Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Personal Profile
Date of Birth: March 23, 1953
Zodiac Sign: Aries
Place of Birth: Bangalore, India
Sex: Female
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Nationality: Indian
Education: Bishop Cotton Girls School, Bangalore
Mount Carmel College, Bangalore
Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education
Achievement:
Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd; Felicitated with Padmashri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005). Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, India's biggest biotechnology company. In 2004, she became India's richest woman. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was born on March 23, 1953 in Bangalore. She had her schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at Bangalore. After doing completing her B.Sc. in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, she went to Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as a master brewer. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland. In the same year, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw founded Biocon India in collaboration with Biocon Biochemicals Limited, with a capital of Rs.10,000. She initially faced many problems regarding funds for her business. Banks were hesitant to give loan to her as biotechnology was a totally new field at that point of time and she was a woman entrepreneur, which was a rare phenomenon. Biocon's initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Under Kiran Mazumdar Shaw's stewardship Biocon transformed from an industrial enzymes company to an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives. Today, Biocon is recognised as India's pioneering biotech enterprise. In 2004, Biocon came up with an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India's richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs. 2,100 crore.Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards. These include ET Businesswoman of the Year, Best Woman Entrepreneur, Model Employer, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Leading Exporter, Outstanding Citizen, Technology Pioneer, etc. Government of India also felicitated her with Padmashri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005).

A successful technocrat of global standing, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw heads India’s leading Biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. She is highly respected in the corporate world and has been recently voted by Nature Biotechnology as The Most Influential in Bio-business person outside Europe and USA. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw received a graduate honours degree in Zoology from Bangalore University (1973) and qualified as a Master Brewer from Ballarat University, Australia (1975). Kiran Mazumdar Shaw also received an honorary Doctorate of Science in 2004, from her alma mater, Ballarat University, in recognition of her pre-eminent contributions to the field of Biotechnology.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has also been awarded honarary doctorates from University of Abertay, Dundee, U.K. (2007), University of Glasgow, U.K. (2008) and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K. (2008).Kiran Mazumdar Shaw chairs Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology and also served on the Board of Science Foundation, Ireland. She presently serves on the Advisory Council of the Government’s Department of Biotechnology where she has been instrumental in bringing government, industry and academia together, to chart a clear and progressive growth path for Biotechnology in India. Most recently, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has been invited to join the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India and the US-India CEO Forum.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the ET Businesswoman of the Year, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Technology Pioneer, etc. Her most cherished awards are the national awards, PADMASHRI (1989) and PADMA BHUSHAN (2005) presented to her by the President of India, for her pioneering efforts in Industrial Biotechnology.
Under her stewardship, Biocon has evolved from its inception in 1978 as an industrial enzymes company to a fully integrated Bio-pharmaceutical enterprise encompassing a well balanced business portfolio of products and services with a research focus on Diabetes, Oncology and Auto-immune disease. During this transition, Biocon has established 2 subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for discovery research and Clinigene (2000) to cater to services in clinical development. A leading US trade publication, Med Ad News, in its 2007 listings has ranked Biocon 20th amongst the leading biotechnology companies in the world and the 7th largest Biotech employer globally.
Awards
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
2005: Padma Bhushan Award
2006: Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award
2005: Lifetime Achievement Award from Indian Chamber of Commerce
2004: Whirlpool GR8 Women award for Science and Technology
1987: Outstanding Young Person Award by Jaycees
1983: Rotary Award for the Best Model Employer
1983: Outstanding Contribution Award (AWAKE)

M S Banga

Introduction

Manvinder Singh Banga is the ex-CEO of Hindustan Lever Limited, the Indian subsidiary of Unilever, and the largest FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) company in India. In February 2005, he was elevated to the newly formed Unilever Executive (UEX) as worldwide president of the Foods business (which accounts for 57% of Unilever's global revenue). In April 2008, he was given additional responsibility for the global Home & Personal Care (HPC) business, assuming the title of President, Foods and Home & Personal Care. He is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Thomson Reuters, and was awarded the Padma Bhushan - one of India's highest civilian honours - in 2010.
Mr Banga is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India's premier management education institute.

Profile of Manvinder Singh Banga

He was born on October 31, 1954 in Shimla to Jaswant and Harbhajan Singh Banga. His father was a general in the Indian Army. Early childhood saw Manvinder Singh (better known as Vindi) crisscross the country, living in small villages and larger towns, wherever his father was posted. Schooling however was a more settled affair, and he attended Delhi Public School, going on to graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1975 with a gold medal and a BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. From Delhi he moved to Ahmadabad to study at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A), where he met his wife, Kamini. Here too Vindi earned a gold medal.



Achievement of Manvinder Singh Banga

Soon after leaving IIM-A, he joined Hindustan Lever as a management trainee. The FMCG giant had just introduced the concept of rural training for new hires, and Vindi was among the earliest to be inducted through the program. Back behind a desk, he quickly proved himself. Through the late 1980s, Vindi was given three out-of-turn promotions, catapulting him to the board of Hindustan Lever at age 41. Vindi impressed his superiors with his intellect. "He was the rare combination of intuition and analytical ability," Saurav Adhikari, president of HCL's Net business and Vindi's junior in Hindustan Lever in the 1980s, was once reported as saying. Vindi's clinical thinking was evident in 1997 when he and his team grappled with the problem of how to upgrade the Surf franchise. The result was a runaway success, and International Surf Excel went on to ward off rival Procter & Gamble's threat (Ariel) in the laundry detergent business.
Ironically, a few years earlier, in 1992, Hindustan Lever almost lost Vindi, when he signed on with Heinz as its India CEO. Keki Dadiseth, then the personnel director, who along with the Chairman SM Datta, managed to lure Vindi back. After Datta's term was over, Dadiseth moved up the ladder to become HLL Chairman, and in November 1998, Vindi moved to London for a sixteen month stint at Unilever UK, not only to learn about the latest management trends and to familiarize himself with the various parts of the global Lever empire, but also to be groomed as the next chairman of Hindustan Lever. Traditionally, every year, the Unilever leadership brings together the best talent in every country in which it operates, both to introduce local leaders to each other, as also to assess whom among them could be candidates for the Unilever chairmanship. In May 2000, Vindi returned to India as chairman of one of India's most respected companies.
He presided over HLL at a difficult time in the Indian FMCG industry. A general economic slowdown as well as heavy competition and price-cutting measures from HLL's rival Procter & Gamble, meant that HLL revenues and profits stopped seeing the double-digit growth they had under his predecessor Keki Dadiseth. Banga also implemented the Unilever Power Brand strategy of trimming HLL's vast portfolio of brands and singling out the core high-performers, with an aim to increasing focus and performance. This strategy also had mixed success.
In April 2004, HLL announced that it would replicate Unilever's organizational structure by splitting into two separate divisions, Foods, and Home & Personal Care (HPC). As part of this reorganization, Banga was made non-executive chairman of HLL, and also given additional responsibility as business group president of Unilever's $6 billion Asia HPC business.
In February 2005, as part of a major reorganization of Unilever's upper management, Banga was elevated to the Unilever Executive, where he currently serves as the global head of the Foods division.
On November 22, 2006, Unilever announced plans to reshape its Foods R&D organization in Europe, in order to 'further enable differentiated innovation'. The reorganization is part of the One Unilever programme designed to increase the leverage of its scale, improve market competitiveness and create a more cost-competitive structure. The announcement followed an extensive Science & Technology Review led by Banga, who said "The review showed that we have great people and strong capabilities. However, it also showed that by organising ourselves so that we could leverage our scale and play to our strengths we could improve our market competitiveness. By getting the benefits of focus and synergies I am convinced that today's announcement will make a significant difference to our innovation delivery."
In 2008, he was given additional responsibility for the Home and Personal Care Division, assuming the title of President, Foods and Home & Personal Care.
He is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Thomson Reuters, and was awarded the Padma Bhushan - one of India's highest civilian honours - in 2010.

