narpat Singh Choraria
Director
Narpat Singh Choraria, has over 3 decades of experience in the real estate and property development sector. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Calcutta University. He has been a part of the Company since incorporation. He is a Director of the company. Prior to joining the Company, he has worked as General Manager with Wajdi International Traders, Dubai. He is currently responsible for handling investor relationships and land related issues of the Company.
Karan Virwani
Director and CWeo (Chief WeWork Executive Officer), WeWork India
Karan Virwani a scion of the Embassy Group and a Director on the Board. In his present assignment, Karan is the CWeo (Chief WeWork Executive Officer) at WeWork India. Karan has been instrumental in bringing WeWork, the New York based collaborative work space giant and the 5th Largest start-up in the world to India. The co-working concept complements the commercial business of the Embassy Group, by bringing together a rich community of professionals in a vibrant work environment.
Being a dynamic thought leader and team player, Karan has also gained knowledge working as the EA to the Chairman and Managing Director at the Embassy Group. Further, has also tasted success in the hospitality wing and is the Co-Founder of two companies, Lounge Hospitality and Lounge E-comm, thus launching two successful restaurants in Bangalore, Sanchez & Sriracha along with the food delivery app Entrée.
Mr. Sartaj Sewa Singh
Director
Mr. Sartaj Sewa Singh holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Mr. Sartaj Sewa Singh is a professional manager with over 35 years of experience in leading multinationals. After an initial 17 years with the British MNC, ICI India Limited he has held CEO positions in large multinationals like Cargill, Monsanto and FMC Corporation – where he was the founder employee & Managing Director of FMC India Private Limited since April 2000 and worked till April, 2015.
Mr. Singh joined Embassy Group, Bangalore as President – Hospitality Business in July 2015, where he represented the ownership in managing operating assets ( Hilton @ Embassy Golf Links & Four Seasons Hotels) , and developed a strong pipeline of four hotel properties in various stages of construction & completion at Embassy Manyata & Embassy Tech Village Business Parks, totalling a portfolio of over 1500 keys .
Mr. Singh was also responsible for overseeing the management & successful completion of the prestigious 1.3 M sq ft Embassy One, mixed use development in Bangalore, which includes the Four Seasons Hotel, Four Seasons Private Residences, Pinnacle office tower, & Central Plaza retail.
Since June 2020 , Mr Singh was appointed as Whole Time Director of Mac Charles India Limited , a listed entity with interests in Hospitality, Real Estate & Wind Power. He was responsible for the seamless closure of Le Meredien Hotel Bangalore & the commissioning of the commercial building project at that site. During his tenure , he also oversaw the operations of the Wind Power business , divestment of underperforming real estate assets of the Company and resolution of many pending legal matters till his retirement on 28 June 2023.
Tanya John
Non-Executive Director
MBA from St. Joseph’s College of Business Admin, India and an MSc in Supply Chain Management from Heriot Watt University, Scotland, UK. An internationalist with a diverse background in marketing and supply chain management. Tanya John, a strategic marketing consultant, has been a consultant with various corporations including companies in hospitality technology, marketing and more. She was a founding Board Member of Tsunami Relief Inc., a charitable corporation created to provide emergency support for the victims of the 2005 tsunamis that devastated parts of Asia. Tsunami Relief Inc has raised over $14 million, for which Tanya was commended by the State of Virginia.
A.T.Gopinath
Non-Executive Director
Gopinath Ambadi Thody, is a finance professional with close to three decades of experience in the real estate industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Mysore University, C.A. (Inter) from the ICAI, and has also gone through several management and finance programs in leading business universities such as UTI Institute of Capital Markets, IFMR, Haas School of Business, Berkeley University of California to name a few.
Gopinath started working with Embassy Group as a consultant and consequently joined their founding team in 1995. From then on, he’s been an integral part of the company, spearheading and formulating the Finance, IT, Regulatory and Legal framework for the organization.
Over the past two decades, he has raised over USD 5 billion in debt and equity for the group Additionally, Gopinath oversaw the SEZ initiatives of Embassy aggregating to over than 13 million sq. ft. in western and southern India. He worked closely with both state and central government policy makers formulating the STPI, SEZ policies and framework, specifically for IT Parks in the country.
He steered Embassy’s diversification into new businesses such as Stonehill International School, WeWork, Embassy Hospitality etc. and drove technology adoption with IT initiatives such as implementing SAP as the IT Platform across all the verticals.
Gopinath’s deep alignment with the company’s vision, strategic business expansion plans and fundraising for projects are significant contributions to the Embassy success story. He has served as a mentor to many employees and has built strong bonds in the industry.
Gopinath worked with Embassy Group for over 27 years before retiring in 2019 as Director in Corporate Finance.
Company Secretary & Compliance Officer
Devika Priyadarsini
Company Secretary and Compliance Officer
Devika Priyadarsini, working as Company Secretary of Embassy Property Development Private Limited. Qualified Company Secretary with Master Degree in Finance, having an overall experience of 4 years in this field.
