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India's top businesswomen

Jyoti Naik

Naik is the president of Lijjat Papad or Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad.

Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, popularly known as Lijjat, is a women's body that manufactures various products, primarily papads. Lijjat started in 1959 and has since expanded as a cooperative system, encouraging women to be independent, dignified and self-sufficient.

All the members of the cooperative are co-owners and referred to as 'sisters.' The organisation is managed by a central committee of 21 members, including the president, the vice-president, two secretaries, and two treasurers.

The eldest among four brothers and sisters, Naik has been associated with Lijjat from 1971 when she started rolling papads at the age of twelve to supplement the family income. She started managing inventory at a Lijjat branch in Bandra, suburban Mumbai, in 1973, when she was in charge of stores, looking after stocks, preparing and packaging papad dough.

After her mother's death in 1976, when she was only 16, she did not lose heart and kept on working with Lijjat, rolling papads and managing Lijjat's packaging section. She also had to look after her younger siblings. She was forced to discontinue her education after Class X as the demands on her time were too high.

She became a member of Lijjat's central committee, then vice president in 1989 and then finally president.

She was conferred the Businesswomen of the Year award in 2001 for corporate excellence by The Economic Times.

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