Chanda Kochhar

Born November 17, 1961
Occupation CEO and MD, ICICI Bank
Children A son and a daughter

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. She also heads the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank. 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".

Personal life
Chanda Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She then moved to Mumbai, where she joined Jai Hind College for a Bachelor of Arts degree. Kochhar graduated from the College in 1982 and then pursued MBA and Cost Accountancy(ICWAI). Later, she acquired the Masters Degree in Management Studies from the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. Kochhar 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. Kochhar currently resides in Mumbai, and is married. She has two children, a son and a daughter.
Education & Certifications
Mrs. Kochhar joined Jaihind College for a Bachelors Degree in Arts and after graduating in 1982, completed her MBA and Cost Accountancy. She did her Masters in Management Studies (Finance) from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and topped her batch and received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies. In Cost Accountancy, she received the J. N. Bose Gold Medal for highest marks in that year.

Career
1984–1993
In 1984, Chanda Kochhar joined "The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd" or ICICI Ltd. 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.
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 the 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.
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. 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 The ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth-Member.
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.

Ms. Chanda D. Kochhar is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank Limited. She began her career with ICICI as a Management Trainee in 1984 and has thereon successfully risen through the ranks by handling multidimensional assignments and heading all the major functions in the Bank at various points in time.
In 1993 when ICICI decided to enter commercial banking, she was deputed to ICICI Bank as a part of the core team to set up the bank. When ICICI set up the Infrastructure Industry Group in 1996 to create dedicated industry expertise in the areas of Power, Telecom and Transportation sector, she was handpicked and made incharge of the Infrastructure Industry Group. Further in 1998, when ICICI created the ”Major Client Group“ to handle the relationships with the top 200 clients of ICICI, she was promoted as General Manager and was made the head of the Major Clients Group. In the year 1999 she simultaneously started handling the strategy and E-commerce divisions of ICICI. In July 2000, she was chosen to head the Retail Finance division of ICICI and has been instrumental in scaling up the business. In April 2001, she was promoted as an Executive Director, heading the retail business in the Bank. Having joined it during its nascent stage, her strategic thinking and skills to convert challenges into opportunities ensured that within a short span of around 5 years ICICI Bank emerged as the largest retail financer in India. In the process of transforming a small bank into the largest private sector bank in the country, within a decade of its inception, the various steps taken by her also shaped the retail finance industry in India.
In April 2006, she was appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank, with responsibility for both Corporate and Retail banking business of ICICI Bank and from October 2006 to October 2007, she handled the International and Corporate businesses of ICICI Bank. Once again under her leadership, International banking was the fastest growing businesses within the Bank aiming to cater to the cross-border needs of clients.
In October 2007, she was appointed as the Joint Managing Director & CFO. She was heading the Corporate Centre, was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was also the official spokesperson for ICICI Bank. In addition to finance, planning and communications; her responsibilities included the global treasury, principal investments & trading, risk management and legal functions. She was also responsible for day-to-day guidance and administrative matters relating to the compliance and internal audit functions.
Awards
Under the leadership of Ms. Kochhar ICICI Bank had won The Asian Banker - “Best Retail Bank in India“award for five consecutive years from the year 2001 to 2005. As recognition of her contribution to establish ICICI Bank as a leading player in the banking industry Ms. Kochhar has also been:
- Ranked 20th in the Forbe's list of Most Powerful Women in the World, 2009.
- Ranked 25th in the Fortune’s List of Most Powerful Women in Business, 2008.
- Featured in the list of 25 most powerful women leaders in Business Today, 2008.
- Selected as ‘Rising Star Award’ for Global Awards 2006 by Retail Banker International.
- Awarded Business Woman of the Year 2005 by The Economic Times of India.
- Selected as Retail Banker of the Year 2004 (Asia-Pacific region) by The Asian Banker from amongst prominent retail bankers in the Asia Pacific region

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 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. 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. In the 2008 list, Kochhar features at the 25th spot. 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 Congressparty chief Sonia Gandhi at number 13.

