Rashmi Urdhwardeshe

Rashmi Urdhwardeshe born Rashmi Ranade (born c.1959) is an Indian automotive engineer. She is the director of the Automotive Research Association of India. In March 2020 she received the Nari Shakti Puraskar.

She was trained in electronic engineering and helped to develop controls for the hydraulics of testing machines and then on emission control. She helped develop methods of measurement of emissions at what was the first Indian laboratory studying emissions. Her areas of expertise are automotive safety, emissions and ambient air quality (AQM), E-mobility, sustainable transport, vehicle regulation, homologation, etc. She is an expert on total quality management and co-authored a book on the subject.

She was chosen to be the next director of the Automotive Research Association of India in 2014. The award is made to women who have worked exceptionally for women's empowerment. After the ceremony Urdhwardeshe complimented the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his work in this area noting the largely untapped potential of under educated women in India. Rashmi Urdhwareshe is the incoming President of SAE India.

Private life Her husband Hemant Urdhwareshe is also an engineer. He cared for their fourteen-month-old child, Sarang Urdhwareshe, while his wife was in Germany for six months.