J. R. D. Tata

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (29 July 1904 – 29 November 1993) was a French-born Indian aviator and businessman who became India's first licensed pilot. In 1954, he was awarded the French Legion of Honour and, in 1992, India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.[1]

Early life

J. R. D. Tata was born in Paris, France, the second child of Parsi father Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife, Suzanne "Sooni" Brière.[2][3] His father was a first cousin of Jamsetji Tata, a pioneer industrialist in India. As his mother was French, he spent much of his childhood in France and as a result, French was his first language. Tata also served in the French Foreign Legion.[citation needed] He attended the Cathedral and John Connon School, Bombay (now Mumbai).

Career

J. R. D. Tata was inspired early by aviation pioneer Louis Blériot, and took to flying. On February 10, 1929 Tata obtained the first pilot licence issued in India.[4] He later came to be known as the father of Indian civil aviation. He founded India's first commercial airline, Tata Airlines in 1932, which became Air India in 1946, now India's national airline.

He joined Tata & Sons as an unpaid apprentice in 1925. In 1938, at the age of 34, JRD was elected Chairman of Tata & Sons making him the head of the largest industrial group in India.He took over as Chairman of Tata Sons from his uncle Nowroji Saklatwala. For decades, he directed the huge Tata Group of companies, with major interests in Steel, Engineering, Power, Chemicals and Hospitality. He was famous for succeeding in business while maintaining high ethical standards - refusing to bribe politicians or use the black market.

Under his chairmanship, the assets of the Tata Group grew from US$100 million to over US$5 billion. He started with 14 enterprises under his leadership and half a century later on July 26, 1988, when he left, Tata & Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or in which they had controlling interest.

He was the trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust from its inception in 1932 for over half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia's first cancer hospital, the Tata Memorial Center for Cancer, Research and Treatment, in Bombay in 1941. It also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, 1936), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR, 1945), and the National Center for Performing Arts.

In 1945, he founded Tata Motors. In 1948, JRD Tata launched Air India International as India's first international airline. In 1953, the Indian Government appointed JRD Tata as Chairman of Air India and a director on the Board of Indian Airlines - a position he retained for 25 years. For his crowning achievements in aviation, he was bestowed with the title of Honorary Air Commodore of India.

JRD Tata cared greatly for his workers. In 1956, he initiated a program of closer 'employee association with management' to give workers a stronger voice in the affairs of the company. He firmly believed in employee welfare and espoused the principles of an eight-hour working day, free medical aid, workers' provident scheme, and workmen's accident compensation schemes, which were later, adopted as statutory requirements in India. In 1968, he founded Tata Consultancy Services. In 1979, Tata Steel instituted a new practice: a worker being deemed to be "at work" from the moment he leaves home for work till he returns home from work. This made the company financially liable to the worker for any mishap on the way to and from work. In 1987, he founded Titan Industries. Tata

Steel Township was also selected as a UN Global Compact City because of the quality of life, conditions of sanitation, roads and welfare that were offered by Tata Steel.

JRD Tata received a number of awards. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 1957 on the eve of the silver jubilee of Air India. He also received the Guggenheim Medal for aviation in 1988. In 1992, because of his selfless humanitarian endeavors, JRD Tata was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna. In the same year, JRD Tata was also bestowed with the United Nations Population Award for his crusading endeavors towards initiating and successfully implementing the family planning movement in India, much before it became an official government policy.

JRD Tata died in Geneva, Switzerland on November 29, 1993 at the age of 89. On his death, the Indian Parliament was adjourned in his memory-an honor not usually given to persons who are not Members of Parliament. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Ghanshyam Das Birla

Ghanshyam Das "G.D." Birla (April 10, 1894 – June 11, 1983) was an Indian businessman and member of the influential Birla Family.

Family history

Ghanshyam Das Birla was born on 10 April 1894 at Pilani village, in the Indian state then known as Rajputana, as a member of the Marwari Maheshwari community.[1] His grandfather, Shiv Narayana Birla, had diversified from the traditional Marwari business of moneylending against pawned items. He had left Pilani for Bombay, using his modest capital to establish a dealership in cotton. The venture was successful and he came back to Pilani to build a mansion (or Haveli), which still stands by the name Birla Haveli. G. D. Birla's father, Baldeodas Birla, was adopted from the Navalgarh Birla family. Baldeodas's fortune was made in partnership with his nephew, Fulchand Sodhani, through speculation in the opium trade running into more than 10 million rupees, in which his elder brother Jugal Kishore Birla had earned a name.

Business

Birla inherited the family business and moved to further diversify them into other areas. Of these, at least three contemporary family business groups existing in India today can trace their ancestry to Ghanshyam Das. Of these businesses, he wanted to turn the moneylending business into manufacturing. So he left for Calcutta in Bengal, the world's largest jute producing region. There he established a jute firm, much to the consternation of established European merchants, whom the biased policies of the British government favoured other than the local Bengali merchants. He had to scale a number of obstacles as the British and Scottish merchants tried to shut his business by unethical and monopolistic methods, but he was able to persevere. When World War I resulted in supply problems throughout the British Empire, Birla's business skyrocketed.

With an investment of Rs.50 lakhs in 1919, the Birla Brothers Limited was formed. A mill was set up in Gwalior in the same year.

In 1926, he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly of British India.[2]

In 1940s, he ventured into the territory of cars and established Hindustan Motors. After independence, Ghanshyam Das Birla invested in tea and textiles through a series of acquisitions of erstwhile European companies. He also expanded and diversified into cement, chemicals, rayon and steel tubes. Ghanshyam Das Birla during the Quit India movement of 1942, had conceived the idea of organizing a commercial bank with Indian capital and management, and the United Commercial Bank Limited

was incorporated to give shape to that idea. Uco Bank, formerly United Commercial Bank, established in 1943 in Kolkata, is one of the oldest and major commercial bank of India.

Philanthropy

Envisioning infrastructural development in his hometown, Birla founded the Birla Engineering College (rechristened as Birla Institute of Technology and Science in 1964) in Pilani and Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences in Bhiwani among other educational institutions in 1943. Both colleges have evolved over the years to develop into one of India's best engineering schools. Now Pilani also houses a wing of Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), a famous residential, public school christened after Birla's family and a number of polytechnic colleges. The town of Pilani and the local population enjoy a highly symbiotic relationship with these institutions, thereby stepping towards realizing G.D.'s dream. TIT&S also evolved as Center of Excellence in Textile based education and training. Moreover, G D Birla Memorial School, Ranikhet, a premier residential school has also been established in his honor by Syt. B.K. Birla and is today one of the best residential schools in the nation.

In 1957, he was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India.

There is a memorial to Ghanshyam Birla in Golders Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane, London. It comprises a large statue overlooking the gardens with an inscription.He died in 1983 at the age of 90.

Relationship with Gandhi

Birla was a close associate and a steady supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, whom he met for the first time in 1916. Gandhi was staying at Birla's home in New Delhi when he was assassinated having lived there for the last four months of his life

Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani pronunciation (help·info) (Gujarati: ધી�રજલા�લા હી�ર�ચં દ અંબા�ણી� ; 28 December 1932 – 6 July 2002) was an Indian rags-to-riches business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries in Mumbai with his cousin. Ambani took his company public in 1977. Dhirubhai has been among the select few to be figured in the Sunday Times list of top 50 businessmen in Asia.[1] His life has often been referred to as a true "rags to riches" story.[citation needed]

Dhirubhai started off as an owner with Arab merchants in the 1950s and moved to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own business in spices. After making modest profits, he moved into textiles and opened his mill near Ahmedabad. He founded Reliance Industries in 1966, and today, the company, with over 85,000 employees, provides almost 5% of the Central Government's total tax revenue.

Following a heart attack in 1985, Dhirubhai handed over the Reliance empire to his sons Mukesh and Anil. After his death, the group was split into Reliance Industries Limited, headed by Mukesh Ambani, and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance ADAG), headed by Anil Ambani.