LAKSHMI NIWAS MITTAL

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal born 15 June 1950 is an Indian born industrialist based in the United Kingdom. He was born in Sadulpur village, in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India. He is the CEO and founder of and has been the chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal since the merge. He also serves as a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs, EADS and ICICI Bank and is the chairman of the World Steel Association. The Financial Times named Lakshmi Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year. In May 2007, he was named one of the "100 Most Influential People" by Time magazine. As of 2009, Mittal is the 8th richest person in the world. He is also the richest person in the United Kingdom with personal wealth of US$19.3 billion or £10.8 billion in 2009.BiographyLakshmi Narayan Mittal also known as Lakshmi Niwas Mittal began his career working in the family’s steelmaking business in India, and has over 30 years of experience working in steel and related industries. Mittal founded the company Mittal Steel (formerly the LNM Group) in 1976 and has been responsible for the development of its businesses ever since. Mittal Steel is a global steel producer with operations in 14 countries. Mittal pioneered the development of integrated mini-mills and the use of Direct Reduced Iron or “DRI” as a scrap substitute for steelmaking and led the consolidation process of the global steel industry. Mittal Steel is the largest steelmaker in the world, with shipments of 42.1 million tons of steel and profits of over $22 billion in 2004. Mittal was awarded Fortune magazines “European Businessman of the Year 2004” and also “Steelmaker of the Year” in 1996 by New Steel, and the “Willy Korf Steel Vision Award” in 1998, for outstanding vision, entrepreneurship, leadership and success in global steel development from American Metal Market and PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics. In 2002 he was involved in a political scandal with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, when a donation he made to the Labour party led to Blair's intervention in a business deal favoring Mittal. It was announced later that he donated £2 million to the Labour Party. Mittal is an active philanthropist. Mittal is a member of the Foreign Investment Council in Kazakhstan, the International Investment Council in South Africa, the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and the International Iron and Steel Institute’s Executive Committee. He is a member in the Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management (the business School of Northwestern University).
CareerMr. Mittal began his career working in the family's steelmaking business in India, and in 1976, when the family founded its own steel business; he set out to establish its international division, beginning with the buying of a run-down plant in Indonesia. Shortly afterwards he married Usha, the daughter of a well-to-do moneylender. In 1994, due to differences with his father, mother and brothers, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business (representing approximately 22- 23% of the whole group), which was already owned by the family. Mittal's family never spoke publicly about the reasons for the split. On November 6th, 2009 it was announced that the Mittal Family Trust agreed to purchase Germany’s insolvent fashion group, Escada, including Escada’s main business, brand rights, production facilities and distribution network. Megha Mittal, the 33 year old daughter-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, was reported by journalists at Bloomberg News to be the main instigator of the deal. The purchase price was not disclosed.Personal WealthIn 2009, Forbes Magazine listed Mittal the world's 8th richest person with personal wealth of US$19.3 billion. In 2008, Mittal was reported to be the 4th wealthiest person in the world, and the wealthiest in Asia, by Forbes Magazine (up from 61st richest in 2004) up one place since a year before. The Mittal family owns a controlling majority stake in ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company.CharityAfter witnessing India win only one medal, bronze, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and one medal, silver, at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Mittal decided to set up Mittal Champions Trust with US$9 million to support 10 Indian athletes with world-beating potential.[8].In 2008 Mittal awarded Abhinav Bindra with Rs. 1.5 Crore, for getting India its first individual Olympic gold medal in shooting. For Comic Relief 2007, he matched the money raised (~£1 million) on the celebrity special BBC programme, The Apprentice. ArcelorMittal also has a very active CSR program under which it sets out its path to produce Safe Sustainable Steel. The company also operates the ArcelorMittal Foundation, which provides support to many different community projects around the world in the countries where ArcelorMittal operates.
Queens Park RangersRecently, Mittal had emerged as a leading contender to buy and sell Barclays Premiership clubs Wigan and Everton. However on 20 December 2007 it was announced that the Mittal family had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in Queens Park Rangers football club joining Flavio Briatore and Mittal's friend Bernie Ecclestone. As part of the investment Mittal's son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, took a place on the board of directors. The combined investment in the struggling club sparked suggestions that Mittal might be looking to join the growing ranks of wealthy individuals investing heavily in English football and emulating other similar benefactors such as Roman Abramovich.
Environmental damageLakshmi Mittal purchased the Irish Steel plant based in Cork from the Government for a nominal fee of £1. Three years later in 2001, it was closed, leaving 400 people redundant. Subsequent environmental issues at the site have been a cause for criticism. The Government tried to sue in the High Court to have him pay for the clean-up of Cork Harbour but failed. The clean up was expected to cost €70m.Personal lifeHe presently resides in Kensington, London. His residence at Kensington Palace Gardens was purchased from Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for £57 million (US$128 million), making it the world's most expensive house, at that date.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 deemed the "Taj Mittal".It has 12 bedrooms, an indoor pool, Turkish baths and parking for 20 cars.Kensington Gardens, currently owned by financier Noam Gottesman. The Guardian newspaper reported that the purchase price would be £127 million, which would set a record for the most expensive house ever sold in Britain. The paper noted that the house on "Billionaire's Boulevard" was expected to be the home of Mittal's son.Wikinews has related news: Lakshmi Mittal tops Sunday Times Rich List
Awards2008: Padma Vibhushan2007: Bessemer Gold Medal2006: Person of the Year - Financial Times2004: European Businessman of the Year - Fortune magazine1998: Willy Korf Steel Vision Award - American Metal Market and PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics1996: Steelmaker of the Year - New Steel

Karsanbhai Patel

Achievement
Man behind the hugely successful brand, Nirma.
Karsanbhai Patel is the man behind the hugely successful brand, Nirma. His' is a legendary rags to riches journey during which he shattered established business theories and rewrote new ones.
Karsanbhai Patel has won many accolades on his way to success. The Federation of Association of Small Scale Industries of India, New Delhi, awarded him with the 'Udyog Ratna'. The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce felicitated him as an 'Outstanding Industrialist of the Eighties'. The Govt. of India twice appointed him Chairman of the Development Council for Oils, Soaps & Detergents.
Early Life
Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel (K.K. Patel) came from a humble farmer family from Mehsana, Gujarat. He worked as Lab Assistant in the Geology and Mining Department of the Government of Gujarat. In 1969, at the age of 25, Karsan Bhai Patel started a small-scale enterprise. He offered a quality detergent powder, using indigenous technology, at a third of the prevailing price, without compromising on the product. Karsanbhai named the detergent powder Nirma after daughter Nirupama.
After three years, Karsanbhai felt confident enough to quit his job.
Karsanbhai set up shop at small workshop in an Ahmedabad suburb. The Nirma brand quickly established itself in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Profession life
In 1969, domestic detergent market was limited only to premium segment and was dominated by MNCs. Karsanbhai Patel started door-to-door selling of Nirma and priced it at Rs. 3 per kg. The next available cheapest brand in the market at that time was Rs.13 per kg. Nirma revolutionized the whole detergent powder segment and in a short span of time created an entirely new market segment in the domestic detergent sector market. It gave the bigger established brands a run for their money and soon occupied the top market share. To add to all this, Nirma was made of an innovative formulation, which global detergent giants were later on compelled to emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour intensive, which offered large scale employment.

Karsanbhai notched up one success after another. After establishing its leadership in economy-priced detergents, Nirma foray into the premium brand segment, in cakes and detergents was equally successful. It built up a 30% market share in the premium detergent segment and achieved a greater than 20% share in the premium soaps market

Personal life
Karsanbhai have two sons and one daughter. Both sons and son-in-law are now at leading positions in the Nirma organization. Rakeshh K Patel (MBA) looks after procurement and logistics, Hiren K Patel, chemical engineer and MBA, heads marketing and finance, while Kalpesh Patel is in human resources and Healthcare Industry (Nirlife healthcare).

OM PRAKASH BHATT

CHAIRMAN OF SBI
DATE OF BIRTH 7th MARCH,1951
EDUCATION QUALIFICATION - MASTER OF ARTS(ENGLISH)
BEGINNING – Career started with SBI as probationary officer
Mr. O.P. Bhatt started his banking career as a Probationary Officer with State Bank of India in 1972. Mr. O.P. Bhatt has, during his long career of 36 years with SBI, held several important assignments in India and abroad including stints at the Bank’s London and Washington Offices. He was the Project Coordinator for the Bank’s computerization project from where he moved on to Regional Manager at Jaipur and then as Executive Secretary to the then Chairman of the SBI Group. After his return from Washington, Mr. Bhatt has held a number of critical assignments first as General Manager at Lucknow, later as Chief General Manager of the Bank’s North East Circle and then as Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore, a subsidiary of the State Bank of India.
As Chairman, Mr. Bhatt is not only the Chief Executive of India's largest
commercial bank, he is also the Head of the entire State Bank Group which consists of 8 domestic and 5 international banking subsidiaries, besides 10 nonbanking subsidiaries, and 2 Joint Ventures. Besides chairing these companies, Mr. Bhatt is also the Chairman of the Banking & Financial Institutions Committee of FICCI, Director on the board of several other companies like EXIM Bank and GIC and a member of the Boards of ICRIER, XLRI, IBPS, IDRBT, KVIC and National Co-operative Development Corporation. Mr. Bhatt took over the reigns of the State Bank of India at its most critical and challenging time. The process of liberalization and globalisation of the Indian economy had already begun, bringing with it both opportunities and threats. The private sector banks had begun to flourish in the Indian banking
industry, providing unprecedented competition to public sector banks like State Bank. Globalisation had also brought with it critical issues of risk management and capital adequacy. On the other hand, with the economy growing like never before, and with State Bank of India having the largest network of branches in the country and a strong IT platform already in place, Mr. Bhatt felt that the Bank was at the threshold of its "golden period". With his deep knowledge of the market, both domestic and international, his close grasp of IT related issues, his hands-on approach to execution, and his proven ability to plan and strategise, Mr. Bhatt began at SBI, a process of consolidating the Bank's strengths, innovating new products to suit today's market, and taking effective
steps to ensure that technology, human resources and business processes are harnessed towards expansion and deeper penetration of the market, both domestic and foreign.

