Cover Story
- Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla says the world has witnessed phenomenal changes over the last 15 years but it has been a defining period for India in many ways.
- Yes, says the Wipro chairman, if the government's reach and the rigour of NGOs bind in its schools.
- Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India Nandan Nilekani says India's response to four major forces - young, accessible, aspirational and mobile citizenry - is the key to sustainable growth.
- Reforms ought to be directed towards enabling more entrepreneurs and innovators.
- The Harvard B-School Professor says Indian entrepreneurs have an edge but they have to absorb as well as contribute ideas to the world.
- The chairman of Deccan Logistics says the spirit of adventure and entrepreneurial energy will drive growth and create wealth - a new market, a new customer need.Looking back at years2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
- The Senior Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library says the 'elite of calling' must take the lead in framing the social agenda.Looking back at years2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
- The professor at Tuck School of Business says not just the Nano, Indian ingenuity in health care and energy, housing and banking wait in the wings of the world stage.
- Infosys chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy says men may come and men may go but corporations should go on forever.
- Former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi says the intelligence of its simple people will keep India's stature unsullied, despite challenges.
- Credit ratings and surveillance have to improve if scams are to be made history.
- Hybrid seeds and better water management can keep us from being a big importer of food.
- India as an idea is centuries old, if not more, chroniclers have told us. Colonial rule sapped the country. Independence failed to restore its economic might. But the last 20 years mark a trajectory that is taking the country up again.
- The chairman of IFMR Trust says the private sector is best placed to serve the poor, but it can't expect govt help.
The best of the west
Sandeep Arora heads west to check out the bars of Mumbai. With his pick of the best watering holes in the 'Maximum City', our three-part series on the best whisky bars of India comes to a close. The automobiles just get faster, snazzier, if higher priced, every year. The scene promises to hot up further in 2011, with offerings that are sure to get your pulse racing. 'There are different kinds of love, but they all have the same aim. Possession.' Five trends in the world of travel to look out for in the coming year. Top-picks from 46 new elements of Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage. Check the desirability quotient.Books that shaped my life: Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Arabian Sands and more
Tom Wright, GM (India, Middle East, Africa And Pakistan), Cathay Pacific Airways talks about the books that have made him what he is today. The American company entrusted with the task of producing fine collectibles, Franklin Mint has brought out a gold coin featuring the Taj Mahal. Of the million metaphors attached to black and white, the one that conjures up images of piano keys is perhaps the most pleasant one. The emerald isles of Andaman are quite correctly feted for their wildness and beauty, but probably the best way to see this wonderful archipelago is to go under the waves and discover the magical world of coral reefs. Ask him for his fashion mantra and all he'll say is "You gotta feel good to look good." Fast cars, bikes and boats. Racing tidbits from around the world. Get a taste of the world's best cigars at the Delhi international airport's swank new terminal Syndicate racing is the new sex at the country's premier turf clubs as a new league of hopeful and enterprising investors pool in resources to buy, train and race champions. A report. Delhi's Select Citywalk Mall has launched a styling service for anyone willing to shell out cash for dash. With a team of stylists helping you pick out your clothes, accessories and style, filmstar looks are assured. Celebrity chef Ian Kittichai's swank new restaurant in Mumbai offers enough surprises, flavours and ambience to become one of the city's hot spots.
Factories in peril
The CMD of Larsen & Toubro says Indian engineers have been recognised as amongst the best but the benefits of this talent do not trickle enough into our economy.Looking back at years2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 The chairman if ITC said the integration of vision, values and vitality enhances an organisation's potential for longer-term wealth creation.Looking back at years2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochchar says India's financial services sector is poised for sustained growth, driven by urban consumer demand and expansion into underserved markets. Had J.R.D. been alive - he died two years after Manmohan Singh unleashed reform - his heart would have leapt at today's per capita income of Rs 44,345. But, were the 1991 balance of payments crisis and the reform Budget truly serendipitous? Palaniappan Chidambaram, then a Congress MP, told me in April 1993 that the change was not as miraculous as it seemed. FMCG will grow strongly and no longer be a defensive sector. The need of the hour is low-cost but high-impact models that propose innovative solutions to address India's health care crisis. Indian pharma is on a new high, but it must keep ahead of the G-7 and emerging economies. The biggest challenge is financial inclusion of the poor in areas without banks. A churn is imminent in the satellite TV business, writes Zee Entertainment's chairman, as broadcasters would be expected to adapt to consumer needs to be more appealing.
Managing up, down and across
Establishing a rapport with your boss is not enough. Peers and juniors also matter. Bankers' envy
The Business Today Best Banks Awards ceremony had banks celebrating rapid expansion of their business and an accelerating GDP.
