Ashok Khade Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Profession	Entrepreneur
Physical Stats
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Salt & Pepper (semi-bald)
Career
Associated With	• Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (1972-1992) • DAS Offshore Engineering
Awards, Honours	• ABP Majha Sanman Puraskar • Udyog Ratna (2011) • IBN Prerna Award (2014) • BEA Award (2015) • Padma Shri (2026)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	1 June 1955 (Wednesday)
Age (as of 2026)	71 Years
Birthplace	Ped, Sangli district, Maharashtra, India
Zodiac sign	Gemini
Nationality	Indian
Educational Qualification	A diploma in Mechanical Engineering
Caste	Dalit
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Family
Children	Son- Ajit Ashok Khade (Director at DAS Offshore Limited)
Parents	Father- (Daily Wage Labourer, Cobbler) Mother- (Daily Wage Labourer)
Siblings	Brother(s)-3 • Datta Khade (entrepreneur) (elder) (passed away in 2019) • Suresh Khade (entrepreneur) (younger) Sister(s)- 2

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ashok Khade

• Ashok Khade was born in a mud house in village Ped, Maharashtra.

• He was one of six children in a financially struggling Dalit family from the Chamar community.

• His parents worked as daily wage labourers, while his father also worked as a cobbler in Mumbai.

• Ashok faced poverty and discrimination while growing up. He was not allowed to drink from the village well or enter the temple.

• His family often struggled to get enough food. While reflecting on the hardships he faced in life, Ashok said,
  

  Once, I went to get flour from the mill during the rains, but dropped it in the water. When I got home, my mother said there was nothing else to eat. I can never forget that incident.”

• Khade’s life changed after he secured admission to a charity-run school in a nearby town. Although caste discrimination still existed, supportive teachers encouraged him to do well in his studies.

• Ashok struggled with poverty through school. When he could not afford exam paper, a teacher gave him pages from the attendance register, and he tied them together with a tree thorn.

• Khade had a difficult childhood without electricity and other necessities, but he still performed well in school and was known for his neat handwriting.

• Ashok’s Brahmin classmates were more familiar with Sanskrit through religious rituals they followed at home. Despite this, he topped his Class 10 Sanskrit exam.

• During the 1972 famine, a man helped by providing him food, and one of his teachers even bought him new clothes after he arrived for an exam wearing torn trousers.

• After completing his schooling, he moved to Mumbai to live with his uncle.

• His elder brother later asked him to leave studies and start working to support family. Although Ashok wanted to become a doctor, he gave up the dream because of his family’s financial condition.

• When Ashok’s elder brother got a job as a welder at a dockyard, he encouraged Ashok to pursue higher studies.

• Ashok later did a diploma in Mechanical Engineering. After completion of the diploma, he worked as a trainee and earned Rs. 90 as a monthly salary.

• In 1975, Khade joined Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders as an apprentice draftsman. Over the next 15 years, he earned several promotions and eventually became an executive in the quality control department.

• During the 1980s, he was sent to West Germany for a submarine project that lasted several years. The assignment provided him with an opportunity to gain exposure to advanced technology and international work culture.

• In 1992, the death of his uncle left four unmarried cousins dependent on the family, which increased their financial responsibilities. The situation motivated Khade and his brothers to start their own business.

• In 1993, Ashok and his brothers, Suresh and Datta, co-founded DAS Offshore Engineering, which specialised in fabrication work for the offshore oil and gas industry. The company was named after the initials of the three brothers.
  

  Ashok Khade at DAS Group’s Pre-Mobilization Meet

• DAS Offshore Engineering had its first contract from Mazagon Dock when a contractor had left the project half way through. It was a Rs. 1.82 crore contract recommended by former chairman Captain P. V. Nair.

• Over the years, DAS Offshore Engineering won major projects from companies such as ONGC and Larsen & Toubro, including offshore platforms, jackets, and subsea pipelines.

• In 2011, the company’s turnover was more than USD 32 million and it had over 4,500 employees.
  

  DAS Offshore crew at a workshop in Navi Mumbai

• Ashok Khade values giving back. He intended to establish a school, a hospital and an engineering college near his new fabrication yard.

• He also bought farmland in his native village and renovated a temple that had once barred Dalits. Khade donated around Rs. 50 lakh to his community and regularly visited Alandi and Pandharpur in Maharashtra.

• Khade still keeps the Rs. 3.50 green fountain pen, nicknamed ‘Babloo,’ that he used in his SSC exam. He has often mentioned this in interviews and said it means more to him than his collection of expensive Mont Blanc pens.