Mr. Bhatt has ushered in a Transformation Exercise at SBI which began
with the Top Management and has been taken right down to the grass root level. ‘Parivartan’ – a change management capsule programme, which was the brainchild of Mr. Bhatt and is hailed by the industry, as the largest ever programme of its kind, covered 1,30,000 employees of SBI in 100 days.


The Bank, under Mr. Bhatt, has made rapid strides during the past two years – arresting falling market share, rapid branch expansion – the Bank opened its 10,000th branch this year – the first Indian bank and only the second in the world to do so, and entering a number of new businesses. A testimony to this is the number of awards conferred on the Bank and on Mr. Bhatt including the “Banker of the Year” by Business Standard and CNN-IBN Indian of the Year for Business, both in 2007. The Bank has, under the aegis of Mr. Bhatt, steadily improved its Global ranking from 107 in 2006 to 70 in 2007 and 57 in 2008. The Bank’s ranking in the list of Fortune 500 companies has similarly moved up from 495 in 2006 to 380 in July 2008, and is, incidentally, the only
Indian bank in this list.

Kumar Mangalam

Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group; Vhosen as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year - India in 2005

Kumar Mangalam Birla is the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. The group is India's third largest business house. Major companies of Aditya Birla Group in India are Grasim, Hindalco, UltraTech Cement, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Idea Cellular. Aditya Birla Group's joint ventures include Birla Sun Life (Financial Services) and Birla NGK (Insulators). The group also has its presence in various countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Egypt, Canada, China and Australia.

Early life

Born on June 14, 1967, Kumar Mangalam Birla spent the early of his life in Calcutta and Mumbai. He is a Chartered Accountant and did his MBA (Masters in Business Administration) from the London Business School, London. Kumar Mangalam Birla took over as Chairman in 1995, at the age of 28, after sudden demise of his father, noted industrialist Aditya Birla, after whom the group is named.




Career
When Kumar Mangalam Birla assumed the mantle at the Aditya Birla Group, Doubts were raised about his ability to handle a giant business house with interests spanning viscose, textiles and garments on the one hand and cement, aluminium and fertilizers on the other. But Kumar Mangalam proved his skeptics wrong. He brought in radical changes, changed business strategies, professionalized the entire group and replaced internal systems. Kumar Mangalam reduced his group's dependence on the cyclic commodities sectors by entering consumer products.


Kumar Mangalam Birla also holds several key positions on various regulatory and professional boards, including chairmanship of the advisory committee constituted by the ministry of company affairs for 2006 and 2007, membership of the prime minister of India's advisory council on trade and industry, chairmanship of the board of trade reconstituted by the union minister of commerce and industry, and membership of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India.

Kumar Mangalam Birla honors
Kumar Mangalam Birla has won several honors. Major among them include The Business Leader of the Year (2003) by The Economic Times, Business Man of the Year - 2003 by Business India, and The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year - India in 2005.

Azim Premji

Born - July 24, 1945 (age 64)
Bombay, India

Residence - Bangalore, India

Net worth - ▼ US$5.7 billion (2009)

Religion – Islam

Spouse(s) - Yasmeen Premji

Children - Rishad & Tariq


Azim Premji (born July 24, 1945), is an Indian engineer and businessman. He is the Chairman of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India. Azim Premji was rated the richest person in the country from 1999 to 2005 as per Forbes. In 2000, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He was also among the 50 richest people in the world from 2001 to 2003 according to Forbes. According to a 2003 BBC report, he is "regarded as an Indian Bill Gates". In April 2004, he was rated among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. His assets include 74% of Wipro, the remaining 26% belonging to the cofounder of Wipro. Premji is now the chairman of Wipro. Wipro grew from a company of US $1.5 million to a giant of $1.4 billion under his leadership. Premji's company dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats, along with consumer products. Now, however Wipro is one of India's largest software companies and is ranked among the top 100 technology companies globally.
His wealth in 2009 was estimated at US$5.7 billion which places him as the fifth richest Indian.

Azim Premji Profile

Born: July 24, 1945
Achievements: Chairman of Wipro Technologies; Richest Indian for the past several years; Honored with Padma Bhushan in 2005.

Azim Premji is Chairman of Wipro Technologies, one of the largest software companies in India. He is an icon among Indian businessmen and his success story is a source of inspiration to a number of budding entrepreneurs.

Born on July 24, 1945, Azim Hashim Premji was studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his father, he was called upon to handle the family business. Azim Premji took over the reins of family business in 1966 at the age of 21.

At the first annual general meeting of the company attended by Azeem Premji, a shareholder doubted Premji's ability to handle business at such a young age and publicly advised him to sell his shareholding and give it to a more mature management. This spurred Azim Premji and made him all the more determined to make Wipro a success story. And the rest is history.

When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, 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.

Under Azim Premji's leadership Wipro has metamorphosed from a Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest independent R&D service provider in the world.

Azim Premji has several achievements to his credit. In 2000, Asiaweek magazine, voted Premji among the 20 most powerful men in the world. Azim Premji was among the 50 richest people in the world from 2001 to 2003 listed by Forbes. In April 2004, Times Magazine, rated him among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. He is also the richest Indian for the past several years. In 2005,Government of India honored Azim Premji with Padma Bhushan.

Personal life
Premji was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, to a Gujarati Khoja Shia Muslim family. His father M. H. Premji owned the Western India Vegetable Product Company (which later became Wipro Ltd.) which made hydrogenated vegetable oils and fats. His grandfather was the rice king of Burma. His father had declined an invitation from M.A. Jinnah to go to Pakistan. While he completed his initial education at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Premji was forced to leave his studies in electrical engineering from Stanford University, California, USA at the age of 21 to take over the family business when his father, M.H. Premji, suddenly passed away in 1966. He has since after a gap of over thirty years completed his degree in Electrical Engineering.
When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, 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. The Amalner-based vanaspathi manufacturing company, the Western India Vegetable Product later became Wipro Products Ltd, Wipro Technologies and Wipro Corporation. Under Premji’s leadership Wipro embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion and diversification. The Company began manufacturing light bulbs with General Electric and other consumer products including soaps, baby care products, shampoos, powder etc. In 1975, Wipro Fluid Power business unit manufacturing hydraulic cylinders and truck tippers was started. But Premji’s ambitions did not stop there. In the 1980s Wipro entered the IT field, taking advantage of the expulsion of IBM from the Indian market in 1975. Thus, Wipro became involved in 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 years to a $662 million 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 global companies, such as Alcatel, Nokia, Cisco and Nortel and has a joint venture in Medical Systems with General Electric company.
Premji is married to Yasmeen, the couple have two children, Rishad and Tariq. Rishad is married to Aditi.
Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth. He drives a Toyota Corolla and flies economy class, prefers to stay in company guest houses rather than luxury hotelsand even served food on paper plates at a lunch honouring his son's wedding.

