Lalit Kumar Modi, 55, is an Indian businessman credited with the creation and success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) of cricket.

As Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL from 2008 to 2010, the flamboyant entrepreneur took the 20 over per side form of cricket by the scruff of the neck. Through heavy marketing, celebrity involvement and player auctions, Lalit Modi transformed the sport and built the IPL into a $4 billion a year business with games viewed by up to 200 million people.

Lalit Modi was born in the Indian capital city of Delhi and after domestic education he studied electrical engineering at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina USA and business administration at Pace University, New York.

His early career was based also in the USA at Philip Morris Inc. and Estee Laudee, where he shone at marketing and advertising.

Returning to his homeland in 1986, Lalit Modi joined Geoffrey Philips India Ltd, rising through the ranks to his current role as Executive Director. Today his main business interest is as President and Managing Director of Modi Enterprises, a conglomerate founded by his grandfather.

Lalit Modi’s unbridled passion is for his love of cricket.

In his spare time Lalit Modi moved through regional and district cricket associations until he became Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the national administrator where he unleashed his startling and innovative approach to cricket with the launch of the IPL in 2008.

Specialties: In Starting new Buisnesses