Majin Commercial Corporation

Dhirubhai Ambani returned from Yemen to India and started "Majin" in partnership with Champaklal Damani,[citation needed] his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen. Majin was to import polyester yarn and export spices to Yemen.[2] The first office of the Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at the Narsinatha Street in Masjid Bunder. It was a 350 sq ft (33 m2) room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially, they had two assistants to help them with their

business. During this period, Dhirubhai and his family used to stay in a one-bedroom apartment at the Jai Hind Estate in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different temperaments and a different take on how to conduct business. While Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk-taker and believed in building inventories, anticipating a price rise, and making profits.[3]

Reliance Textiles

Sensing a good opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai Ambani, along with Amit Mehra, a Delhi-based chartered accountant and company secretary residing in Ashok Vihar, Delhi, started the first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the year 1966. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fiber yarn.[4] Dhirubai started the brand "Vimal", which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani's son, Vimal Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" in the interiors of India madhe Reliance Textiles' Manufacturing unit, certifying it as "excellent even by developed country standards" during that period. Amit Mehra had played a pivotal role in helping and supporting Dhirubhai in this success.[5]

Dhirubhai's control over stock exchange

In 1982, Reliance Industries came up against a rights issue regarding partly convertible debentures.[6] It was rumored that the company was making all efforts to ensure that their stock prices did not slide an inch. Sensing an opportunity, The Bear Cartel, a group of stock brokers from Calcutta, started to short sell the shares of Reliance. To counter this, a group of stock brokers until recently referred to as "Friends of Reliance" started to buy the short sold shares of Reliance Industries on the Bombay Stock Exchange.[citation needed]

The Bear Cartel was acting on the belief that the Bulls would be short of cash to complete the transactions and would be ready for settlement under the "Badla" trading system operative in the Bombay Stock Exchange. The bulls kept on buying and a price of 152 per share was maintained until the day of settlement. On the day of settlement, the Bear Cartel was taken aback when the Bulls demanded a physical delivery of shares. To complete the transaction, the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had bought shares of Reliance, by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In the case of non-settlement, the Bulls demanded an Unbadla, or penalty sum, of 35 per share. With this, the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 in minutes. The settlement caused an enormous uproar in the market.

After this incident, many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader until a few years ago was able to get in such a huge amount of cash flow during a crisis period. The answer to this was provided by the then finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee in the Parliament. He informed the house that a Non-Resident Indian had invested up to 220 million in Reliance during 1982-83. These investments were routed through many companies like Crocodile, Lota and Fiasco. These companies were primarily registered in Isle of Man. The interesting factor was that all the promoters or owners of these companies had a common surname Shah. An investigation by the Reserve Bank of India in the incident did not find any unethical or illegal acts or transactions committed by Reliance or its promoters.[8]

Reliance after Dhirubhai

In November 2004, Mukesh Ambani in an interview, admitted to having differences with his brother Anil over 'ownership issues.' He also said that the differences "are in the private domain." He was of the opinion that this will not have any bearing on the functioning of the company saying Reliance is one of the strongest professionally-managed companies. Considering the importance of Reliance Industries to the Indian economy, this issue got extensive coverage in the media.[11]

Kundapur Vaman Kamath, the Managing Director of ICICI Bank [12] was seen in media, a close friend of the Ambani family who helped to settle the issue. The brothers had entrusted their mother, Kokilaben Ambani, to resolve the issue. On June 18, 2005, Kokilaben Ambani announced the settlement through a press release.

With the blessings of Srinathji, I have today amicably resolved the issues between my two sons, Mukesh and Anil, keeping in mind the proud legacy of my husband, Dhirubhai Ambani.

Popular in Media

In 1998, a book published by Hamish McDonald titled "The Polyester Prince" is also an unauthorized biography of Dhirubhai Ambani, outlining all his political and business conquests. HarperCollins didn't sell the book in India, because the Dhirubhai threatened legal action.[14] In 2010, an updated version of the book went on sale in India, called Ambani and Sons, there has been no legal action against the publisher so far.[14]

A film said to be inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani was released on 12 January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru, directed by ace filmmaker Mani Ratnam, cinematography by Rajiv Menon and music by A.R.Rahman shows the struggle of a man striving to make his mark in the Indian business world with a fictional Shakti Group of Industries. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Aishwarya Rai, R. Madhavan and Vidya Balan. In the film, Abhishek Bachchan plays Guru Kant Desai, a character implicitly based on Dhirubhai Ambani. The character is known in the film as "Gurubhai", similar to the real-life "Dhirubhai". Mithun Chakraborty portrays Manikda who bears an uncanny resemblance to the real life Ramanath Goenka and Madhvan portrays S. Gurumurthy, who gained national fame twenty years ago, spearheading virulent attacks against the Reliance group in one of India's bloodiest corporate wars ever.

Awards and recognitions

October 2011-Awarded posthumously the ABLF Global Asian Award at the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards.

November 2000–Conferred Man Of The Century award by Chemtech Foundation and Chemical Engineering World in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the chemical industry in India.

2000, 1998 and 1996– Featured among Power 50-the most powerful people in Asia by Asiaweek magazine.

June 1998 - "Dean's Medal" by The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, for setting an outstanding example of leadership. Dhirubhai Ambani has the rare distinction of being the first Indian to get Wharton School Dean's Medal [15]

August 2001 – Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence for Lifetime Achievement. Dhirubhai Ambani was named the "Man of 20th Century" by the Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "Greatest Creator of Wealth In

The Centuries".

Verghese Kurien

Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indian engineer and renowned social entrepreneur, best known as the "Father of the White Revolution",[2] for his 'billion-litre idea' or Operation Flood — the world's biggest agricultural development programme.[3] The operation took India from being a milk-deficient nation, to the largest milk producer in the world, surpassing the USA in 1998,[4] with about 17 percent of global output in 2010–11, which in 30 years doubled the milk available to every person,.[5] Dairy farming became India’s largest self-sustaining industry.[6] He

made the country self-sufficient in edible oils too later on,[7] taking head-on the powerful and entrenched oil supplying lobby.

He would brook no meddling from the political class or bureaucrats sitting in the capital cities, letting it be known upfront,[8] though he, and his mentor and colleague, Tribhuvandas Patel were backed by the few enlightened political leaders and bureaucrats of the early Independence days who saw merit in their pioneering cooperative model. He founded around 30 institutions of excellence (like AMUL, GCMMF, IRMA, NDDB) which are owned, managed by farmers and run by professionals. As the founding chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Kurien was responsible for the creation and success of the Amul brand of dairy products. A key achievement at Amul was the invention[9] of milk powder processed from buffalo milk[10] (abundant in India), as opposed to that made from cow-milk, in the then major milk producing nations. His achievements with the Amul dairy led Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to appoint him founder-chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1965, to replicate Amul's "Anand model" nationwide.[3]

One of the greatest proponents of the cooperative movement in the world, his work has alleviated millions out of poverty not only in India but also outside. Hailed as the "Milkman of India", Kurien won several awards including the Padma Vibhushan (India's second-highest civilian honour), the World Food Prize and the Magsaysay Award for community leadership.

Death, family and education

Verghese Kurien died on 9 September 2012 after a brief spell of illness in Nadiad, near Anand in Gujarat, India. He was 90. He is survived by his wife, one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson, Siddharth.[11] However, the iconic 'Amul girl' wept (first time ever since she has been on billboards for decades) as her "father figure" will no more be there with her.[12]

Personal life

Born on 26 November 1921 at Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala) into a Syrian Christian family, he would later turn an Atheist [13][14] His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin (Kochi, Kerala). He went on to marry Molly, the daughter of a friend of his father.

He graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then obtained his Bachelors in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras. After completing his degree, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946.

Later, as Kurien would say in his own words, "I was sent to the United States to study dairy engineering (on the only government scholarship left) at Michigan State University. I cheated a bit though, and studied metallurgical and nuclear engineering, disciplines that I believed were likely to be of far greater use to my soon-to-be Independent country and, quite frankly, to me."[15]

He did however train for dairy technology later on, on a government sponsorship to New Zealand, a bastion of cooperative dairying then, when he had to learn to set up the Amul dairy.

Career

Kurien arrived back on 13 May 1949, after his master's degree, and was quickly deputed to the Government of India's experimental creamery, at Anand in Gujarat's Kheda district by the government and rather half-heartedly served out his bond period against the scholarship given by them. He had already made up his mind to quit mid-way, but was persuaded to stay back at Anand[16] by Tribhuvandas Patel (who would later share the Magsaysay with him) who had brought together

Kheda's farmers as a cooperative union to process and sell their milk, a pioneering concept at the time.[17]

Patel's sincere and earnest efforts inspired Kurien to dedicate himself to the challenging task before them, so much so, that when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was to visit Anand later, to inaugurate Amul's plant, he embraced Kurien for his groundbreaking work. Meanwhile, Kurien's buddy and dairy expert H. M. Dalaya, invented[9] the process of making skim milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk[10] instead of from cow milk. This was the reason Amul would compete successfully and well against Nestle which only used cow milk to make them. In India, buffalo milk is the main raw material unlike Europe where cow milk is abundant. The Amul pattern of cooperatives became so successful, that in 1965 Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to replicate the program nationwide citing Kurien's "extraordinary and dynamic leadership" upon naming him chairman.

