Jayesh Desai

Jayesh Desai is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of the Rajhans Group, a business conglomerate based in Surat, Gujarat. Since the mid-1990s, Desai has led the group's operations in sectors including edible oil processing, real estate, cinema exhibition, and confectionery manufacturing.

Early Life and background Desai was born in the village of Paravdi in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat. After completing his primary education, he moved to Mumbai, where he worked in an entry-level role at a ball-bearing shop. In 1989, he returned to his hometown to assist in his father’s grocery business.

Career Desai founded the Rajhans Group in 1994 with a small oil-processing unit producing filtered groundnut and cottonseed oil. By the late 1990s, the company had expanded its distribution network across Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. a multiplex chain that operates more than 160 screens across India. In 2014, the group entered the chocolate manufacturing market under the brands Schmitten and Hoppits. A manufacturing facility was established in Surat with production technology sourced from several European countries.

Recognition In 2021, Desai was named among The Economic Times’ Leaders of Change.