Founded in 1897 on the historic Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh, The Scindia School has spent over twelve decades producing men who lead with conviction, serve with purpose, and carry its bold imprint into everything they do. They are known as Scindians, and it has produced generations of Scindians spanning politics, diplomacy, academia, business, the armed forces, the arts, and industry.

The school’s vision: to ignite and empower students to create, inspire, and lead with compassion as visionary torchbearers of a shared future is reflected in what its alumni have achieved across an unusually wide range of fields.

The Scindia School Old Boys’ Association (SOBA)

The Scindia School Old Boys’ Association (SOBA), registered on 25 November 1959, connects Scindians across generations and geographies. The association runs chapters across India and abroad, organises alumni events, and maintains an Old Boys Locator to keep the community connected. A major restructuring in 2003 saw SOBA move towards being run entirely by Old Boys themselves, strengthening its independence and reach.

Scindians stand out not because they follow a single path, but because they have made their mark in an unusually wide range of fields — from Indian diplomacy and the judiciary to cinema, materials science, hedge fund management, and Urdu literary preservation.

The Madhav Award

The Scindia School instituted the Madhav Award annually in 1984, named after HH Maharaja Madhavrao Scindia I, to recognise Old Boys of eminence for exemplary achievement in their field. The first recipient was prominent statesman Mr Natwar Singh.

Notable Scindians

Below are The Scindia School’s Alumni.

Diplomacy and Public Service

Mr Vikram Misri (Shivaji House, 1977-81) Madhav Awardee 2025 A diplomat of the 1989 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, Mr Misri currently serves as the 35th Foreign Secretary of India, having assumed charge on 15 July 2024. His career has spanned assignments in Brussels, Tunis, Islamabad, Washington D.C., Colombo, Beijing, and Munich, with significant roles in the Kargil War, the India-US Civil Nuclear Deal, India’s pandemic response, and Operation Sindoor. He served as Private Secretary to three Prime Ministers and as Ambassador to Spain, Myanmar, and China before rising to his current role.

Law and the Judiciary

Justice Sanjay Mishra (Chaitanya House, 1964-69) Madhav Awardee 2022 Justice Sanjay Mishra served as a Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad from 2004 to 2014 before being appointed Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh, the anti-corruption ombudsman of the state.

Business and Entrepreneurship

Mr Amit Jain (Jeevaji House, 1984-88) Madhav Awardee 2024 Group Chief Executive Officer of Emaar Properties PJSC in Dubai, the company behind landmark developments including Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, and Dubai Fountain. He has been recognised in Forbes Middle East’s CEO rankings and Arabian Business’s India Power List, and has played a central role in developing Emaar’s ESG framework across operations in 11 countries.

Mr Ranjan Tandon (Jeevaji House, 1963-67) Madhav Awardee 2023 Owner and President of Libra Advisors, a multi-billion-dollar investment firm. A Harvard Business School MBA and IIT Kanpur graduate, Tandon co-founded the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation, whose philanthropy led to the New York University School of Engineering being rechristened as the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. The foundation has endowed professorships at Harvard Business School and Yale University.

Mr Sanjiv Saraf (Shivaji House, 1969-75) Madhav Awardee 2020 Founder of Polyplex Corporation Limited, one of the world’s largest producers of PET films, with manufacturing plants in India, Thailand, and Turkey. He also founded Manupatra, India’s foremost legal information provider. His most celebrated contribution is the Rekhta Foundation, established in 2012, which has digitised over 50,000 Urdu e-books and created a global ecosystem for the Urdu language through events like Jashn-e-Rekhta.

Medicine and Healthcare

Dr Sushil Shah (Jeevaji House, 1956-64) Madhav Awardee 2016 Founder and Chairman of Metropolis Healthcare Limited, honoured for his exemplary business acumen, deep commitment to corporate social responsibility, and outstanding contribution to the medical field. He has conducted health check-up camps for Mumbai Traffic Police and free health camps for underprivileged communities across India for several years.

Science and Academia

Dr Punit Boolchand (Jayaji House, 1954-61) Madhav Awardee 2021 Distinguished University Research Professor of STEMM at the University of Cincinnati, the highest research recognition the university confers. He pioneered work on Topological Phases of Network Glasses and was awarded the Stanford Ovshinsky Award in 2003. His research contributed to the development of Gorilla Glass, now used extensively in flat screen televisions and smartphones. He was also nominated for the Oliver Buckley Prize, the American equivalent of the Physics Nobel Prize.

Prof (Dr) Gautam Barua (Jayaji House, 1964-70) Madhav Awardee 2015 School Captain and President’s Gold Medal recipient in 1970. He became Director of IIT Guwahati in 2003 and served as Mentor Director of IIT Patna. His work has focused particularly on technical education, information technology, and the development of institutions in India’s Northeast. He is an independent Director of Indian Oil Corporation and IT consultant to the Government of Assam.

Military Service

Lt Gen Sami Khan (Jayaji House, 1944-48) Madhav Awardee 2016, posthumous One of the most respected and decorated soldiers of the Indian Army, awarded the Sena Medal for individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty and courage during United Nations service in Congo, and the Param Vishishta Seva Medal for peace-time service of the most exceptional order. He retired as General Officer Commanding in Chief, Central Command.

Cinema and Sound

Mr Hitendra Ghosh (Ravindra House, 1956-67) Madhav Awardee 2017 Three-time National Film Award winner for Best Audiography — in 1979 for Junoon, in 1986 for Ek Pal, and in 2013 for Game. He is credited by the school with sound-editing 3,500 films, described as a world record, across a career spanning 40 years.

What the Alumni Record Tells Families

The Scindia School’s vision is to produce leaders with a global perspective and an Indian ethos. The alumni record gives that vision a tangible dimension. Whether it is Vikram Misri at the helm of Indian diplomacy, Sanjiv Saraf preserving the Urdu language for the world, Punit Boolchand’s research finding its way into the screens of smartphones globally, or Hitendra Ghosh quietly shaping the sound of Indian cinema for four decades — Scindians carry the Fort with them.

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