India’s most admired entrepreneurs & business persons

The leadership, diligence, foresight and wisdom that a great entrepreneur demonstrates can help shape a company’s — even a nation’s — destiny.

Indian corporate history is replete with business icons who have changed the way the world looks at India, and helped shape a new future for the nation.

But before we move on further, here is a caveat: This list of India’s corporate giants is by no means complete. Nor have these Indian business icons been ranked. Their pictures have been arranged in random order. Also, stalwarts like JRD Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, G D Birla and others who are not amongst us today have not been mentioned in the slide show.

Here’s a list of some of India’s most admired entrepreneurs. Do share your thoughts with us on comments section below.

Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata has been in the news for the past few days due to the unseemly controversy over the Nano car plant in Singur, West Bengal.

The 70-year-old is the chairman of the Tata Group, which is one of India’s largest conglomerates.

A bachelor, Tata is one of the most admired businessmen not just in India but the world over. He has been at the helm of the Tata empire since 1991.

N R Narayana Murthy

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy is the co-founder, non-executive chairman and chief mentor of India’s best known software firm, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Murthy is a globally known and highly regarded entrepreneur.

Azim Premji

Azim Premji is the chairman Wipro, India’s second largest software firm after Tata Consultancy Services.

Premji is credited with transforming Wipro, his family’s vegetable oil business, into one of the world’s foremost software company.

Although one of the richest Indians, he flies economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the foundation he has set up to promote primary education.

Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is, according to Forbes the world’s fifth richest man and his net worth is estimated at $43 billion.

The Indian billionaire and his younger brother parted ways after the death of their father, Dhirubhai, the patriarch of the Reliance empire.

Mukesh is currently building a $2-billion home on Mumbai’s Altamount Road.

Anil Ambani

Anil Ambani is Mukesh’s younger brother. With a net worth estimated at $42 billion, he is also the world’s 6th richest man.

The chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Anil has a vast range of companies under his umbrella: Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Mutual Funds, Reliance Energy, etc.

He is married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Bharti Group chairman & managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal is one of India’s greatest success stories. In just a period of 10 years, he has built India’s largest cellular services company.

His net worth is estimated at close to $12 billion.

Rahul Bajaj

Padma Bhushan awardee and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj is the chairman of Bajaj Auto.

An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Bajaj is an outspoken and fearless entrepreneur. His two sons, Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv, are now handling the Bajaj businesses, under his guidance.

Anand Mahindra

A Harvard alumnus, Anand Mahindra is the vice chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra.

The 53-year-old businessman has taken his company to unprecedented heights. He is married to Anuradha Mahindra, who edits three niche magazines.

S ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan

S ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Infosys Technologies Ltd.

An IIT-Madras alumnus, Gopalakrishnan is a very soft-spoken and shy person. His net worth is estimated to be around $1.4 billion.

Nandan Nilekani

Co-chairman and co-founder of Infosys Technologies Ltd, Nandan Nilekani is a well know and widely admired entrepreneur.

Adi Godrej

Adi Godrej, chairman of the renowned Godrej Group, is one of India’s great businessmen.

Even when India was still a closed economy, he managed to take his group to great heights. When India embraced economic reforms, he changed the way his group did business to face the challenges of changing times and needs. Godrej is also involved in philanthropy.

Lakshmi N Mittal

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is the chief executive officer of the world’s largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal. He is also said to be the richest Indian in the world with a net worth of $45 billion.

Although he resides in London, UK, Mittal still holds an Indian passport. He is also making big ticket investments in India.

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Forty one-year-old Kumar Mangalam Birla is among the world’s youngest billionaires with a net worth of $10 billion. He is the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group.

The group has giant companies like Grasim, Hindalco, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Idea Cellular and UltraTech Cement in its fold.

Sabeer Bhatia

Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail, one of the first e-mail services on the Internet, along with Jack Smith.

Later he sold it to software giant Microsoft for $400 million.

Uday Kotak

Uday Kotak is managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

His wealth is estimated to be at around $2.3 billion.

Tulsi Tanti

Tulsi Tanti, is the chairman of Suzlon Energy, a wind power major.

Years ago when as a textile businessman, Tanti was facing huge and ever-rising power costs, he chanced upon a solution in the ‘wind.’ He commissioned a wind energy solution for his company a decade back. Convinced about the economics of the deal, he later decided to venture full-steam into the business.