Honours and awards
Premji has been recognized by Business Week as one of the Greatest Entrepreneurs 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.
As on October 6, 2007, he was the 5th richest Indian, with a net worth of $13.6 billion.But now his net worth is only $6 billions and less thanks to the post 9/11 and recession scenario.
He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), an honorary degree , from the Aligarh Muslim University on the 18th of 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.

Azim Premji Foundation
The Azim Premji Foundation says it "Aims at making a tangible impact on identified social issues by working in active partnership with the Government and other related sectors of society". The Foundation was set up with financial resources contributed by Azim Premji.
Programmes of the Azim Premji Foundation focus on "creating effective and scalable models that significantly improve the quality of learning in the school and ensure satisfactory ownership by the community in the management of the school". Azim Premji Foundation says it "dedicates itself to the cause of Universalization of Elementary Education in India". The organisation has over the years been instrumental in improving the quality of general education, particularly in rural schools.

Citing a technology initiative, the Foundation reported: "Think of a single PC with three display terminals, three keyboards and three 'mouses', which can be simultaneously used as if they are three independent computers".
Five new titles of educational CDs for Indian schools were produced earlier in 2005. They are:
 Friendly Animals and Journey on the Clouds (English)
 Swatantra Divas
 Fun with Chinchoo in Mathematics
 Khel-Mel (Hindi), released in February 2005.
With these, the total number of master titles available is 70.

There are now 68 titles in Karnataka, 42 for Andhra Pradesh, 35 for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, 18 for Urdu medium schools, six for Orissa, 14 for Gujarat, 3 for Punjab and 1 for Kerala.
This Foundation is also involved in computer-based assessment in Andhra Pradesh (50,000 students took part in early 2005), a learning guarantee programme, and a policy planning unit in Karnataka


Azim Premji's 8 steps to excellence


Among others, Wipro has recently won the prestigious 'Risk Management Award,' instituted by theFinancial Times-The Banker magazine. What is that which makes this company so successful? "An obsession for excellence," says Azim Premji, Chairman & Managing Director, Wipro Limited.
Chairman and Managing Director of Wipro, 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.
________________________________________
These are changing times. Yet in the middle of all the changes there is one thing that constantly determines success. Some call it leadership. But to my mind, it is the single-minded pursuit of excellence.
Excellence endures and sustains. It goes beyond motivation into the realms of inspiration. Excellence can be as strong a uniting force as solid vision.
Excellence does not happen in a vacuum. It needs a collective obsession as I have experienced the benefits of excellence in my own life. Excellence is a great starting point for any new organisation but also an unending journey. What is excellence? It is about going a little beyond what we expect from ourselves. Part of the need for excellence is imposed on us externally by our customers. Our competition keeps us on our toes, especially when it is global in nature.
But the other driver of excellence is internal. I have found that excellence is not so much a battle you fight with others, but a battle you fight with yourself, by constantly raising the bar and stretching yourself and your team. This is the best and the most satisfying and challenging part about excellence.
How does one create excellence in an organisation?
First, we create an obsession with excellence. We must dream of it not only because it delivers better results but because we truly believe in it and find it intrinsically satisfying to us.
We must think of excellence not only with our mind but also with our heart and soul. Let us look outside, at the global standards of excellence in quality, cost and delivery and let us not rest till we surpass them.
Second, we need to build a collective self-confidence. Organisations and people who pursue excellence are self-confident. This is because excellence requires tremendous faith in one's ability to do more and in a better way. Unless, we believe we can do better, we cannot.
Third, we must understand the difference between perfection for its own sake and excellence. Time is of essence. Globalisation has made the customer only more impatient. This may seem like a paradox: should we aim for excellence or should we aim for speed?
Excellence is about doing the best we can and speed lies in doing it quickly. These two concepts are not opposed to each other; in fact, speed and timeliness are important elements of quality and excellence.
Fourth, we must realise that we cannot be the best in everything we do. We must define what we are or would like to be best at and what someone else can do better.
Excellence is no longer about being the best in India . It is about being the best in the world. We have to define what our own core competencies are and what we can outsource to other leaders. Headaches shared are headaches divided.
Fifth, we must create processes that enable excellence. Today, there are a number of global methods and processes available whether it is Six Sigma, CMM or ISO. Use them because they are based on distilled wisdom collected from the best companies in the world.
Also, we must build a strong foundation of information technology, because in this complex, dynamic world, it is imperative that we use the most modern tools to keep processes updated.
Sixth, we must create a culture of teaming. I have found that while great individuals are important, one cannot have pockets of excellence. Quality gives ample opportunities to build a culture of teaming. Cross-functional teams that are customer facing can cut through an amazing amount of bureaucracy, personal empire building and silos and deliver savings that one would not have imagined possible.
The other advantage of building teams focussed on quality is that the teaming culture eventually spreads to the rest of the organisation and teaming becomes a way of life.
Seventh, invest in excellence for the future. Future always seems to be at a distance. But it comes upon you so suddenly that it catches you by surprise, if not shock. What constitutes excellence in the future will be significantly different from what it is today.
In these days of severe market pressures, there is big temptation to sacrifice the future to look good in the present. We must certainly trim our discretionary expenses, but we must ensure that our investments in strategic areas that lead to excellence in the future are protected.
Finally, excellence requires humility. This is especially needed when we feel we have reached the peak of excellence and there is nothing further we can do. We need an open mind to look at things in a different way and allow new inputs to come in.
Otherwise, there is a real danger of becoming complacent or even downright arrogant. I would like to end my talk with a story that illustrates this very well.
A brilliant young professor went to meet a famous Zen master to have a discussion with him on Zen. He found himself in front of a modest house. He rang the doorbell and waited. A while later, he heard shuffling footsteps and the door was opened by the Zen master.
He invited the professor to sit with him on the dining table. The professor was a little disappointed with the shabby appearance of the Zen master. He started quizzing him immediately on comparative philosophies and the Zen master gave some brief answers.
At this point, the Zen master asked the professor to have some tea. When the professor held the cup, the Zen master started pouring tea into it. After some time, the tea started spilling and the professor shouted, "Stop! The cup can contain no more."
The Zen Master stopped and then, once again smiling, he said, "A mind, full of itself can receive nothing. How can I speak to you of Zenism until you empty your mind to learn." The professor understood and apologized to the Zen master. He parted from him, the Zen master -- a wiser man.

Sabeer Bhatia

Sabeer Bhatia (born December 30, 1968) is the co-founder of Hotmail and an entrepreneur.

