Puri opened doors for Indian talent in global consulting and shaped the firm’s footprint across Asia and Latin America.
By AB Wire
Tino Puri, the first Indian American to join the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and a trailblazer whose hiring opened doors for generations of Indian American talent in the industry, passed away on Saturday. He was 79.
Puri joined McKinsey in 1970 after earning an M.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University. He went on to found and build the firm’s India practice, personally recruiting its early consultants and establishing a foundation for the company’s long-term presence in the region. In 1996, he was elected managing director, and two years later, he assumed responsibility for overseeing McKinsey’s operations across Asia and Latin America.
Earlier in his McKinsey career, Puri advised governments in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, and Australia, as well as multilateral institutions including the United Nations and OPEC. His work included designing Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical development plan, helping restructure the European textile and steel industries for the European Economic Community, and leading the overhaul of Venezuela’s oil sector.
Over the course of his tenure, Puri also advised a wide range of organizations — from large global corporations to mid-sized firms — on strategy, organizational transformation, and capability building. He eventually became a senior partner and served on McKinsey’s board of directors.
Following his retirement from McKinsey, Puri served on the boards of several prominent Indian companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. He also held board positions at ICICI Bank and Godrej Consumer Products, and served on the advisory board of Spencer Stuart India. In addition, he was a member of the Corsair Advisory Board and a founding board member of Ashoka, the global nonprofit supporting social entrepreneurs.
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Tributes poured in on social media following news of his passing.
“Tino was also my first boss at McKinsey,” wrote Amar Bhide, a former McKinsey board member who joined the firm in 1978, in a LinkedIn post. “He was super smart — you never had to say anything twice to him and he never felt the need to ‘correct’ or improve your work. Yet, when necessary, he could rephrase your helter-skelter thoughts with such clarity that it left you shaking your head.”
Bhide described Puri as a “scratch golfer and the uber-sauve Oxonian son of an Indian diplomat,” and credited him with persuading McKinsey “that its blue blood clients would accept sub-continentals, opening the door to other Indians.” He added, “The trickle became a flood — at McKinsey and its hitherto lily white rivals.”
Bhide noted how Puri’s presence made a difference in hiring attitudes. He recalled that when he was made an offer in 1978, rival firms “BCG and Bain would not dream of interviewing, much less hiring, the likes [of] me.” Bhide added, “The trickle became a flood — at McKinsey and its hitherto lily white rivals.”
Rajat Gupta, who joined McKinsey in 1975 and would later become the firm’s first foreign-born managing director, was part of the wave of talent Puri helped make possible.
“It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that I say goodbye to my dear friend Tino, Anupam Puri,” wrote C.P. Gurnani, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of AIonOS and former CEO and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra. “From the very first moment I met him in 2000, Tino’s wisdom, humility, and unwavering support left a lasting impression on me. I feel incredibly fortunate that he was my coach through my journey at MBT, Tech Mahindra, and Mahindra Satyam.”
Gurnani added, “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 & Company, described Puri on LinkedIn as someone who “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 accomplished Bharata Natyam and Odissi exponent, curator, and scholar of the arts. The couple married in India in 1968. Rajika was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and educated in India and the United Kingdom.
Puri held an M.Phil. in Economics from Nuffield College, Oxford; an M.A. with Distinction in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford; and a B.A. in Economics from Delhi University, where he graduated first in his class.