Dr. V. G Patel is the founder director of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India. He is author of The Seven Business Crisis & How to Beat Them (reissued as When the Going gets Tough), Managing India's Small Industrial Economy (with V. Padmanand), and Entrepreneurship Development Programme in India and its Relevance to Developing Countries. He was awarded Padma Shri by the President of India in the year 2017.