Biography
Bhatia was born to a Punjabi Hindu family in Chandigarh, India. His father, Baldev Bhatia, was as an officer in the Indian Army who later joined the Indian Ministry of Defence, while his mother, Daman Bhatia, was a senior official at the Central Bank of India. Bhatia was schooled at the St. Joseph's Boys' High School in Bangalore. In 1985, he began his undergraduate education at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in Pilani and was transferred to Caltech after two years at BITS. After graduating from Caltech, Sabeer went to Stanford University in 1989 to pursue his M.S. in Electrical Engineering. At Stanford, he worked on Ultra Low Power VLSI Design.
At Stanford, he got inspired by entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy and eventually decided to become one himself. Instead of pursuing a Ph.D. after his Masters, he decided to join Apple in 1991.
Founder of Hotmail
After a brief stint at Apple, Sabeer joined a startup company called Firepower Systems Inc, where he spent two years. In 1994, Sabeer started working on new ideas for the Internet and he teamed up with Jack Smith, a colleague from Apple Computer, Inc.
The two came up with the concept of a web-based database entitled Javasoft. While pursuing this idea, they subsequently realized the potential of a web-based e-mail system and thus decided to create one called HoTMaiL (the uppercase letters spelling out HTML - the language used to write the base of a webpage).In order to attract attention, the e-mail service was provided for free and revenue was obtained through the advertising on the website. Draper Fisher Ventures invested $300,000 on the project and the service was launched on July 4, 1996.
In less than six months, the website attracted over 1 million subscribers. As the interest in the web-based email provider increased, Microsoft eventually took notice and on December 30, 1997 (Bhatia's 29th birthday), Hotmail was sold to Microsoft for a reported sum of $400 million.
Other ventures
After selling Hotmail, Bhatia worked at Microsoft for about a year and in April 1999, he left the company to start another website, Arzoo Inc, which was shut down when the dot-com bubbleburst. In 2006, he relaunched Arzoo as a travel portal.
He started (alongside co-founders Shiraz Kanga and Viraf Zack) BlogEverywhere, a website attempting to capitalise on the emerging blogosphere.
In 2006, he became an angel investor for NeoAccel, a network security vendor and maker of SSL VPN-Plus.
In November 2007, he released an online office alternative to Microsoft Office, called Live Documents. This application allows users to use their documents both offline and online, edit, collaborate and share documents in real-time with others, and sync documents between various computers and users. Users can also download their Microsoft Office plug-in, which allows them to get the best of offline and online offices suites, along with full compatibility for all office document formats.
He has also pushed for enabling access to the internet through cable television in Indian homes.
In January, 2008, Sabeer announced the launch of his latest venture SabSeBolo.com, a free web-based teleconferencing system ("Sab Se Bolo" means "(Let's) Talk To Everyone" in Hindi). On 14th June 2009, Sabeer Bhatia's Sabsebolo acquired Jaxtr, the internet telephone service startup for an undisclosed amount. Jaxtr shall function with the same brand name and help Sabsebolo with its large userbase.
Future plans of his include the development of a new city in India called Nanocity. The aim of Nanocity is to replicate the vibrancy and eco-system of innovation found in the Silicon Valley.
Personal
He got married to Tania Sharma, heiress of the Baidyanath group, in 2008. They have known each other for eight years as friends. They got married in a private ceremony in Langkawi, Malaysia.
Awards
§ "Entrepreneur of the Year," Awarded by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (1998)
§ Named to the "Elite 100," Upside magazine's list of top trendsetters in the New Economy
§ Recipient of the TR100 award, presented by MIT to 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology in the next few years
§ Selected by the San Jose Mercury News and POV magazine as one of the ten most successful entrepreneurs of (1998)
§ Named by TIME as one of the "People to Watch" in International Business (2002)

Venugopal Dhoot

Venugopal Dhoot (born on 30 Sep 1951 in mumbai, india) is an Indian business tycoon.
EARLY LIFE
He is an alumnus of prestigious college pune, India. He was born in a marwadi-banya family. The Marwadi business community hail from Rajasthan, India and are known for producing some of India's finest entrepreneurs and industrialists. He is married to Rama Dhoot, and has two children Anirudh and Surbhi. His personal fortune is estimated to be 1.6 Billion dollars.
FAMILY BACK GROUND
His father, the late nandlal madhavlal dhoot, was an Indian industrialist who made his earlier fortune in the sugarcane and cotton industry. Nandlal dhoot was the founder of Videocon Corporation and other businesses ventures such as ,videocon electronics . The company's major breakthrough came when it received one of India's first licenses to make color televisions.
CAREER
As of 2008, Venugopal Dhoot is its chairman, and it now makes a wide range of electronic consumer goods. Venugopal Dhoot is credited with expanding Videocon Industries from a billion dollar company into a mutli-billion dollar business conglomerate spanning the globe. Videocon Industries is active in India, Oman, Australia, East Timor, France, Sweden, United States, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Finland, Mauritania, Kenya, Maldives, Myanmar, China, Mongolia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Spain, Japan, Dubai, Turkey, Tajikstan, Egypt, England, Mexico, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Angola, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Taiwan. Videocon Industries has a major presence in consumer electronics, telcommunications, oil exploration, glass manufacturing, semiconductors and the Asian entertainment industry. His company recently bought a color picture tube unit from the French company Thomson sa , and a refrigerator business from Swedish company Electrolux. According to forbes he is the eighteenth richest man in India.
PERSONAL LIFE
Venugopal Dhoot is an avid cricket fan and accomplished flautist. The Videocon School of Cricket launched in Kolkata, India under the guidance of former Indian Cricket Captain, Saurav Ganguly trains and promotes young cricketers of India in the age group of 10 to 17. Venugopal Dhoot is an environmental enthusiast who is credited for completing a project for planting 2,00,000 teak trees across India. His brother, Rajkumar, is a member of the Indian parliament.


Venugopal Dhoot is a proud Marathi industrialist. He calls himself Maharashtra's "son of the soil". He is planning a project in CIDCO Navi Mumbai.