As the 'Amul dairy experiment' was replicated in Gujarat's districts in the neighbourhood of Anand, Kurien set all of them up under GCMMF in 1973 to sell the combined produce of the dairies under a single Amul brand. Today GCMMF sells Amul products not only in India but also overseas. He quit the post of GCMMF Chairman in 2006 following disagreement with the GCMMF management.[18][19]

When the National Dairy Development Board expanded the scope of Operation Flood to cover the entire country in its Phase 2 program in 1979: Kurien founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).Kurien, played a key role in many other organizations, like chairing the Viksit Bharat Foundation, a body set up by the President of India. Kurien was mentioned by the Ashoka Foundation as one of the eminent present Day Social Entrepreneurs. Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoir I Too Had a Dream.[20] Interestingly Kurien, the person who revolutionized the availability of milk in India did not drink milk himself.[21] Nevertheless, the work of Kurien & his team in India took India from a milk importer to a milk & milk-products exporting nation within the span of 2 decades.

Film and its use in enlarging the movement

Veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal, then an advertising executive whoed Manthan (the churning of the 'milk ocean'). Not able to finance it, Benegal was helped by Kurien who hit upon an idea of getting each of his half a million farmers to contribute a token two rupees for the making of the movie. Manthan hit a chord with the audience immediately when it was shown in Gujarat in 1976, which impressed distributors to release it before audiences, nationwide. It was critically acclaimed and went on to win national awards the following year and was later shown on television to the public.

The movie's success gave Kurien another idea. Like shown in the film, a vet, a milk technician and a fodder specialist who could explain the value of cross-breeding of milch cattle would tour other parts of the country along with the film's prints, to woo farmers there to create cooperatives of their own.[22]

UNDP would use the movie to start similar cooperatives in Latin America.

Books

1. I Too Had A Dream, co-authored with Gouri Salvi, ISBN 978-81743640742. An Unfinished Dream, ISBN 978-0074622148

Honours, awards and international recognition

Year Name of Award or Honor Awarding Organization1999 Padma Vibhushan Government of India

1993 International Person of the Year Award World Dairy Expo1989 World Food Prize World Food Prize, USA.1986 Wateler Peace Prize Award Carnegie Foundation, The Netherlands.1986 Krushi Ratna Award Government of India.1966 Padma Bhushan Government of India.1965 Padma Shri Government of India.1963 Ramon Magsaysay Award Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata, (Gujarati: રતન નવલા ટા�ટા�; born 28 December 1937), is an Indian businessman who became chairman (1991– ) of the Tata Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate.[2] He is a member of a prominent Tata family of Indian industrialists and philanthropists.

Among many other honours accorded him during his career, Tata received the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s most distinguished civilian awards, in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and Lifetime Achievement Award awarded by prestigious Rockefeller Foundation in 2012.[3][4] He has also been ranked as India's most powerful CEO.[5]

Early life

Ratan is the great-grandson of Tata group founder Jamshedji Tata. Ratan's parents separated in the mid-1940s, when he was seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five years old. Their mother moved out and both boys were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai.[6]

Tata started school in Bombay at Campion School and finished at Cathedral and John Connon School.[7] Ratan Tata completed his B.S. in architecture with structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962, and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1975.[8] He is a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.[9]

Career at Tata Sons

Tata began his career at the Tata empire in 1962; he initially worked on the shop floor of Tata Steel, shovelling limestone and handling the blast furnace.[10] In 1971, he was appointed the Director of National Radio and Electronics (Nelco), which was in dire straits when he came on board: with losses of 40% and barely 2% share of the consumer electronics market. However, just when he turned it around from 2% to 25% market share, the Emergency was declared. A weak economy and labour issues compounded the problem and Nelco was quickly near collapse again.

For his next assignment, in 1977 he was asked to turn around the sick Empress Mills, which he did. However, he was refused a Rs 50 lakh investment required to make the textile unit competitive. Empress Mills floundered and was finally closed in 1986.

In 1981, JRD Tata stepped down as Tata Industries chairman, naming Ratan as his successor. He was heavily criticized for lacking experience in running a company of the scale of Tata Industries.[10]

In 1991, he was appointed group chairman of the Tata group. As group chairman, he has been responsible for converting "the corporate commonwealth" of different Tata-affiliated companies into a cohesive company. He has been responsible for the acquisition of Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus, which have turned Tata from a largely India-centric company into a global business, with 65%

revenues coming from abroad. He also pushed the development of Indica and the Nano. He is widely credited for the success of the Tata Group of companies, especially after the liberalization of controls after the 1990s.[1]

In August 2007, Ratan Tata lead Tata Group's acquisition of British steel maker Corus. At that time, this was the largest takeover of a foreign company by an Indian company, and resulted in Tata Group becoming the fifth largest steel producer in the world. According to the BBC, however, some analysts[which?] criticized the move, saying that Tata Group had overpaid for Corus and had prioritized national pride before its shareholders.[11]

Tata is set to retire in December 2012 to be succeeded by Cyrus Mistry, the 44-year-old son of Pallonji Mistry and managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group.[12]

Honours, awards and international recognition

Ratan Tata serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of RAND's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the program board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative.[13] Ratan Tata's foreign affiliations include membership of the international advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase and Booz Allen Hamilton. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the RAND Corporation, University of Southern California and Cornell University.[14][15] He also serves as a board member on the Republic of South Africa's International Investment Council and is a member of the Asia-Pacific advisory committee for the New York Stock Exchange. In 2010, he joined BMB Group as an advisory board member.

FIRST Award for Responsible Capitalism.[28]

26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, awarded by Cornell University[29]

Recipient of the 'Global Indian Award' at the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards 2008[30]

Rahul Bajaj

Rahul Bajaj (born 10 June 1938) is an Indian businessman, politician and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Indian conglomerate Bajaj Group and member of parliament. Bajaj comes from the business house started by a Rajasthani Marwadi businessman Jamnalal Bajaj. He was awarded the third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan in 2001.

Early life

Rahul Bajaj is an alumnus of Harvard Business School in USA, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Government Law College, Mumbai and Cathedral and John Connon School.

He took over the reins of Bajaj Group in 1965. Under his stewardship, the turnover of the Bajaj Auto the flagship company has risen from Rs.72 million to Rs.46.16 billion. Rahul Bajaj created one of India's best companies in the difficult days of the licence-permit raj. He established factories at Akurdi and Waluj. In 1980s Bajaj Auto was top scooter producer in India and its Chetak brand had a 10-year waiting period.

Personal life

His sons Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv Bajaj are involved in the management of his companies. His daughter Sunaina Kejriwal is married to Manish Kejriwal who heads Temasek India.[2][3]

Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani ; born on 19 April 1957), is a Yemeni-born Indian business magnate who is the chairman and CEO of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the foremost company of the Indian energy and materials conglomerate Reliance Group.[4] The company was ranked #99th in Fortune Global 500 and is India's most valuable company by market value and second-largest Indian company by turnover.[5][6] Ambani remains the largest individual shareholder, with 44.7 percent stake in RIL.[7]

In 2010, he was named among the most powerful people in the world by Forbes in its list of "68 people who matter most"[8] As of 2012, he is the second richest man in Asia[9] and the 19th richest person in the world with a personal wealth of US$22.3 billion. In 2007, a strong rally in the Indian stock market and the appreciation of the Indian rupee boosted the market capitalisation of Reliance group companies, briefly making him the world’s richest man.[10][11][12]

He is a member of the board of directors of Bank of America Corporation and a present member of the international advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In 2012, Forbes named Mukesh Ambani the richest sports owner [13] in the world. According to the list of richest sports owners, he is richer than owners of Chelsea and AC Milan. Ambani's company Reliance Industries owns the Indian Premier League domestic cricket club Mumbai Indians.[14]

Early life

Mukesh Ambani was born on 19 April 1957 to Dhirubhai Ambani and Kokilaben Ambani in a Gujarati family. He has a brother, Anil, and two sisters – Dipti Salgaoncar & Nina Kothari.

The Ambani family lived in a two bedroom apartment in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai until the 1970s.[15] Dhirubhai Ambani then purchased a 14-floor apartment block called 'Sea Wind' in Colaba, where, until recently, Mukesh and Anil each lived with their families on different floors.[16]

Mukesh Ambani attended the Hill Grange High School on Peddar Road, Mumbai, along with his brother Anil Ambani and where Anand Jain, his close associate, was his classmate.[17] He completed his graduation with a bachelor`s degree in chemical engineering from the UDCT, now Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. He stood sixth in the University exams.[18] Mukesh later enrolled for an MBA from Stanford University but completed only one year of the two year program and dropped out in the year 1980.[19] Indira Gandhi administration threw open the doors of PFY (polyester filament yarn) manufacturing to the private sector in early 1980. Dhirubhai Ambani had applied for a license to set up PFY manufacturing plant. In spite of stiff competition from Tatas, Birlas and 43 others, Dhirubhai was awarded the licence.[20] To help him build the PFY plant, Dhirubhai pulled his eldest son Mukesh out of Stanford where he was studying for his MBA. Mukesh Ambani, then dropped out to help his father and initiated Reliance`s backward integration from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, beginning in 1981.[21]

In 2010, Mukesh Ambani was given a 'Degree of Doctor of Science Honoris Causa' by M.S University, Baroda, Gujarat[22]

Business career

He later joined Reliance Industries in 1981.[23] He initiated Reliance's backward integration journey from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, petroleum refining and going up-stream into oil and gas exploration and production.[24]

Ambani set up one Reliance Infocomm Limited (now Reliance Communications Limited), which was focused on information and communications technology initiatives.[25]

Ambani directed and led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, which had the capacity to produce 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) in 2010, integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure.[26]

Board memberships

Chairman, Managing Director, Chairman of Finance Committee and Member of Employees Stock Compensation Committee, Reliance Industries Limited

Former Chairman, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited Former Vice Chairman, Reliance Petroleum Chairman of the Board, Reliance Petroleum Chairman and Chairman of Audit Committee, Reliance Retail Limited. Chairman, Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC Director, Member of Credit Committee and Member of Compensation & Benefits

Committee, Bank of America Corporation [27]

PresidentPandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Awards and honors

Year of Award or Honor

Name of Award or Honor Awarding Organization

2010Global Vision Award at The Awards Dinner[28] Asia Society

2010 Business Leader of the Year[29] NDTV India2010 Businessman of the Year[30] Financial Chronicle

2010School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean's Medal[31] University of Pennsylvania.