A commerce graduate and a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, Tanti, has built an empire in the wind energy business.

Suzlon Energy is the sixth largest wind energy company in the world and the largest in Asia.

Malvinder Singh

Malvinder Mohan Singh is the elder son of the iconic Parvinder Singh who turned Ranbaxy from a middling Indian company into a growing multinational giant.

He is the grandson of the founder of Ranbaxy Laboratories.

In June, 2008, Malvinder stunned the nation by marking the largest ever deal in Indian pharmaceuticals industry. Japanese drug firm Daiichi Sankyo acquired a majority stake of more than 50 per cent in domestic major Ranbaxy. Under the deal structure that would create the 15th biggest drugmaker globally, the Japanese firm would acquire the entire 34.82 per cent stake in the Gurgaon-based firm from its current promoters Malvinder Singh and family.

Rajiv Bajaj

Rajiv Bajaj is the managing director of Bajaj Auto.

The Pune-based Bajaj Auto is one of India’s largest two- and three-wheeler manufacturer.

Jeh Wadia

Jeh Wadia is the managing director of Go Air. The 34-year-old is the youngest son of entrepreneur Nusli Wadia. Jeh’s brother Ness is the managing director of Bombay Dyeing.

Gautam Singhania

Gautam Singhania is the managing director of the Raymond Group.

Raymond is one of India’s largest clothing firm.

Yash Birla

Yash Birla is the chairman of the Yash Birla Group.

The group is a part of the Birla legacy, one of India’s oldest, largest and most reputed business groups. The Yash Birla Group is acting as a catalyst to India’s economic growth. A conglomerate of 14 companies, the group has interest in auto-components & engineering; power solutions; textiles; lifestyle; and infrastructure & real estate

Kishore Biyani

Kishore Biyani is the chief executive officer of Future Group. He is the pioneer of the retail boom in India.

His Big Bazaar chain of departmental stores is the fastest growing in India.

Jignesh Shah

Jignesh Shah is the vice chairman Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).

He is also the chairman and group CEO of Financial Technologies India Ltd.

Naveen Jindal

Thirty eight-year-old Naveen Jindal is a Member of Parliament and an entrepreneur with interests in the steel and power sectors. He handles the Jindal Group.

The group’s operations are spread over Haryana, Mahatashtra, Madhya Pradesha and Chhattisgarh.

Brijmohan Lal Munjal

The Munjals-led Hero Honda Motors Ltd is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles. Brijmohan Lal Munjal is the chairman of the company, while his son, Pawan, is managing director and CEO of the auto major.

Courtesy :- Rediff

Ratan Tata on Nano and future challenges

The year ahead will be a tough one, but the high sales volume of Nano will dramatically change the company’s market position.

The Indian economy continued to register impressive GDP growth, although the rate of growth declined marginally over the previous year, reflecting inflationary trends driven by the increase in the cost of energy and raw materials.

The level of industrial activity has also begun to decline as a result of fiscal constraints imposed on money supply and the raising of interest rates.

Investment flows into India increased by 20 per cent to a record level of about Rs 1,20,000 crore (Rs 1,200 billion). Investment and consequent growth could have been even greater but for the roadblocks to major investments arising from ideological differences, State-Centre conflicts and vested interests.

Some of these self-serving obstacles delayed major projects, depriving the country the opportunity to bridge the gap in infrastructure, energy, power generation, utilisation of the country?s vast natural resources and, finally, to improve the quality of life of its people.

Market report

The Indian automotive sector grew by 10 per cent overall during the year with substantial growth in the light commercial vehicles sector and new passenger car introductions.

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In the country, 499,978 new commercial vehicles were sold during the year and passenger car sales grew to 1.53 million vehicles this year. Tata Motors registered a growth of 5.5 per cent over the previous year in commercial vehicles but lost market share.

The company introduced several new models and variants of commercial vehicles during the year, but was unable to exploit its full market potential due to inadequate deliveries of powertrains and components from major suppliers.

The company also entered a new market segment through the introduction of a new mini van and mini people?s carrier which are expected to see substantial growth in the years ahead.

Sales of Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles increased by 38 per cent and its market share in Korea improved from 26 per cent in 2006-07 to 33 per cent in 2007-08.

