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.