2010 Global Leadership Award[32] Business Council for International Understanding[33]

Ranked 5th best performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review in its ranking of top 50 global CEOs.[34]

Personal life

He is married to Nita Ambani and has three children.[35] They live in a private 27-story building in Mumbai named Antilia.[36] The value of the home is US$1 billion and it is claimed to be the most expensive home in history.[37] Even as RIL's total outgo towards remuneration to its all top management personnel, as also the sitting fees and commissions for its non-executive directors, increased during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012,Mukesh Ambani decided to forgo nearly Rs 24 crore from his annual pay last fiscal as chief of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), keeping his salary capped at Rs 15 crore for the fourth year in a row.[38] Billionaire Mukesh Ambani earns an annual salary of 150 million rupee (Rs 15 crore), which has remained unchanged since the fiscal year 2008–09.[39]

Venu Srinivasan

Venu Srinivasan (Tamil: வே�ணு ஸ்ரீனி���சன்) is an Indian industrialist; the Chairman and Managing Director of Sundaram Clayton Ltd and TVS Motor Company, the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India. He also served as the President of Confederation of Indian Industry for the year 2009-10. He is the Honorary Consul General of Republic of Korea and a Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry. He was also President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.[1]

Career

Venu Srinivasan is the grandson of the TVS Group's founder, T. V. Sundaram Iyengar.[2] After graduating as an engineer from the University of Madras, he completed a Master's Degree in Management from Purdue University in the USA.

He became the Managing Director of Sundaram Clayton Ltd. in May 1979. He went on to become Chairman of TVS Motor Company in July 2002.

In the late 1980s, Srinivasan scripted a turnaround of the company, which was then mired in labour trouble and was sinking into the red. Srinivasan dealt with the situation sternly and shut the factory down for three months, forcing the unions to relent. He then re-structured operations by upgrading plant machinery, investing in new technologies and implementing Total Quality Management practices. He also brought in Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya of the University of Warwick as a consultant to provide guidance.In 2001, TVS Motor Company split with Suzuki and started manufacturing on its own.[3] TVS Motor Company re-entered contention by successfully launching Victor, India’s first indigenously built four stroke motorcycle.[4] The slew of launches that followed propelled TVS Motor Company to become the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India.

Srinivasan later brought in Professor Yasutoshi Washio of Japan, a Deming Application Prize Winner and globally renowned expert in Total Quality Management and Japanese Quality Management Guru Prof Yoshikazu Tsuda as mentors to strengthen the TQM processes within the company.

Under his leadership as the Managing Director, Sundaram Clayton's brakes division won the Deming Prize in 1998 for having "achieved distinctive performance improvements through application of company-wide quality control".[5] In 2004, TVS Motor Company also won the Deming Prize, becoming the first two-wheeler company in the world to do so.[6]

Srinivasan holds several other positions:[1][3]

Director, Lucas-TVS Director, T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons Limited Director, Southern Roadways Limited Director, Sundram Fasteners Limited Director, Cummins India Limited Director, TATA Coffee Limited Director, Oriental Hotels Limited Director, TVS Energy Limited Chairman, TVS Credit Services Limited Chairman, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Government of India Vice Chairman, State Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, Government of Tamil Nadu,

India, Past President, Confederation of Indian Industry, Delhi. Past President, Automotive Research Association of India.

Past President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Awards and Honours

Year Name Awarding organization Ref.2003 Star of Asia Businessweek [3]

2004Honorary Doctorate in Science for Excellence in Manufacturing

University of Warwick [7]

2004 Jamsetji Tata Lifetime Achievement Award Indian Society for Quality [8]

2005 J R D Tata Corporate Leadership AwardAll India Management Association

[9]

2010 Padma Shri Government of India [10]

2010 Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Government of South Korea [11]

K. V. Kamath

Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the Chairman of Infosys Limited, the second-largest IT services company in India, and Non-Executive Chairman of ICICI Bank, India's largest private bank. Kamath served as ICICI Bank's Managing Director and CEO from 1 May 1996 until his retirement from executive responsibilities on 30 April 2009.[1]

On 30 April 2011, K V Kamath was announced to replace N R Narayana Murthy as the chairman of Infosys. Murthy's last day as chairman of Infosys was 20 August 2011, Kamath took charge as the chairman from 21 August 2011.[2]

Kamath also serves as an independent director in the board of Houston-based oil services company, Schlumberger; and Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer, Lupin.

Early life

Kamath was born on 2 December 1947 into a Goud Saraswat Brahmin family, in Mangalore city of Karnataka state where he spent most of his early years. After completing Higher Secondary and Pre-University from St. Aloysius School, he joined the Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC, now called National Institute of Technology Karnataka) in Surathkal for a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating from KREC in 1969, he joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) for a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

Career

After graduating from IIM-A in 1971, Kamath started his career with ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India), in the Project Finance division and moved on to different departments to gather experience which included setting up of new businesses such as leasing, venture capital, credit rating as well as handling general management positions. As part of his general management responsibilities he initiated and implemented ICICI's computerisation programme. Substantial investments in technology from the early years have resulted in systems that are today a competitive advantage for ICICI. Kamath has generally been credited with expanding ICICI's businesses to evolve it into a technology-enabled financial organisation catering to the financial needs of corporate and retail customers.[3]

In 1988, Kamath joined the Asian Development Bank, Manila in their Private Sector Department. His principal work experience at ADB was in various projects in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh and Vietnam. He was the ADB representative on the Boards of several companies.

In May 1996, Kamath returned to ICICI as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Kamath was instrumental in expanding the Group's services to the retail customers. He initiated a process of a series of acquisitions of non-banking finance companies in 1996-98, and led the way to the formation of ICICI Bank.

On 2 May 2011, he was appointed as chairman of the second-largest software exporter, Infosys Ltd (earlier Infosys Technologies Ltd).[4]

Personal life

Kamath presently resides in Mumbai. He is married to Rajalaxmi and has a son, Ajay Kamath and a daughter, Ajnya Kamath Pai. He has two grandsons, Nandan K. Pai and Lakshan K. Pai who reside in the United States.

Board membership

Kamath is a member of the Governing Board on various educational institutions including the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian School of Business, National Institute of Bank Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar Manipal Academy of Higher Education. He is the Chairman of Governing Board at Indian Institute of Management Indore.

Kamath is also a member of the National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Kamath was elected to the Board of Directors on Infosys Ltd on 2 May 2009 and on 30 April 2011 it was announced that he will take the Chairmanship of Infosys Limited on 21 August 2011.

He also serves on the board of Schlumberger, Houston-based oil services company; and Lupin, Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer.

Awards

Most e-savvy CEO amongst Asian banks - The Asian Banker Journal of Singapore[5]

Finance Man of the Year award - The Mumbai Management Association[5]

Best CEO for Innovative HR practices - World HRD Congress[6]

Asian Business Leader of the Year - Asian Business Leader Award 2001 (CNBC Asia)[7]

Outstanding Business Leader of the Year - CNBC-TV18, 2006[8]

Businessman of the Year - Business India, 2005[9]

Business Leader Award of the Year - The Economic Times, 2007[10]

Businessman of the Year - Forbes Asia [11] Padma Bhushan award from the Indian government - 2008[12]

Nandan Nilekani

Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur. He currently serves as the Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), after a successful career at Infosys Technologies Ltd. He is also now heading Government of India's technology committee, TAGUP.

Early life

Nandan Manohar Nilekani was born in Sirsi town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, as the younger son of Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani.His father worked as a General Manager of Mysore and Minerva Mills. His father, who subscribed to Fabian Socialist ideals, had an influence on Nandan during his early years. He has an elder brother, Vijay, who works in the Nuclear Energy Institute.[2]

He studied at St. Joseph's High School Dharwad,studied at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore and later in Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai where he graduated with a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering in 1978.[3] His early years were marked by his father’s job transfers and re-locations. He spent the first twelve years at Bangalore, and then moved in with his uncle’s family in Dharwad, after his father had been transferred.

