He is the founder of D Y Patil Group and one of the top ranked pioneers in the field of Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Hospitality and Sports. In spite of being born in a small agricultural village of Maharashtra, his visionary social & political work has widely reached all corners of the country
His vision, dedication and passion have been indelibly influenced, by his wisdom and generosity and have left impressionable marks, be it in the area of schools for imparting basic education or institutes for higher learning. He strongly believes that youth in India need a greater platform that offers multiple opportunities to educate themselves across the geography. He envisions a goal of spreading education across the length and breadth of India by taking steps in a direction to craft each and every institute.He has materialized his dreams under the umbrella of prestigious education institutes in Kolhapur, Mumbai and Pune.A firm believer in the expression Actions speak louder than words', his deeds reflect this philosophy in all spheres of life.
The first college offering a Bachelor's degree in Engineering was established in the year 1983. There was no turning back from there. Today, Dr D Y Patil Group has now spread its wings encompassing total 03 Deemed Universities, 06 Private Universities, 180 + institutions, 4.12 lac+ graduating students and 16,000+ employees in the varied disciplines of education.
For his contributions to the cause of education and healthcare, the President of India has honoured Dr. D Y Patil with the Padmashree in the year 1991. He was also awarded with two honorary doctorates in philosophy, first by the World University Roundtable, Arizona, U.S.A. in 1985 and later, by the Nottingham Trent University Kingdom, Britain (UK) in 1996.
He served as the Governor of Tripura, Bihar and West Bengal. He has also been awarded with the prestigious D. Lit. from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India in the year 2015.
Dr.D.Y.Patil has been bestowed with “Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2018” award for his legendary contributions to the society through various educational, social and cultural initiatives.