Vijaypat Singhania

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Vijaypat Singhania is the chairman emeritus of the Raymond Group of clothing and textiles. He is also the current Sheriff of Mumbai, since December 19, 2005. A keen aviator, Singhania holds the world record for highest altitude gained traveling in a hot air balloon. He also has another world record to his name, a solo flight in a microflight from the UK to India in 1998. He is succeeded by his son Gautam Hari Singhania who took over as the Chairman and Managing Director of Raymonds in September 2000.

Singhania has a flight experience of over 5,000 hours. In 1994, he won the gold medal in the Federation Aeronautique Internationale air race covering a distance of 34,000 km spanning 24 days. To mark this occasion he was conferred the rank of Hon. Air Commodore of the Indian Air Force by the then President of India, Ramaswamy Venkataraman at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. In 2006, he was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award by the Government of India.