Career

Nandan Nilekani, after graduating from IIT Bombay in 1978, joined Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems where he was interviewed by N.R. Narayana Murthy. Three years later, in 1981, Murthy walked out of Patni following a disagreement with one of the Patni brothers. His entire division walked out with him. The defectors decided to start their own company, Infosys. Nilekani became the Chief Executive Officer of Infosys in March 2002, taking over from Murthy. Nilekani served as CEO of the company from March 2002 to April 2007, when he relinquished his position to his colleague Kris Gopalakrishnan, becoming Co-Chairman. He left Infosys on 9 July 2009 to serve as the chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India,[4][5] in the rank of a cabinet minister under invitation from the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

He appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on March 18, 2009[6] to promote his book "Imagining India." He spoke, at a TED conference, about his ideas for India's future. He has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion.[1] In 2009, Time magazine placed Nilekani in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most Influential People' [7] Nilekani has been extensively quoted in Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat.[8] He is married to Rohini, whom he met at a quizzing event at IIT.[9] They have two children Nihar and Janhavi, both studying at Yale University.[10]

Bibliography

Nandan Nilekani. Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation

Anil Ambani

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (Gujarati: અંન�લા ધી�રજલા�લા (ધી�રૂભા�ઈ) અંબા�ણી�), born on 4 June 1959, is an Indian business magnate. He is the chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, one of the largest private conglomerates. Anil's elder brother Mukesh Ambani, who heads as the chairman of Reliance Industries.[3] The Ambani family is the richest family in India and one of the richest in the world, their wealth inherited from Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of largest Indian conglomerate Reliance Group.[4]

He is a member of the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur; Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.[citation needed] He is a member of the Central Advisory Committee, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. In March 2006, he resigned. He is also the Chairman of Board of Governors of DA-IICT, Gandhinagar.[5]

Career

Ambani joined Reliance Industries, the company founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer and is credited with having pioneered many financial innovations in the Indian capital markets.[citation needed] For example, he led India's first forays into overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and bonds. He directed Reliance in its efforts to raise, since 1991, around US$2 billion from overseas financial markets; with a 100-year Yankee bond issue in January 1997 being the high point, after which people regarded him as a financial wizard[citation needed]. He along with his brother, Mukesh Ambani, has steered the Reliance Group to its current status as India's leading textiles, petroleum, petrochemicals, power, and telecom company.([citation needed])[citation needed] He is a close friend of movie star Amitabh Bachchan and Subrata Roy. One of his major achievements in the entertainment industry is the takeover of Adlabs, the movie production to distribution to multiplex company that owns India's only dome theatre and the recently announced joint venture worth US$ 825 million with Steven Spielberg.[citation needed]

He has been embroiled in a dispute with his brother, Mukesh Ambani, over the supply of gas from the latter's KG basin.[citation needed]

He recently topped Business Sheet's "world's biggest loser" list of business leaders who lost money in the late 2000s recession,[6] losing $32.5 billion in 2008, which brought him out of the top ten list to number 34 in 2009.

Awards and recognition

Conferred the 'Businessman of the Year 1997' award by India's leading business magazine Business India, December 1997.[citation needed]

Personal Life

Anil Ambani is married to Bollywood Actress Tina Munim and has two sons Jai Anmol and Jai Anshul.[7] He has taken part in the Mumbai Marathon race. Ambani is also a fan of Premier League club, Newcastle United and was extremely close to buying the club in September 2008. In June 2004, Anil was elected as an Independent Member of the Rajya Sabha - upper house of the Parliament of India. He is a vegetarian.[8]

Bibliography

Yogesh Chabria , Happionaire's Cash The Crash.

Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal pronunciation (help·info) (born 15 June 1950)[6] is an Indian steel magnate. He is the chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company. Mittal owns 41 percent of ArcelorMittal and holds a 34 percent stake in the Queens Park Rangers F.C. football team.

Mittal is the richest man living in Europe and the richest man with an Asian nationality.[7] Despite being the wealthiest man in Britain, he does not hold British citizenship.[8] He was ranked the sixth richest person in the world by Forbes in 2011, but dropped to 21st place in 2012, due to having lost $10.4 billion the previous year.[4] In spite of the drop, Forbes estimates that he still had a personal wealth of US$20.7 billion in March 2012.[4] He is also the 47th "most powerful person" of the 70 individuals named in Forbes' "Most Powerful People" list for 2012.[9] His daughter Vanisha Mittal's wedding was the second most expensive in recorded history.[10]

Mittal has been a member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs since 2008,[11] and is also member of the board of directors of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.[12] He sits on the World Steel Association's executive committee,[13] and is a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council,[13] the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan,[13] the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council,[13] and the Presidential International Advisory Board of Mozambique.[13] He also sits on the advisory board of the Kellogg School of Management in the US[13] and is a member of the board of trustees of Cleveland Clinic.[13]

In 2006, The Sunday Times named him "Business Person of 2006", the Financial Times named him "Person of the Year", and Time magazine named him "International Newsmaker of the Year 2006".[13] In 2007, Time magazine included him in their "100 most influential persons in the world".[14]

Early life and career

Lakshmi Narayan Mittal alias Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was born into a Indian business family in Rajgarh tehsil (also known as Sadulpur) of Churu district in Rajasthan, India. His family moved from (Rajgarh) Sadulpur, Rajasthan to Calcutta in West Bengal. Mittal has two siblings - Pramod Mittal and Vinod Mittal. He graduated from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in business and accounting. His father, Mohan Lal Mittal, ran a steel business, Nippon Denro Ispat.[15] Until the 1990s, the family's main assets in India were a cold-rolling mill for sheet steels in Nagpur and an alloy steels plant near Pune. Today, the family business, including a large integrated steel plant near Mumbai, is run by Pramod and Vinod, but Lakshmi has no connection with it.[16]

In 2009, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal and Usha Mittal foundation along with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan founded the Usha Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management in New Delhi.

Criticism and allegations

Lakshmi Mittal successfully employed Marek Dochnal's consultancy to influence Polish officials in the privatization of PHS steel group, which was Poland's largest. Dochnal was later arrested for bribing Polish officials on behalf of Russian agents in a separate affair.[18]

In 2007, Polish government said it wants to renegotiate the 2004 sale to Arcelor Mittal.[19]

Employees of Mittal have accused him of "slave labour" conditions after multiple fatalities in his mines.[20] During December 2004, twenty-three miners died in explosions in his mines in Kazakhstan caused by faulty gas detectors.

Personal life

His residence at 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens--which was purchased from Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for £57 million (US$128 million)--made it the world's most expensive house at the time.[30] Mittal's house in Kensington, London is decorated with marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal. The extravagant show of wealth has been referred to as the "Taj Mittal".[31] It has 12 bedrooms, an indoor pool, Turkish baths and parking for 20 cars.[32]He is a vegetarian.[33]

Mittal bought No. 9A Palace Greens, Kensington Gardens, formerly the British Philippines embassy, at £70 million in 2008 for his daughter Vanisha Mittal who is married to Amit Bhatia, a businessman and a philanthropist. Being a vegetarian, Mittal threw a lavish 'vegetarian reception' for Vanisha in the Palace of Versailles in France.[33]

Mittal owns three prime properties collectively worth £500 million on the "Billionaire's Row" at Kensington Palace Gardens.[34]

In 2005, he also bought a colonial bungalow for $30 million[35] at No. 22, Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi, India, the most exclusive street in the city occupied by embassies and millionaires, and rebuilt it as a house.[citation needed]

Awards and honours

Year of Award or Honor

Name of Award or Honor Awarding Organization

2010 "Dostyk" 1 Republic of Kazakhstan.

2008 Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award Forbes.

2008 Padma Vibhushan Government of India.

2007 Grand Cross of Civil Merit Government of Spain.

2007Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Leadership Award[36]

Business Council for International Understanding.[37]

2007 Fellowship King's College London.

2004 European Businessman of the Year Forbes.

2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Wall Street Journal.

20048th honorary Willy Korf Steel Vision Award

American Metal Market and World Steel Dynamics.

1996 Steel Maker of the Year New Steel.

He was the speaker at class of 2007's MBA commencement at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[38]

N. R. Narayana Murthy

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, better known as N. R. Narayana Murthy (Kannada: ನಾ�ರಾ�ಯಣ ಮೂ�ರ್ತಿ), is an Indian industrialist and software engineer. He and six other engineers co-founded Infosys in 1981. Murthy served as CEO from 1981 to 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he served as the Chairman. In 2011, he stepped down from the board and became Chairman Emeritus.

