Amit Jatia is one of India’s leading businessmen and Vice Chairman of Westlife Development Ltd. A pioneer of the Quick Service Restaurant industry in India, he is credited with the successful launch and growth of the McDonald’s brand in the country, that consequently set the stage for an industry that would see the proliferation of various fast food chains and cafes going forward.

Amit’s experience of over 25 years in the QSR industry has seen McDonald’s India grow from a single restaurant at Bandra in Mumbai, to running over 250 restaurants across West and South India in just two decades! It is his vision, strategy and focus that has helped built an entity that directly employs over 8,000 people and serves about 200 million customers a year.

In his 30 years of business experience, Amit has been responsible for setting up the West Pioneer Properties Group (WPR), a company that has 2 million Sq.ft of mixed-use development in the Metropolitan Mumbai Region and properties across Aurangabad and Nashik. The company’s success led to it being listed on the Alternate Investment Market (AIM), London (part of the London Stock Exchange).

Amit attributes a great part of his success to the experience he had with the Harvard YPO President’s Program – 2011 and 2013 and has been a member of YPO for over a decade. He has also won several accolades over the years for his contribution to the QSR industry in India. Amit today, is the Mumbai Chapter Head of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) , and is also part of the Governing Council of the body.

After his Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc) in Business Administration-Finance from the University of Southern California, Amit completed programs on Management Control Systems from the Indian Institute of Management and on Strategy, Leadership and Governance from the prestigious Harvard Business School.

Amit lives in Mumbai, India with his wife Smita, who is the Managing Director of Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd (HRPL – development licensee of McDonald’s Corporation in India) and their sons, Akshay, who leads a business extension of McDonald’s India and Ayush, who is currently pursuing his studies abroad.