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Trailblazing Indian American Tino Puri passes away
He was the first Indian American hired by McKinsey & Company and went on to launch its India practice.
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 28, Jul 2025
- 17:02 EDT
- 53
Tino Puri / LinkedIn (Laxman Narasimhan)
Anupam "Tino" Puri, the first Indian American hired by McKinsey & Company, passed away in New York on July 26. He was 79.
Puri joined McKinsey in 1970 and went on to play a defining role in shaping the firm’s global footprint. He founded McKinsey’s India practice, personally recruiting its early consultants and laying the groundwork for its long-term presence in the region.
Also Read: Professor CM Naim of University of Chicago passes away
In 1996, he was elected managing director, and two years later, he assumed responsibility for the firm’s operations across Asia and Latin America.
During his tenure, Puri advised governments in the U.S., U.K., Mexico, and Australia, as well as multilateral institutions including the United Nations and OPEC. His contributions ranged from helping design Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical strategy to overhauling Venezuela’s oil sector and restructuring industries across Europe for the European Economic Community.
Following his retirement, Puri served on the boards of several leading Indian companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Reddy’s Laboratories, ICICI Bank, and Godrej Consumer Products. He was also a founding board member of Ashoka, the global nonprofit supporting social entrepreneurs.
Puri earned a bachelors in economics from Delhi University, where he graduated first in his class; a master's with distinction in politics, philosophy, and economics from Balliol College, Oxford; and a masters of philosophy in economics from Nuffield College, Oxford.
Tributes poured in from former colleagues and global business leaders.
“Tino was one of those rare pioneers who reshaped what it meant to be an Indian business leader on the global stage,” wrote Laxman Narasimhan, former CEO of Starbucks and Reckitt. “His legacy is not just in what he achieved, but in the doors he opened for generations of Indian-origin business leaders to come.”
Amar Bhide, a former McKinsey board member, remembered Puri as “super smart” and “the uber-sauve Oxonian son of an Indian diplomat.” Bhide credited Puri with changing hiring attitudes: “He persuaded McKinsey that its blue blood clients would accept sub-continentals... The trickle became a flood — at McKinsey and its hitherto lily white rivals.”
C.P. Gurnani, former CEO and managing director of Tech Mahindra, said, “He was not only an exceptional leader but a true friend who guided me with grace and an understanding of both business and life.”
Gautam Kumra, Asia chairman at McKinsey, said Puri “role-modeled McKinsey’s core values, especially the ‘obligation to dissent’ and the belief in a non-hierarchical culture.”
Puri is survived by his wife, Rajika “Pin” Puri, an acclaimed Bharatanatyam and Odissi dancer, curator, and arts scholar.
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