Early life

Born in Mysore, Karnataka on 20 August 1946, Murthy graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore in 1967. He received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.[3]

Career

Murthy's first job position was at IIM Ahmedabad, where he worked as the chief systems programmer.[4] After IIM Ahmedabad, he started a company named Softronics in 1976.[5] When that company failed, he joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune.

After settling down in Pune, Murthy founded Infosys in 1981[6] with an initial capital injection of Rs 10,000, which was invested by his wife Sudha Murthy.[7] Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys for 21 years and was succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani in 2002.[7] At Infosys he articulated, designed and implemented the Global Delivery Model which has become the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He held the executive position of Chairman of the Board from 2002 to 2006, when he became the "non-executive" Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor.[7][8] In August 2011, he retired completely from the company and taking the title Chairman Emeritus.[9][10]

Murthy serves as an independent director on the corporate boards of HSBC and has served as a director on the boards of DBS Bank, Unilever, ICICI and NDTV.[1][11]

He also serves as a member of the advisory boards and councils of several educational and philanthropic institutions,[1][11] including Cornell University, INSEAD, Ford Foundation, the UN Foundation, the Indo-British Partnership, a trustee of the Infosys Prize, and as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust [12] that manages the Rhodes Scholarship. He is also the Chairman of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India [13] He also serves on the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of British Telecommunications.[11][14] In 2005 he co-chaired the World Economic Forum in Davos.[15]

Personal life

His wife, Sudha Murthy (née Kulkarni), is an Indian social worker and accomplished author. She is known for her philanthropic work through the Infosys Foundation. Her sister, Jayashree Deshpande is wife of enterpreneur and founder of US-based Sycamore Networks, Gururaj Deshpande. Murthy is the brother-in-law of serial entrepreneur Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande.[16]

Awards and honours

Year Name Awarding organization Ref.2011 NDTV Indian of the Year's Icon of India NDTV [17]

2010 IEEE Honorary MembershipInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

[18]

2009Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

[19]

2008 Padma Vibhushan President of India [20]

2008 Officer of the Legion of Honor Government of France [21]

2007Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

Government of United Kingdom [22]

2007IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[23]

2000 Padma Shri President of India [24]

Books

Murthy, N. R. Narayana (2009). A Better India, A Better World. Penguin Books

Azim Premji

Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leaders in the software industry. According to Forbes, he is currently the third wealthiest Indian, and the 41st richest in the world, with a personal wealth of $15.9 billion in 2012.[3][5] In 2000, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011.[6] Premji owns 79 percent of Wipro and also owns a private equity fund, PremjiInvest, which manages his $1 billion personal portfolio.

Early life and career

When Azim Premji took over as its head, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products, and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software.[7] The Amalner-based vanaspathi manufacturing company, the Western India Products later became Wipro Products Ltd and Wipro Limited subsequently. Under Premji’s leadership Wipro embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion and diversification. The Company began manufacturing light bulbs with and other consumer products including soaps, baby care products, shampoos, powder etc.

In the 1980s Wipro entered the IT field, taking advantage of the exit of IBM from the Indian market in 1975. Thus, Wipro started manufacturing computer hardware, software development and related items, under a special license from Sentinel. As a result, the $1.5 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats grew within a few decades to an over $6 billion diversified, integrated corporation in services, medical systems, technology products and consumer items with offices worldwide. The company’s IT division became the world's first to win SEI CMM level 5 and PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model) certification, the latest in quality standards. A large percentage of the company’s revenues are generated by the IT division. Wipro works with leading Fortune 500 companies. Wipro also has a joint venture in Medical Systems with General Electric company.[1]

Personal life

Azim Premji is married to Yasmeen.The couple have two children, Rishad and Tariq. Rishad is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of IT Business, Wipro.[28]

Premji has been recognised by Business Week as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs[29] for being responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing companies. In 2000, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

In 2006, Azim Premji was awarded Lakshya Business Visionary by National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai.[30]

He was awarded a Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.), an honorary degree, from the Aligarh Muslim University on 18 June 2008 on the occasion of 58th Convocation Ceremony of the University.

In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for his outstanding philanthropic work.[31] In 2005 the government of India honoured him with the title of Padma Bhushan for his outstanding work in trade and commerce.

In 2011, he has been awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by the Government of India.[32]

Premji is known to personally use Chandrika soap (manufactured by Wipro) as a substitute for shaving cream.[33]

Philanthropy

Wipro Equity Reward Trust

In 1984, Azim Premji established the Wipro Equity Reward Trust[34] to allow employees to acquire stake in Wipro's success and growth. The WERT, which is administered by a Board of Trustees is designed to give eligible employees the right to receive restricted shares and other compensation benefits at the stipulated times and conditions. Such compensation benefits include voluntary contributions, loans, interest and dividends on investments in the WERT and other similar benefits. Shares from the WERT are issued in the joint names of the WERT and the employee until such restrictions and obligations are fulfilled by the employee. After a four-year period, complete ownership of the shares is transferred to the employee.

If employment is terminated by death, disability or retirement, his or her restricted shares are transferred to the employee’s legal heirs or continue to be held by the employee, as the case may be, and such individuals may exercise any rights to those shares for up to 90 days after employment has ceased.

[edit] Azim Premji Foundation and university

In 2001, he founded Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organisation, with a vision to significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education that facilitates a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. The Foundation works in the area of elementary education to pilot and develop 'proofs of concept' that have a potential for systemic change in India's 1.3 million government-run schools. A specific focus is on working in rural areas where the majority of these schools exist. This choice to work with elementary education (Class I to VIII) in rural government-run is a response to evidence of educational attainment in India.

In December 2010, Premji pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education in India. This has been done by transferring 213 million equity shares of Wipro Ltd, held by a few entities controlled by him, to the Azim Premji Trust. This donation is the largest of its kind in India.

The Azim Premji University was established under an act of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to run programmes to develop education and development professionals, offer alternative models for educational change and also invest in educational research to continuously stretch the boundaries of educational thinking. Currently the university conducts three degree awarding programmes:

Masters in Development, Masters in Education, Masters in Teacher Education[35]

The Continuing Education Programme aims to transform existing talent in the fields of education and development. The programme is facilitated by the University Resource Centre which provides learning content and capacity building programmes for professionals in education and development through short-term certified courses.

The URC is being developed with a view to conduct relevant and meaningful research into the education system, especially in India. These researches shall be in a manner that facilitates proactive reforms to the existing education system.

Sunil Mittal

Sunil Bharti Mittal (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian telecom mogul, philanthropist and the founder, chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises. The US$8.3 billion turnover company runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service and world's fifth largest wireless company with over 190 million customers across 19 countries in Asia and Africa. He is the son of SatPal (former MP) and Lalita.[1]

In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor.[4]

Early life

Sunil Mittal was born in Ludhiana, [Punjab] (India)|Punjab]], India. His father, Sat Pal Mittal, had been the Member of Parliament (M.P) from Ludhiana. He first joined the Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie,[5] but later attended Scindia School at Gwalior and he graduated in 1976 from Punjab University, Chandigarh, with a Bachelor of Arts and Science for which he studied in Arya College for Boys, a local college in Ludhiana.[6] His father died of cardiac arrest in 1992.[1]

Entrepreneurial ventures

A first generation entrepreneur, Mittal started his first business in April 1976[7] at the age of 18, with a capital investment of 20,000 (US$378) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.[8]

In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh, Rajan started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Company.[5] He sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai.[8]

In 1981, he purchased importing licences from exporting companies in Punjab.[7] He then imported thousands of Suzuki Motors's portable electric-power generators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the then [[Indian Government licences to manufacture generators in India were issued to two companies.[citation needed]

In 1984, he started assembling push-button phones in India,[7] which he earlier used to import from a Taiwan company, Kingtel, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones that were in use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. Mittal says, "In 1983, the government imposed a ban on the import of gensets. I was out of business overnight. Everything I was doing came to a screeching halt. I was in trouble. The question then was: what should I do next? Then, opportunity came calling. While in Taiwan, I noticed the popularity of the push-button phone -- something which India hadn't seen then. We were still using those rotary dials with no speed dials or redials. I sensed my chance and embraced the telecom business. I started marketing telephones, answering/fax machines under the brand name Beetel and the company picked up really fast.".[1] He named his first push-button phones as 'Mitbrau'.[5]

In 1992, he successfully bid for one of the four mobile phone network licences auctioned in India.[1] One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder have some experience as a telecom operator. So, Mittal clinched a deal with the French telecom group Vivendi.[citation needed]

He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994[7] and he launched services in Delhi in 1995, when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular services under the brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million

mobile subscriber mark. Bharti also brought down the STD/ISD cellular rates in India under brand name 'Indiaone'.[7] IndiaOne was India’s first private national as well as the international long-distance service provider, and, thus, became a major factor in Bharti's success by providing services cheaply.[citation needed]

In November 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India.[citation needed]

