Amruta Fadnavis


Amruta Devendra Fadnavis is an Indian banker, singer and social activist. She is married to the 18th and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. She holds the post of vice-president – corporate head with Axis Bank.
She has represented India at National Prayer Breakfast – 2017, an international peace initiative presided by US President Donald Trump. In September 2019, she was in a controversy for calling prime minister Narendra Modi the father of the country.

Early life

Fadnavis was born, as Amruta Ranade on 9 April 1979 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, to Sharad Ranade, an ophthalmologist and Charulata Ranade, a gynaecologist. She grew up in a household where education and independence for women was essential. She initially studied at St. Joseph Convent School, Nagpur. She was a state level under 16 tennis player. She graduated from G.S. College of Commerce and Economics. Later she pursued MBA in finance and studied taxation laws from Symbiosis Law School, Pune. Along with studies she also participated in sports.
Fadnavis started her career with Axis bank as Executive Cashier in 2003 and subsequently headed Axis Bank business branch in Nagpur.
She has a brother named Gaurav Ranade, an engineer.

Personal life

Amruta married Devendra Fadnavis in December 2005. They have a daughter named Divija Fadnavis.
During Assembly election of Maharashtra in the year 2014, she actively campaigned for her husband in Nagpur.

Career

As banker

As a banker, she has worked with Axis Bank since last 14 years. She joined as Executive cashier and currently works as Vice-President – Corporate Head West India, Transaction Banking Department. She shifted to the corporate office at Worli, Mumbai in January 2015 and continued working with Axis bank even after her husband became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

As singer

She is a Trained classical singer, and has performed at various social events and is actively involved in Entertainment Industry. She has sung for many commercial and social movies. She made her debut as a Playback Singer in Prakash Jha’s ‘Jai Gangaajal’ with the song titled ‘Sab Dhan Mati’.She sang a song in a biopic "Sangharsh Yatra" based on the Life of Late BJP leader ‘Gopinath Munde’. She performed at prestigious charity event ‘Umang-2017’ & ‘Umang 2018’for the welfare of Mumbai Police.
Fadnavis' first music video "Phir Se" featuring Amitabh Bachchan released by T-Series was viewed over 700,000 times in a single day and reached over 1.4 million views in three days.
Her Mumbai River Anthem is to save the four rivers of Mumbai.

As actor

A documentary about Fadnavis, The Voice won the Best Film Documentary at IndieFEST. It was written, directed, and produced by Sagar Pagar.

As social activist

Fadnavis is currently working for ‘Women Empowerment’ & ‘ Development of Rural India’ with the goal of bringing out a social change. She has adopted village ‘Fetri’ and village ‘Kawdas’ for the development and economic progress. Her goal is to improve Village Sanitation & infrastructural development. She has partnered with BMC to promote wellness of the ‘Sweeper Community’ and with ‘Film City’ for welfare program of workers. Fadnavis has walked the ramp as showstopper for the promotion of handloom and education of girl child at ‘New York Fashion Week’. Fadnavis had also walked the ramp for NIFT to promote Tribal Craft – weaving form of Maharashtra.

Initiator of 'Mitti Ke Sitare' talent hunt for BMC and Slum School children

Rooted as an initiative of Fadanvis who believes in creating new opportunities, 'Mitti Ke Sitare' is a project of Divyaj Foundation. It is a talent hunt reality show for underprivileged children between the age 7–15. The children who are unable to realise their dreams due to poverty and lack of resources, despite having talent will be selected from 1187 BMC schools. The show will act as a launching pad for the children with a talent in music and singing. First round of auditions was taken for about 2500 entries received of the children. Of these 600 were shortlisted for second round. Of which 56 are going to appear in the third round on 27 February 2019 as of now. Lastly Top 20–30 children will be trained for the grand finale. The project's objective is to bring out the hidden talent of the children to aid them in shaping their personalities and find better future opportunities. This project is for the betterment of the society and its children as a whole.

Chief patron for "Davis Cup" tennis tournaments

The curtains over Amruta Fadnavis's multiple talents have awed those around her after Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association involved Fadnavis as the chief patron of the Davis Cup tie between India and New Zealand 2017 in Pune. The wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was an avid tennis player during her academic days and is now a busy professional banker who hopes to prolong her association with the MSLTA even after the Davis Cup.

Leads confidence walk for acid attack victors

of Acid Attack Victors was organised by Fadnavis recently at The National Sports Club of India, NSCI Dome, Worli. Acid Attack Victors walked on stage along with Bollywood celebrities like Juhi Chawla, Sonali Bendre, Anu Malik, Sakshi Tanwar and Vivek Oberoi. The show was supported by Divyaj Foundation in collaboration with Maharashtra State Women Commission.
The event was organised with the sense of responsibility to include the Acid Attack Victors in our mainstream society, to empower them by way of Love, Care, Treatment, Rehabilitation and Restoration as members of society. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis was present at the event as a Chief Guest. He announced that State Government has increased the compensation amount for Acid Attack Victims from Rs. 300,000 to Rs. 500,000.
The event was presided by Amruta Fadnavis. She has led this initiative, also launched a Music Video titled ‘Alag Mera Yeh Rang Hai’ to which she has lent her voice as well. Amruta Fadnavis’ daughter walked the ramp with the youngest victor, who is just seven years old.
In addition to Bollywood celebrities, the event was attended by Ajoy Mehta – Municipal Commissioner Mumbai, Datta Padsalgikar – Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Vijaya Rahatkar, Chairperson Maharashtra State Women Commission and Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde.

Celebrates International Yoga Day with farmer's children

Fadnavis took the biggest initiative on International Yoga Day-2017, in which 650 children of the suicide victim farmers were called to celebrate Yoga day Knowing that Yoga and Meditation will help the children to relieve their stress and would ultimately lead to the betterment of their health, Fadnavis wisely arranged this yoga session for the children. This event was initiated by Divyaj Foundation an NGO concerned with social utility programs. Fadnavis even promoted education and betterment of health through this event. She also emphasised on ‘Women Empowerment’ & ‘Development of Rural India’ with the aim of effective social change.
In 2018, she again organised International Yoga Day programme for street children and the children of deceased farmers which was supported by Shri Nana Patekar, Shree Shailesh Lodha & the inspirational Drum Cafe session.

Chief Patron for Women's Tennis Tournament – L and T Mumbai Open

Big time tennis returned in India with WTA after five years and after 10 years to Maharashtra which was announced by Fadnavis, chairperson of the organising committee. The games were organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, in association with the Govt of Maharashtra, and hosted by the Cricket Club of India at their courts from 18 to 26 November 2017. Being the biggest fan of tennis she referred it as a best physical music and urged people to empower women to the fullest.
She was again announced as the chief patron of L&T Mumbai Open Tennis Tournament which took place in November ‘2018

Peace Ambassador

She led the delegation to Manasarovar to promote Indo-Chinese peace in 2015.

Controversies

In October 2018, Ms. Fadnavis attended the inaugural voyage of India's first luxury cruise liner 'Angriya'. She was criticised after a video of her sitting on the edge of the vessel risking her life to take a selfie was released online. Fadnavis purportedly ignored multiple requests from security personnel to return to the safe areas of the vessel. She later issued an apology for setting a bad example for the youth by taking undue risks to take a selfie.
In September 2019, she was in a controversy for calling prime minister Narendra Modi the father of the country.

Awards