In the passenger car segment, delays of the mainstream line of the new Indica and Indigo passenger cars contributed to the decline in sales and market share of the company in their product segments.

It is expected that this loss in market share will be regained following the introduction of the new Indica range, which is expected to be launched shortly.

The market introduction of Sumo Grande towards the end of the year was well received and its true potential will be realised in the current year.

Breakthroughs

Perhaps the two most significant events during the year which have had a momentous impact on the scale of the company’s operations and its global image were:

• The unveiling of Nano, the company’s new low-cost car.
• The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.

These deserve elaboration.

As shareholders are aware, the company embarked on a path-breaking project of developing a ‘peoples’ car’ about four years ago to provide, safe, all-weather personal and family transport at an affordable price of Rs 100,000. The goal was considered to be unachievable by many global manufacturing and industry commentators at that time.

The goal was, however, achieved and Nano was unveiled at the Auto Expo in Delhi in January 2008. It attracted unprecedented global attention and catapulted Tata Motors onto the world stage.

The customer response in India was also unprecedented, and enormous interest in the car was shown by certain foreign countries.

Several international manufacturers are also now planning to be in the ultra-low-cost segment and many of them are looking at India as a possible location for manufacturing such a vehicle.

nano3

The company’s new plant for Nano in Singur, West Bengal, is expected to go into operation in the last quarter of this calendar year.

These manufacturing facilities would be expanded to meet the demand in the domestic and international markets in the future. New variants of Nano are also currently under development to meet the new environmental and fuel price challenges, as also the market requirement of several international markets.

During the year, the company expressed its interest in participating in the Ford Motor Company’s intended sale of Jaguar and Land Rover on a going concern basis.

Both brands are highly regarded and have a long heritage in their respective segments. Jaguar has been a prestigious maker of high-performance passenger cars with a racing history, and Land Rover has always been the ‘Gold Standard’ for off-road vehicles.

Several international private equity firms and one other Indian automotive manufacturer participated in the process. After a protracted negotiation through the year, Tata Motors was considered by Ford for focused discussion, with the full support of the unions and the work force.

The two enterprises were formally transferred on June 2, 2008 at a signing ceremony at the Jaguar and Land Rover head quarters in West Midlands, when history was made and these two globally-renowned brands became Indian-owned.

In these brands, Tata Motors has acquired impressive engineering capabilities, substantial manufacturing facilities, (which reflect the major investments by both Ford and BMW in past years), and enormous goodwill amongst the dealer network and the Jaguar owners? community.

There is a need to introduce a greater number of attractive products for both brands, and to re-kindle Jaguar’s past image connected with its sports car heritage.

Both brands have tremendous unfulfilled market potential and a significant global presence.

To fund the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover, Tata Motors is raising Rs 7,200 crore (Rs 72 billion) on a rights basis and $500-600 million through an international offering of equity and/or cost-effective quasi-equity instruments.

The road ahead

The year ahead will be a year of major challenges. Higher fuel prices will negatively impact both commercial vehicles and passenger car sales.

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There will be an enormous and unprecedented increase in material costs in steel, tyres, and the like, and there will be the impact of tighter money supply with higher interest rates.

In addition, the company will have to manage the completion of the Singur plant and introduction of Nano in the market.

While dealing with these challenges in India, Tata Motors’ operations will also have to absorb the cost of the JLR acquisition, and deal with its integration.

These challenges appear daunting, but to the people in Tata Motors, the year ahead will be no more daunting than the challenges they have faced in difficult years in the past.

No words would ever adequately recognise the spirit, dedication and commitment of the people in Tata Motors who have faced adversity and major crises, delivered products which were not considered possible and repeatedly found solutions for situations which have thwarted many an organisation.

I, therefore, feel confident that the same spirit, dedication and commitment will enable them to face the challenges ahead and find solutions to ensure the sustainability of Tata Motors? long-term future growth and viability.

Despite the challenges mentioned, Tata Motors will have an exciting future.

Apart from its own growth domestically in both the commercial vehicle and passenger car areas, for which it has ambitious plans, the high volumes of the Nano range will dramatically change Tata Motors’ market position, reach and visibility. Internationally, the Jaguar and Land Rover brands will add global scale, profits and visibility to Tata Motors, enabling it to take its place in the global auto industry as a credible international automobile company.

Courtesy :- Business Standard