In July 2006, he attracted many key executives from Reliance ADAG, NIS Sparta and created Bharti Comtel.[citation needed]

In May 2008, it emerged that Sunil Bharti Mittal was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[9] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.[3]

In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it was in talks with MTN and the companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".[citation needed]

Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition from the South African government.[10]

Personal life

Mittal resides in Delhi. He is married and has three children.[citation needed]

Awards and Recognition

Transforming India Leader, NDTV Business Leader Awards 2008. GSMA Chairman's Award 2008. Padma Bhushan in 2007, from the President of India. Asia Businessman of the Year, Fortune Magazine 2006. Telecom Person of the Year, Voice & Data, 2006. CEO of the year 2005, at the Frost and Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT awards 2006. Best Asian Telecom CEO, Telecom Asia Awards 2005. Best CEO, India, Institutional Investor, 2005. Business Leader Of The Year, Economic Times, 2005. Philanthropist of the Year Award 2010 at The Asian Awards [11] INSEAD Business Leader Award 2011[12]

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Kumar Mangalam Birla is an Indian industrialist and the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest conglomerate corporations in India. The groups is India's third largest business house. He is also the Chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science.[2]

Education and career

Kumar Mangalam Birla is a fourth generation member of the Birla family from state of Rajasthan.[1] He spent his childhood in Kolkata and Mumbai. A chartered accountant by profession,earned commerce degree from HR College of Commerce and Economics,Mumbai and also has an MBA from the London Business School, where he is an Honorary Fellow.[2] He also has several honorary doctorate degrees.[2]

Kumar Mangalam Birla took over as Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, at the young age of 28, after sudden death of his father, Aditya Birla, after whom the group is named. Many doubts were raised about his ability to lead the group with varied interests in textile and garments, cement, aluminum,fertilizers etc. but KM Birla has not only proved his skeptics wrong, but also has grown to become one of the most respected industrialists in the country. Under his leadership the Aditya Birla group has expanded to Telecom, Software, BPO and other areas while consolidating its position in existing businesses.[3]

When Kumar Manglam Birla took over the reins of the group in 1995, the turnover was only $2 bn and overseas operations accounted for a very small part of the overall business with Egypt, Thailand and Indonesia being major centers. Under KM Birla's strong leadership the group's turnover has spiraled to $33bn and it has expanded operations to more than 40 countries including Australia, Dubai, and reaching out to North America, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary and China. 60 percent of the group's revenues now come from abroad and 1,30,000 people are being hired globally for their business operations. [4]

Personal life

Birla is married to Neerja Birla.[2] They have three children: Ananyashree, Aryaman Vikram and Advaitesha.[2] Neerja oversees the Aditya Birla World Academy, a school in Mumbai

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Kannada: ಕಿರಣ್ ಮೂಜು�ಮೂ�ರಾ ಷ; born 23 March 1953) is an Indian

entrepreneur. She is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Limited a biotechnology company based in Bangalore (Bengaluru), India.

Profile

Mazumdar-Shaw completed her schooling from the city’s Bishop Cotton Girl’s High School (1968). She wanted to join medical school but instead took up biology and completed her BSc Zoology Honours course from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore University (1973). She later did her post-graduation in Malting and Brewing from Ballarat College, Melbourne University (1975).

She worked as a trainee brewer in Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne and as a trainee maltster at Barrett Brothers and Burston, Australia. She also worked for some time as a technical consultant at Jupiter Breweries Limited, Calcutta and as a technical manager at Standard Maltings Corporation, Baroda between 1975 and 1977.[2]

She started Biocon in 1978 and spearheaded its evolution from an industrial enzymes manufacturing company to a fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical company with a well-balanced business portfolio of products and a research focus on diabetes, oncology and auto-immune diseases. She also established two subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for discovery research and Clinigene (2000) to cater to clinical development services.[3][2]

Her pioneering work in the sector has earned her several awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri (1989) and the Padma Bhushan (2005) from the government of India. She was recently named among

TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. She is on the Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful women and the Financial Times’ top 50 women in business list.[2] She is also a member of the board of governors of the prestigious Indian School of Business [4] and Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.[5]

Biocon

In 1978, she joined Biocon Biochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland as a Trainee Manager. In the same year she started Biocon in the garage of her rented house in Bangalore with a seed capital of Rs. 10,000.

Initially, she faced credibility challenges because of her youth, gender and her untested business model. Not only was funding a problem as no bank wanted to lend to her, but she also found it difficult to recruit people for her start-up. With single-minded determination she overcame these challenges only to be confronted with the technological challenges associated with trying to build a biotech business in a country facing infrastructural woes. Uninterrupted power, superior quality water, sterile labs, imported research equipment, and advanced scientific skills were not easily available in India during the time.

She is responsible for steering Biocon on a trajectory of growth and innovation over the years. Within a year of its inception, Biocon became the first Indian company to manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe. In 1989, Biocon became the first Indian biotech company to receive US funding for proprietary technologies. In 1990, she upgraded Biocon’s in-house research program, based on a proprietary solid substrate fermentation technology.

In the same year, she incorporated Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Private Limited to manufacture and market a select range of biotherapeutics in a joint venture with the Cuban Centre of Molecular Immunology.

In 2004, she decided to access the capital markets to develop Biocon’s pipeline of research programs. Biocon’s IPO was oversubscribed 32 times and its first day at the bourses closed with a market value of $1.11 billion, making Biocon only the second Indian company to cross the $1-billion mark on the first day of listing.[2]

She entered into more than 2,200 high-value R&D licensing and other deals within the pharmaceuticals and bio-pharmaceutical space between 2005 and 2010 and helped Biocon expand its global footprint to emerging and developed markets through acquisitions, partnerships and in-licensing. Her belief that healthcare needs can only be met with affordable innovation has been the driving philosophy that has helped Biocon manufacture and market drugs cost-effectively.

In 2007–08, a leading US trade publication, Med Ad News, ranked Biocon as the 20th leading biotechnology companies in the world and the 7th largest biotech employer in the world. Biocon also received the 2009 BioSingapore Asia Pacific Biotechnology Award for Best Listed Company.[2]

Today, thanks to her leadership, Biocon is building cutting-edge capabilities, global credibility and global scale in its manufacturing and marketing activities. It has Asia’s largest insulin and statin facilities also the largest perfusion-based antibody production facilities.

Philanthropic activities

In 2004, she started the Biocon Foundation to conduct health, education, sanitation, and environmental programs to benefit of the economically weaker sections of society.

The Biocon Foundation's 7 ARY clinics are located where healthcare facilities are poor and they offer clinical care, generic medicines and basic tests for those who cannot afford them. Each of the clinics serves a population of 50,000 people living within a radius of 10 km.[2] All the clinics organize regular general health checks in remote villages by bringing in physicians and doctors from network hospitals. Each year, the Foundation touches more than 300,000 lives through its holistic healthcare approach.

She helped establish a 1,400-bed cancer care center at the Narayana Health City campus at Boommasandra, Bangalore, along with Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya in 2007.

She liked the innovation model and thinking that Dr. Prasad Kaipa brought to Biocon and funded multi-year research at Indian School of Business by creating Biocon Cell for Innovation Management [6] as part of Center for Leadership Innovation and Change.

Awards

Mazumdar-Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Nikkei Asia Prize (2009) for Regional Growth, Express Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit Award (2009) for Dynamic Entrepreneur, the Economic Times ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ (2004), the ‘Veuve Clicquot Initiative For Economic Development For Asia, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare (2002), ‘Technology Pioneer’ recognition by World Economic Forum and The Indian Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award.[2]

She has also received the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award (2002), the ‘Business Woman of the Year’ Award from the Indian Business Leadership Award committee, CNBC-TV18 (2006), the Indian Merchants' Chamber Diamond Jubilee Endowment Trust's‘Eminent Businessperson of the Year Award’(2006) and the ‘Corporate Leadership Award’ by the American India Foundation (2005).[2]

She also received an honorary Doctorate of Science in 2004, from her alma mater, Ballarat University, in recognition of her contributions to biotechnology, apart from being awarded honorary doctorates from University of Abertay, Dundee, UK (2007), University of Glasgow, UK (2008) and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK (2008).

