Eminent industry veteran and social leader, P. D. Kulkarni, passed away recently at the age of 92, leaving behind a rich legacy of exemplary leadership cutting across industry and social welfare. Panditrao Daji Kulkarni, popularly known as Pandit Kaka in industry circle, was the Chairman of Pune based FIE Group, a conglomerate of 25 companies.
A self-made man and a technocrat of exceptional standards, Shri Kulkarni established Fuel Instruments and Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (FIE) in 1953 which has since emerged as a leader in the testing machines, SPM's, Auto components manufacturing sector. From developing a variety of machines and Research, Carburetor, CNCs, Forging and Castings – FIE has been there and the machines and components developed by FIE comply with the world quality standards in manufacturing technology and Software, creating eminence for Indian manufacturing.
It is also under his visionary guidance that FIE has created an unmatchable knowledge-base in the testing machine segment with more than 1,00,000 installations. It is also his keen focus on achieving excellence in Indian manufacturing that he started a joint venture company in Pune Keihin-FIE with the Japanese company Keihin, in Pune to produce high precision Fuel Systems for scooters and motorcycles.
On other walks of life, he equally inspiring and legendary was the person from the city of Pune to be elected mayor and played an inspiring role during calamities with various organizations and government. He founded the FIE FOUNDATION a charitable trust established in 1970, to honour the contributions of Indians made in different walks of life. The awards are generally selected from the fields as varied as Engineering, Science & Technology, Humanities, Education, Agriculture, Music & Arts, Sports, Literature, Child Artist and Local talents.
The awards are given every year in a grand ceremony held in Ichalkaranji in January/February at the hands of eminent dignitaries. A few of Chief guests who have graced the occasion are hon'ble Ex. Prime minister of India Shri. Chandrashekhar, hon'ble Ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri. Manohar Joshi, Shri Dilip Kumar, well-known Cine actor, Shri Rahul Bajaj, well-known industrialist.