The sisters oversee complementary parts of the group, with Pavitra focused on residential growth and Nirupa leading hospitality, office and retail portfolios.
Pavitra and Nirupa Shankar are shaping Brigade’s next phase through different areas of the family business, while developing leadership identities of their own.
In a Business Today profile, Pavitra reflected on returning to Bengaluru in 2016 after several years in the US. Now Managing Director of Brigade Enterprises, she said succeeding her father, M.R. Jaishankar, does not mean replicating his approach.
“I don’t need to be him. I need to be me,” she told the publication.
Distinct responsibilities within Brigade
Brigade’s official leadership profiles identify Pavitra as Managing Director and Nirupa as Joint Managing Director.
Pavitra oversees residential business strategy and growth, alongside the company’s digital transformation. Her professional background includes consulting, private equity and real estate development.
Nirupa’s responsibilities span hotels, offices and retail. She also helped establish Brigade’s real estate accelerator, REAP, in 2016 and its flexible-workspace brand, BuzzWorks, in 2019.
Their appointments to their current Brigade Enterprises positions took effect on October 12, 2022, according to company disclosures.
Why Nirupa chose hospitality
Nirupa told Business Today that an early hospitality transaction during her time at EY helped spark her interest in the sector. She subsequently studied hospitality at Cornell University and returned to India in 2009.
Given a choice between joining the residential business and working in the then-smaller hotel division, she chose hospitality. Her remit later expanded to offices and retail.
In the same interview, she said facility management was expected to join her portfolio from the following year. As the profile was published in October 2026, that points to 2027; it remains a stated plan rather than a completed transition.
A separate listed hospitality company
Nirupa is also Managing Director of Brigade Hotel Ventures, according to the hospitality company’s official website. That position is distinct from her Joint Managing Director role at Brigade Enterprises.
Brigade Hotel Ventures listed on the BSE and NSE on July 31, 2025. Its FY2025–26 annual report records nine operational hotels and a pipeline of nine upcoming properties across Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad. The pipeline represents planned expansion, not hotels already open to guests.
Building on the founding generation
Pavitra also acknowledged that external conversations sometimes frame the sisters primarily through their family connection, rather than their business responsibilities. She distinguished that experience from their standing within the organisation.
Their responsibilities show how the next generation’s work extends across different businesses: residential development under Pavitra, and hospitality, offices and retail under Nirupa. Each portfolio brings its own operating demands, making their leadership roles more specific than the broad description of running a family enterprise.