She was ranked 80 on the worlds-100-most-powerful-women-2012 according to Forbes Magazine

Indra Nooyi

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (Tamil: இந்தி�ரா� நூயி�) (born 28 October 1955) is an Indian-American business executive and the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage business in the world by net revenue.[2] According to Forbes, she is consistently ranked among World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[3]

Early life and career

Nooyi was born in Madras (presently Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. She was educated at Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Madras. She received a Bachelor's degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from Madras Christian College in 1974 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1976.[4] Beginning her career in India, Nooyi held product manager positions at Johnson & Johnson and textile firm Mettur Beardsell. She was admitted to Yale School of Management in 1978 and earned a Master's degree in Public and Private Management. While at Yale, she completed her summer internship with Booz Allen Hamilton.[5] Graduating in 1980, Nooyi joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and then held strategy positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri.[6]

PepsiCo executive

Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named president and CFO in 2001. Nooyi has directed the company's global strategy for more than a decade and led PepsiCo's restructuring, including the 1997 divestiture of its restaurants into Tricon, now known as Yum! Brands. Nooyi also took the lead in the acquisition of Tropicana in 1998,[7] and merger with Quaker Oats Company, which also brought Gatorade to PepsiCo. In 2007 she became the fifth CEO in PepsiCo's 44-year history.[8]

According to BusinessWeek, since she started as CFO in 2000,[9] the company's annual revenues have risen 72%, while net profit more than doubled, to $5.6 billion in 2006.[10]

Nooyi was named on Wall Street Journal's list of 50 women to watch in 2007 and 2008,[11][12] and was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World in 2007 and 2008. Forbes named her the #3 most powerful woman in 2008.[13] Fortune ranked her the #1 most powerful woman in business in 2009 and 2010. On the 7th of October 2010 Forbes magazine ranked her the 6th most powerful woman in the world.[14][15]

Compensation

While CEO of PepsiCo in 2011, Nooyi earned a total compensation of $17 million which included a base salary of $1.6 million, a cash bonus of $2.5 million, pension value and deferred compensation was $3 million.[16]

Honours, awards and international recognition

Forbes magazine ranked Nooyi fourth on the 2008 and 2009 list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[17] Fortune magazine has named Nooyi number one on its annual ranking of Most Powerful Women in business for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.[18][19][20][21] In 2008, Nooyi was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report.[22] In 2008, she was elected to the Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[23]

In January 2008, Nooyi was elected Chairwoman of the US-India Business Council (USIBC). Nooyi leads USIBC's Board of Directors, an assembly of more than 60 senior executives representing a cross-section of American industry.[24][25]

Nooyi has been named 2009 CEO of the Year by Global Supply Chain Leaders Group.[26]

In 2009, Nooyi was considered one of "The TopGun CEOs" by Brendan Wood International, an advisory agency.[27][28] In 2010 she was named #1 on Fortune's list of the "50 Most Powerful Women" and #6 on Forbes' list of the "World's 100 Most Powerful Women".[29][30] After five years on top, PepsiCo's Indian American chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi has been pushed to the second spot as most powerful woman in US business by Kraft's CEO, Irene Rosenfeld.[31]

Nooyi was named to Institutional Investor's Best CEOs list in the All-America Executive Team Survey in 2008 to 2011.[32]

Year Name Awarding organization Ref.

2011 Honorary Doctor of Laws Wake Forest University.

2011 Honorary Doctor of Laws University of Warwick. [33]

2011 Honorary Doctorate of Law Miami University. [34]

2010 Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Pennsylvania State University. [35]

2009 Honorary Degree Duke University. [36]

2009 Barnard Medal of Honor Barnard College. [37]

2008 Honorary Degree New York University.

2007 Padma Bhushan President of India. [38]

2004 Honorary Doctor of Laws Babson College. [39]

Memberships and Associations

Nooyi is a Successor Fellow of the Yale Corporation.[40] She serves as a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, International Rescue Committee, Catalyst [41] and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships, and has served as Chairperson of the U.S.-India Business Council.

Nooyi serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Popular culture and shows

Nooyi has also been mentioned in two episodes of the hit CW show, Gossip Girl, where one of the main characters, Blair Waldorf plans to get an internship under her.[42]

Personal life

Nooyi is married to Raj K. Nooyi. They have two daughters and reside in Greenwich, Connecticut. One of her daughters is currently attending the School of Management at Yale, Nooyi's alma mater.[43]

Forbes ranked her at the 3rd spot among 'World's Powerful Moms' list.[44]

Naina Lal Kidwai

Naina Lal Kidwai, a chartered accountant by profession, is an Indian banker and business executive. She is currently the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India.[4][5][6] She also holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from University of Delhi and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1982.[7][8] Kidwai was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School.[9] From 1982-1994 she worked at ANZ Grindlays, where her assignments included Head of the Investment Bank, Head of Global NRI Services and Head of the Western India, Retail Bank.

Her other positions include being a non-executive director on the board of Nestle SA, Chairwoman, City of London's Advisory Council for India, Global Advisor, Harvard Business School. She is on the Governing Board of NCAER, Audit Advisory Board of the Comproller and Auditor General of India, and on the National Executive Committee of CII and FICCI. Her interests include microfinance and livelihood creation for rural women and environment. Naina, also supports the world's largest youth driven organization - AIESEC as a National Advisory Board Member to AIESEC India. Kidwai has repeatedly ranked in the Fortune global list of Top Women in Business, 12th in the Wall Street Journal 2006 Global Listing of Women to Watch ad listed by Time Magazine as one of their 15 Global Influentials 2002

Chanda Kochhar

Chanda Kochhar (born November 17, 1961) is currently the Managing Director (MD) of ICICI Bank and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). ICICI Bank is India's largest private bank and overall second largest bank in the country.[1][2] She also heads the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.

Early life

Chanda Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan.She completed her schooling from St. Angela Sophia School, Jaipur. She then moved to Mumbai, where she joined Jai Hind College for a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating in 1982 she then pursued Cost Accountancy ICWAI, Later, she acquired the Masters Degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. She received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies as well as the J. N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy for highest marks in the same year.[3]

Chanda Kochhar currently resides in Mumbai, and is married to Deepak Kochhar, a wind energy entrepreneur and her Business schoolmate. She has two children, a son and a daughter.[3][4]

Career

1984–1993

In 1984, Chanda Kochhar joined "The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd" or ICICI Ltd.[5] as a Management trainee after her Masters. In her early years in ICICI, she handled Project Appraisal and Monitoring and projects in various industries like Petrochemicals, Textile, Paper and Cement.[3]

1993–2006

In 1993, Kochhar was sent to ICICI bank as part of a core team to set the bank. She was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 1994 and then to Deputy General Manager in 1996. In 1996, Kochhar headed the newly formed Infrastructure Industry Group of ICICI, which aimed "to create dedicated industry expertise in the areas of Power, Telecom and Transportation". In 1998, she was promoted as the General Manager and headed ICICI's “Major Client Group”, which handled relationships with ICICI's top 200 clients. In 1999, she also handled the Strategy and E-commerce divisions of ICICI. Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI bank started the Retail business in July 2000 and emerged the largest retail financer in India, in the next five years. In April 2001, she took over as Executive Director, heading the in ICICI Bank.[3]

2006–present

In April 2006, Chanda Kochhar was appointed as Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank. She managed the Corporate and Retail banking business of ICICI Bank. From October 2006 to October 2007, she handled the International and Corporate businesses of ICICI Bank. From October 2007 to April 2009, Kochhar was also the bank's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Joint Managing Director (JMD) and the official spokesperson. She also headed the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.[3][6] She is also a director of different ICICI group companies. She is the chairperson of ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company and ICICI Investment Management Company Limited. Kochhar is the Vice-Chairperson of ICICI Bank UK PLC and ICICI Bank Canada. She is a director in ICICI International Limited and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. and part of the Governing Council in 1964. The ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth-Member.[7]

Kochhar is CEO and MD of ICICI Bank from May 2009 for a period of five years. She succeeds K. V. Kamath, who was CEO of the bank since 1996.[2][8]

Recognition

Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI Bank won the “Best Retail Bank in India” award in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and “Excellence in Retail Banking Award” in 2002; both awards were given by The Asian Banker. Kochhar personally was awarded "Retail Banker of the Year 2004 (Asia-Pacific region)" by the Asian Banker, "Business Woman of the Year 2005" by The Economic Times and "Rising Star Award" for Global Awards 2006 by Retail Banker International. Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune's list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" since 2005.[3] She climbed up the list debuting with the 47th position in 2005, moving up 10 spots to 37 in 2006 and then to 33 in 2007.[9][10] In the 2008 list, Kochhar features at the 25th spot.[11] In 2009, she debuted at number 20 in the Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women list". She is the second Indian in the list behind the ruling Indian National Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi at number 13.[4] In 2010, she fell to number 92 in the Forbes list, but in 2011 bounced back to 43.[12][13]

Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune's list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" since 2005. In 2009, she debuted at number 20 in the Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women list",[14] and climbed to the 10th spot in 2010.[15] In 2011, she featured in Business Today's list of the "Most Powerful Women – Hall of Fame".[16] In 2011, she also featured in the "The 50 Most Influential People in Global Finance" List of Bloomberg Markets.[17]

Kochhar is honoured with Padma Bhushan Award, the third highest civilian honour by the Government of India for the year 2010 for her services to banking sector.[18]

Kochhar was also awarded the "ABLF Woman of Power Award (India)" in 2011 at the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards.[19]

Amrita Patel

Amrita Patel is chairperson of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2002.[1]