JRD TATA

India’s first pilot; established Air India international as India’s first international airline; Chairman of Tata & Sons for 50 years; recipient of Bharat Ratna in 1992… There are many persons of this one personality. Enterprising, indomitable and undomitable and undaunted- JRD Tata is the pioneer who was driven by the spirit of the skies.
Born on July 29, 1904 in paris, jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, was fondly referred to as to as JRD by commoner and king. Representing an exalted idea of India-ness; progressive benevolent, ethical and compassionate, JRD Tata is recognized as the most enterprising Indian entrepreneurs of all times. Recognised as the forth Chairman of the Tata group on the international map.
On the personal front, flying was a passion with JRD. He was the first person to quality within India to fly. He got his license, which bore on it number 1, on 10 February 1929. As an aviator and pioneer flier, he was the one who brought commercial aviation to India. JRD went on to establish Air-India International in 1948 and became the president of inter-national Air Transpot Association (IATA) within 10 year of its establishment. He remained at the helm of air India till 1978, making it one of the most efficient airlines of the world.
Nobody could have guessed that this is how destiny would unfold, when JRD was born to RD Tata, a business partner and relative of Jamsetji Tata, and his French wife sooni. JRD, the second of four siblings, was educated in France, Japan and England before being drafted into the French army for a mandatory one-year period. JRD wanted to extend his stint in the fource (to avail of a chance to attend a renowned horse-riding school), but his father would have none of it. Leaving the French army saved JRD his life, because shortly thereafter, the regiment he served in was wiped out in was wiped out while on an expedition in morocco.
JRD then set his mind on securing an engineering degree from Camribridge, but his father summoned him back to India. He soon found himself on the threshold of a business career in a country he was far from familiar with.
JRD entered the Tata’s as an unpaid apprentice in December 1925. His mentor in business was John Peterson, a Scotsman who had joined the Group after serving in the Indian Civil services. At 22, soon after his father passed away, he was on the board of Tata sons, the group’s flagship company. In 1929, aged 25, he surrended his French citizenship to embrace the country that would become the central motif of his life. In the same year on February 10, JRD become the first Indian to pass the pilot’s examination. With his distinctive honor of being India’s first pilot, he instrumental in giving wings to India by building Tata Airlines, which ultimately became Air India. His passion for flying was fulfilled with the formation of the Tata Aviation Service in 1932.
At the age of 34, in 1938, JRD was elected in chairman of Tata & Sons making him the youngest head of the largest industrial group in India. His leadership at Tata Sons, at the beginning, had 14 enterprises which half a century later had expanded to a conglomerate of 95 enterprises. During his tenure, the group expanded into diverse fields such as Chemicals, Automobiles, Tea and Information Technology. Breaking with the common practice of having members of one’s own family run different operations in a business, JRD urged to brings in professionals to the table. He turned the Tata Group into a business federation where entrepreneurial talent and expertise were encouraged to flower.
During his tenure, JRD initiated a program of closer “employee association with management” to give workers a stronger voice in the affairs of the company. He, for the first time, pioneered the system of developing ‘employee welfare schemes’ in corporate India and steered the principles of eight-hour working days, free medical aid workers’ provident fund and accident compensation schemes, which were later, adopted as statutory requirements in India.
Under JRD’s aegis, in the year 1979, Tata Steel instituted a new practice; a worker is deemed to be “at work” from moment he leaves home for work. Hence the company is financially liable to the worker if any mishap takes place on the way to and from work.
JRD stepped down from his position as chairman in1991, to hand over the baton to Sri. Ratan Tata.
Self-effacing, modest, wistful and endearing are a few of the adjectives used to describe JRD. During the 89 years of his life and as an established corporate citizen of India.
MEMORIES

Naresh Goyal

Born July 29, 1950 (age 59) Patiala, Punjab, India

Residence Mumbai

Nationality Indian

Occupation Chairman of Jet Airways

Net worth ▲ US$2.2 billion


Naresh Goyal (born December 23, 1950) is an Indian businessman and founder Chairman of Jet Airways. He started operating Jet Airways in 1993. Following the 2005 IPO of Jet Airways, Forbes magazine declared him the 16th richest person in India with a net worth of $1.9 billion.
He took over Air Sahara giving his company 32% of the Indian travel market.
He has over 25 years of experience in the civil aviation sector. Under his leadership, Jet Airways has emerged as one of India's most preferred airlines.Following the bad times in the airline industry in the second half of 2008, Naresh Goyal joined hands with his prominent rival Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines in October 2008, entering into an agreement that would rationalize the operation of routes, sharing of codes, prices and availability, fuel management and ground handling, thus making Jet Airways-Kingfisher not only the largest market player, but also enabling both the airlines that would otherwise head for a collapse to economize and save

Early life
He was born in Patiala in Punjab in the house of a jewellery dealer. When he was 11 his family went through an economic crisis and his house was auctioned. He lived with his mother's uncle.
He completed his graduation in Commerce from Vikram College, Patiala.

Education
After graduating in commerce in 1967, Naresh Goyal joined the travel business with the general sales agents for Lebanese International Airlines. From 1967 to 1974, he took extensive training in all facets of the travel business through his association with several foreign airlines.

Jet Airways
In May 1974, Goyal founded Jet Airways (Private) Limited with the objective of providing sales and marketing representation to foreign airlines in India.
Mr. Goyal served on the Board of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) from 2004-2006.

Achievement: Founder Chairman of Jet Airways; Recipient of the first BM Munjal Award for Excellence in Learning & Development in the Private Sector category in 2006. Naresh Goyal is the founder Chairman of Jet Airways, India's largest domestic airline. Jet Airways presently operates over 320 flights daily to 48 destinations, of which five are international. Naresh Goel also figures in Forbes list of Indian billionaires. Naresh Goyal completed his graduation in Commerce in 1967 and joined the travel business with the GSA for Lebanese International Airlines. From 1967 to 1974 he learnt the intricacies of the travel business through his association with several foreign airlines. In May 1974, Naresh Goyal founded Jetair (Private) Limited to look after Sales and Marketing operations of foreign airlines in India. Naresh Goyal was involved in developing studies of traffic patterns, route structures, and operational economics and flight scheduling. His rich and varied experience made him an authority in the world of aviation and travel. In 1991, when the Indian economy was being opened up, Naresh Goyal took advantage of Open Skies Policy of the Government of India and set up Jet Airways for the operation of scheduled air services on domestic sectors in India. Jet Airways started commercial operations on May 05, 1993. Today, Jet Airways has evolved into India's largest private domestic airline. Jet Airways has been voted India's "Best Domestic Airline" by several organisations of world-class repute. In 2005, Jet Airways came up with an IPO and it was a huge success. Jet Airways was recently in controversy over its merger deal with Air Sahara. The merger was called off and the too airlines are currently considering arbitration.Along with Jet's meteoric rise, Naresh Goyal too rose in the entrepreneurial arena. He has won several honors and accolades. These include Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Services' from Ernst & Young in 2000, 'Distinguished Alumni Award-2000 for meritorious and distinguished performance as an Entrepreneur', Outstanding Asian-Indian' award for leadership and contribution to the global community given by the Indian American Centre for Political Awareness, 'Aerospace Laurels' for outstanding contribution in the field of Commercial Air Transport twice, in April 2000 and February 2004. Naresh Goyal also received the first BM Munjal Award for Excellence in Learning & Development in the Private Sector category in 2006.

Naresh Goyal's success story

Naresh Goyal had to walk for a few miles everyday to school as his parents could not afford a bicycle for him, and started his career as a cashier at his maternal uncle's company at a starting salary of Rs 300 a month.
Today, the net worth of the Jet Airways promoter is over Rs 81 billion (Rs 8100 crore), which makes him the sixth richest Indian as per the Business Standard Billionaire Club.
Goyal, however, hasn't forgotten his humble past. A reason why he remains modest and avoids the limelight. For e.g. minutes after announcing his decision to buy Air Sahara for Rs 2,225 crore (Rs 22.25 billion) - a deal, which gives him control over almost half of India's domestic aviation airspace - Goel refuses to give it much importance and said, "It's no big deal. I am neither happy nor excited. Such acquisitions have been the way of life in the west."
The modesty has been interpreted in many ways. While his associates say it shows that the man has his feet firmly on the ground, others say it's his way of avoiding controversies.
Which is understandable, as Goyal has had his share of questions raised about the origin of funds. More recently, the US government has been dragging its feet on giving Jet permission to fly to that country because of what it called the airline owner's questionable links.
For the moment, however, the 56-year-old Goyal is on Cloud 9, and says he is "open to all new trends and will grab the opportunities coming his way."
He has been doing precisely that ever since he got into the civil aviation industry 36 years back. He also has clear ideas about which way to go. For example, he thinks low cost airlines are just a myth in India.
There is nothing to call low cost carriers in India because there is no alternate second airport such as in Europe or the US. All airlines are paying for the same fuel, navigation, landing charges, which add up to 80 per cent of the total cost. There is hardly anything you can do with the balance 20 per cent.
Goyal holds a Bachelors of Commerce degree and after completing his education in 1967, joined the travel business as a general sales agent for Lebanese International Airlines.
Subsequently, he was appointed the public relation manager of Iraqi Airways in 1969 and from 1971 to 1974 was the regional manager for ALIA, Royal Jordanian Airlines.
During this period, he also worked with the Indian offices of Middle Eastern Airline, where he gained experience in various areas including ticketing, reservations and sales.
He was, thereafter, appointed regional manager of Phillipine Airlines where he handled the commercial operations of the airline in India.
He started on his own in 1974 by floating Jetair Private Ltd (then known as Jetair Transportation Private Ltd) to provide sales and marketing representation to foreign airlines in India. Shortly thereafter in 1975, he was appointed regional manager of Phillipine Airline in India.

