Devita Saraf

Devita Saraf is an Indian business woman, born in Mumbai, India. She is the founder, chairman and CEO of Vu Televisions.

Devita Saraf
Born	Devita Saraf (1981-06-25) 25 June 1981 (age 42) Mumbai, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai, India University of Southern California
Occupation(s)	Chairman and CEO, Vu Televisions
Parent(s)	Rajkumar Saraf Vijayrani Saraf
Website	www.devitasaraf.com

Early life

Saraf was born in Mumbai, India. Her father, Rajkumar Saraf, was chairman of Zenith Computers. She attended Queen Mary School, Mumbai.^[1] She later attended the H.R. College of Commerce and Economics^[2] and the University of Southern California, where she received a BA in business administration.^[3]

Career

She founded the company at the age of 24 after completing her bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. She has also studied management of technology at the University of California, Berkeley, and game theory and strategic thinking at the London School of Economics.^[4][5] She is also pursuing the OPM program at Harvard Business School.^[6]

Zenith

Saraf started her career at age 16,^[7] under the guidance of her father at Zenith Computers, and was named director of marketing when she was 21.^[8][9] In 2006 Saraf went from being the head of marketing to CEO.^[10]

Vu Technologies

At age 24, Saraf started Vu Technologies, which sells high-end^{[citation needed]} LED TVs.^[7] While Zenith was mass technology focused, Vu sells innovative luxury items.^[11][12] Vu came out with a 4K HD Iconium Series televisions in October 2015.^[13] In October 2014, the Bombay High Court sealed the premises of the Andheri-based office of Vu Technologies after it fraudulently showed 200 employees in their affidavit but only 32 were found on premises in a visit and in the muster roll for September–October 2014.^[14]

Others

Saraf has been a National Co-Chair and Executive Committee Member in the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Young Leaders Forum.^[3] She was also the founder and Chair of the Young Bombay Forum which was part of Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.^[15] She is the member of Mensa, an international society for people with high IQ.^[16]

She was also a columnist for The Wall Street Journal.^[17][18] In 2017, Saraf bought a full page ad in the Times of India newspaper, where she congratulated Donald Trump on becoming President of the United States. The ad attracted mixed reviews on social media.^[19][20]

Controversy

The High Court of Bombay in a case filed by The Bank of New York Mellon, convicted her father, and the promoters of Zenith Infotech of siphoning company funds to personnel accounts and has directed the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction Government of India (BIFR) to act in accordance with its regulations.^[21]

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) accused Zenith Infotech Limited and its six promoters of fraudulent removal of funds to personnel accounts without notice to shareholders, and as of 25 March 2013, SEBI prevented the promoters from accessing the securities market or trading in securities in any manner. The named six promoters included by SEBI are Saraf; her father Rajkumar Saraf; Akash Kumar Saraf; Vijayrani Saraf; VU Technologies; and Zenith Technologies.^[22][23]

Books

Year	Title
2012	Business Czarinas – S. N. Chary^[24]^[25]
2016	Most Powerful Women in India – Prem Ahluwalia^[26]
2018	Daughters of Legacy – Rinku Paul^[27]

Speaker

Year	Event
2013	Wharton-India Economic Forum – Philadelphia, PA, USA^[28]
2016	Tomorrow's India Summit – Seoul, Korea^[29]
2016	Istanbul Talks: Entrepreneurship Summit – Istanbul, Turkey^[30]
2018	TEDxGateway – Mumbai, India^[31]
2020	Fortune Next 500 Summit – Mumbai, India^[32]

References

1. Chary, S.N. (2015). Business Czarinas. Bloomsbury India. ISBN 9789382951179.
2. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Business of Luxury". Afternoondc.in. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
4. "Devita Saraf". Entrepreneur India.
5. Ann Thomas, Preethi (30 September 2013). "A go-getter". The New Indian Express.
6. "Devita Saraf Official Site".
7. . Hindustan Times. 17 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
8. . Exhibit Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
9. "On the radar: Simply Mumbai". India Today. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
10. "Devita Saraf moves from head of marketing to CEO". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
11. "'Keep company lean' says electronics CEO Devita Saraf". BBC News.
12. Sen, Sunny; Sinha, Suveen (24 May 2015). . Business Today. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
13. SiliconIndia. "VU Unveils the New Iconium Series with 4K UHD SMART LED". siliconindia.
14. N Sundaresha Subramanian (15 October 2014). "Bombay HC raps Vu Technologies for false statements in affidavit". Business Standard. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
15. "Leading ladies : Woman - India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
16. Singh, Saumit (23 January 2008). "Meet the fashionable Mensan!". dnaindia.com.
17. "Devita Saraf: Gadget woman from India". The Saturn Herald. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.^{[failed verification]}
18. Chaudhuri, Arcopol (31 October 2010). . DNA, Sunday. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
19. "Who is Devita Saraf? Why is she trending on Twitter? Here's what you need to know". The Indian Express. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
20. "Vu Televisions' CEO welcomes 'President' Donald Trump with full-page ad, gets trolled". Hindustan Times. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
21. The Bank of New York Mellon, London vs Zenith Infotech Limited, Para 34 (THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY 2015-07-30) ("In view thereof, though I have expressed my view viz. that the Promoters of the Company are absolutely dishonest and have siphoned away the funds of the Company in the manner set out in detail hereinabove and are responsible for the state of affairs of the Company prevalent as of date, I leave it to the BIFR to decide whether the Reference filed by the Company should be registered and/or further entertained.").Text
22. Sharma, Mahesh (10 April 2013). "How $33M was siphoned from India's Zenith Infotech". ZD net. Mumbai. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
23. Modak, Samie (25 March 2013). "Sebi bars Zenith Infotech promoters". Business Standard. Mumbai. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
24. Narayanan, K S (27 December 2013). "Business Czarinas". thesundayindian.com.
25. Chary, S. N. (30 April 2015). Business Czarinas. London: Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 9789382951179.
26. Ahluwalia, Prem. India's Most Powerful Women (2016 ed.). Indian Books and Periodicals.
27. Narayanan, Chitra (16 September 2018). "Daughters to the fore". thehindubusinessline.com.
28. "Post Budget reaction-VU Technologies(The Luxury Television and Display Brand)". itvoice.in.
29. "Global Social India Foundation concludes Tomorrow's India Global Summit in Seoul". The SME Times News Bureau. 7 October 2016.
30. . istanbultalks.com.tr. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
31. "Devita Saraf At TEDxGateway 2018 – 'Technology Is The Greatest Leveller'". India Education Diary. 24 April 2020.
32. "Recognising India's largest midsize companies at the Fortune India Next 500 summit- West". fortuneindia.com. Fortune India.