Ranoji Shinde was the founder of the Scindia dynasty, a Maratha clan that produced outstanding Maratha military commanders during the 18th century. Later the Scindia served as vassals of the British from the northern Princely state of Gwalior.

House of Scindia is a Hindu Maratha Royal House that ruled the erstwhile Gwalior State in central India. It had the Patil-ship of Kanherkhed in the district of Satara and was founded by Ranoji Shinde, who started as a personal servant of the Peshwa Bajirao I. Ranoji and his descendants, along with their rivals the Holkars, played a leading role during the Maratha ascendancy in northern India in the 18th-century. The Gwalior State became a princely state during the British Raj in the 19th and the 20th-centuries. After India's independence in 1947 and the abolition of princely states, several members of the Scindia (Shinde) family went on to enter Indian politics.