Rahul Bajaj

Achievement:
Chairman of the Bajaj Group
Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman of the Bajaj Group, which ranks among the top 10 business houses in India. The Bajaj Group has diversified interests ranging from automobiles, home appliances, lighting, iron and steel, insurance, travel and finance. Rahul Bajaj is one of India's most distinguished business leaders and internationally respected for his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.Rahul Bajaj is an alumnus of Harvard, St. Stephen's and Cathedral. 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. The initiation of liberalization in India posed great challenges for Bajaj Auto. Liberalisation brought the threat of cheap imports and FDI from top companies like Honda. Rahul Bajaj became famous as the head of the Bombay Club, which opposed liberalization. The scooter sails plummeted as people were more interested in motorcycles and the rival Hero Honda was a pioneer in it. The recession and stock market collapse of 2001 hit the company hard and it was predicted that the days of Bajaj Auto were numbered. However, Bajaj Auto re-invented itself, established a world-class factory in Chakan, invested in R&D and came up with Bajaj Pulsar Motorcycle. Bajaj Pulsar is currently a leader in its segment.Recently, Rahul Bajaj was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.
Early life
He 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 has one brother, Shishir Bajaj, with whom there was a recent business settlement. He has 3 cousins, Shekhar, Madhur and Niraj together with whom he controls the Bajaj Group of companies. Also, he has two sons Rajiv & Sanjiv and a daughter, Sunaina Kejriwal.
Rahul Bajaj is an alumnus of Harvard, St. Stephen's and Cathedral. 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.
Last year, he did business settlement with his brother Shishir Bajaj. His 3 cousins, Shekhar, Madhur and Niraj assist him in controlling the Bajaj Group of companies.

K. V. KAMATH

Kundapur Vaman Kamath (born December 2, 1947 in Mangalore, Karnataka) is the Non-executive Chairman of ICICI Bank, the largest private bank in India.
Mr Kamath served as ICICI Bank's Managing Director and CEO from May 1, 1996 until his retirement from executive responsibilities on April 30, 2009.
Early life
Kamath is a GSB Konkani born on December 2, 1947, in Mangalore, Karnataka. After completing Higher Secondary and Pre-University from St. Aloysius School, he joined the Karnataka Regional Engineering College 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), 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.
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.
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
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 and Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Kamath is also a Member of the National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). KV Kamath was elected to the Board of Directors on infosys Ltd on May 2, 2009, it has been speculated by the media that Mr. Kamath may become the nonexecutive Chairman of Infosys upon Mr Murthy's retirement in 2011.
Awards
§ Most e-savvy CEO amongst Asian banks - The Asian Banker Journal of Singapore
§ Finance Man of the Year award - The Mumbai Management Association
§ Best CEO for Innovative HR practices - World HRD Congress
§ Asian Business Leader of the Year - Asian Business Leader Award 2001 (CNBC Asia)
§ Outstanding Business Leader of the Year - CNBC TV-18, 2006
§ Businessman of the Year - Business India, 2005
§ Business Leader Award of the Year - The Economic Times, 2007
§ Businessman of the Year - Forbes Asia
§ Padma Bhushan award from the Indian government - 2008

Dr. Vijay Mallya

Dr. Vijay Mallya was born on 18 Dec. 1955, is an Indian alcohol, airline and sports team businessman and former Rajya Sabha MP. He is son of industrialist Vittal Mallya he is the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from United Breweries Group's flagship beer brand, Kingfisher.
He also owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Bangalore Royal Challengers, and the I-League team East Bengal FC

Personal life
Mallya is originally from the town of Bantwal (near Mangalore) in Karnataka. He was educated at La Martiniere Boys' College, Kolkata and completed his degree from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta under Calcutta University. He was conferred a Doctorate in Business Administration by the University of Southern California USC.
Mallya is married twice. His first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Sidhartha Vijay Mallya. Later on, he married Rekha and has two daughters Leana Mallya, Tanya Mallya.
BUSINESS
Breweries

Mallya took over as Chairman of the United Breweries Group in 1984. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies with an annual turnover which has increased by only 63.9% in 15 years to US$11.2 billion in 1998-1999. The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure. He owned McDowell Crest.
In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for £595 million (approximately Rs 6000 crore). In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as Inertia Industries Ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named Sandpiper and Zingaro.
Airlines
In 2005, Vijay Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines. At present, the airline connects 32 cities. Kingfisher Airlines obtained a 26% stake in Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline which Mallya later acquired fully and integrated into his Kingfisher fleet, rebranding it as Kingfisher Red. Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpart Naresh Goyal announced an alliance after a marathon meeting on 13 October 2008 at Mumbai, India
Investment in sports
Formula One
In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros.[7] The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season.[8] Team's car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol.
Mallya also represents India in the FIA World Motor Sport Council, where he has a seat from 2009 to 2013
Football
Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata.
He also was part of the consortium that acquired Queens Park Rangers FC, as part of the Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal.
Cricket
Mallya's flagship firm UB Group owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League. He won this team in an auction by paying US$111.6 million for the team. The Royal Challengers Bangalore team includes players like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Robin Uthappa, Mark Boucher, Sunil Joshi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ross Taylor and Dale Steyn
Horse racing
Mallya also owns the company, United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders (URBB) which has interests in horse racing. URBB runs the Kunigal stud farm, under lease from the Government of Karnataka.

Political career
Mallya entered politics in 2000 and replaced Subramanian Swamy as the president of the Janata Party, a breakaway faction of the original Janata Dal party. His party contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election. He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media

Auction purchases
Vijay Mallya is noted for his successful bidding in auction of items that are considered of great cultural value to India. In 2004, he placed the winning bid of £175,000 for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London, and brought it back to India.[13] In March 2009, Mallya successfully bid for the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi at US$1.8 million, in a New York auction that initially caused an uproar in India and its government tried and failed to prevent it from going under the hammer.

Achievements
Establishment of Mallya Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is located in Vittal Mallya Road, named after his father.
Helped to fund the Mallya Aditi International School, a private school in Bangalore