1998: Buddha smiles again
At 3.45 p.m. on May 11, 1998, India stunned the world by testing three nuclear devices at Pokhran in Rajasthan. A weak United Front government was not expected to bite the bullet and push through bold policy reforms. Back in 1994, when Gurgaon was just a sleepy hamlet in Haryana, American Express set up a processing centre in India to service its Asia-Pacific centres. Ketan Parekh was the Pied Piper of Dalal Street. The man with the Midas touch, revered by brokers and investors alike. Domain name registration became a big business as dotcoms of all hues mushroomed.1999: India Inc on Wall Street
Back in 1999, Infosys Technologies had revenues of just $100 million and employed about 3,700 people. In March that year, it became the first Indian company to be listed on an American stock exchange when it debuted on the Nasdaq. Dalal Street had been abuzz with rumours of a rift between the Ambani brothers after their father's death in 2002. Despite the setback and some lingering concerns about the safety procedures on its aircraft, Captain G.R. Gopinath's Air Deccan went ahead with its expansion plans and introduced flights on several routes. From a small trader of polyester yarn in the 1960s, who started the business with just Rs 15,000, to creating a petrochemicals giant, it was a meteoric rise for Dhirubhai.2010: Scams, Scandals and Shame
If there were two words to describe 2010, they would be graft and grime. You had Lalit Modi, land scams, Suresh Kalmadi and Niira Radia prove that honesty in public life was a distant dream.2007: BSE Sensex crosses 20,000
The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensitive Index, or Sensex, which had taken a little over two decades to cross 10,000 in February 2006, doubled in just 20 months. Singur was a nondescript town in West Bengal till Tata Motors chose it as the manufacturing location for its small car, the Nano, in May 2006.2005: Offshoring goes mainstream
The world got Bangalored in 2005. By 2004, there were three Indian IT services companies with billion-dollar revenues - TCS, Infosys and Wipro. At nearly Rs 8,000 crore, the Satyam scam was among the biggest in corporate India and tarred the image of the snow white IT industry. On November 26, 2008, Mumbai stopped for almost four days, although train services were resumed within six hours of the attacks on CST.1995: Mobile services come calling
Two politicians - West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and Union Communications Minister Sukh Ram - were the first official users of cellphones in India. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched its operations which went on to change the face of the markets by ushering in technology-based trading.1993: An IPO that flew; and how
Infosys Technologies, today the bellwether IT stock in India, was far from a favoured pick 18 years ago. At 37, Harshad Mehta had everything going for him. The New India Assurance employee-turned stockbroker was living in a 15,000 sq.ft. plush apartment with a swimming pool in up-market Worli. A comatose economy and a deep fiscal crisis. It was a mountain to climb for the Cambridge-educated former bureaucrat Manmohan Singh, when he rose to present India's Budget on July 24, 1991. Savour the highs and the lows, the hits and the misses. We hope you enjoy it as much as the team that put it together.
Hire local, act global
A clutch of multinational corporations has replaced expat CEOs with Indians. A retired Philips head honcho has some exciting reasons to keep coming back. Marcel Hungerbuehler led the team that built up operations at the Bangalore International Airport against several odds. This former Microsoft researcher will soon use mobile phones to generate blue collar employment. The only thing that Staes-Polet, who co-founded Kreeda in Mumbai, dreads is a trip downtown. Setting up a Hollywood-style effects hot shop in India allows Charles Darby to focus on what he likes most and does best: create. John W. Ellingboe has moved from representing a client of GVK Biosciences to working with them. If Max Hegerman is enjoying work in India, it might be because he takes an autorickshaw to work. Carl-Peter Forster is a global CEO at a Tata company that is well-positioned to be a global auto giant. Mukesh Ambani is counting on Gwyn Sundhagul to succeed in the organised retailing of food and groceries. Raymond Bickson was born in Hawaii, trained in Switzerland, and is now Ratan Tata's point man for the hospitality business. A number of Indian businesses - particularly New Age ones - have foreigners at the helm. He wants to seize the opportunities in financial services. Kirthiga Reddy was drawn to India from the US. Inclusive growth is no hollow buzzword for Shah. From running a restaurant in London to managing a real estate fund in India, Ajoy Veer Kapoor has been on a roll. Murari Rajan misses the melting pot, but he is at home with the action on The Street. Pawan Goenka returned to India to rewrite the rules of auto engineering. The man who bid adieu to America five years ago says India's best is yet to come. Jeya Kumar, who has lived most of his life overseas, has his path chalked out in India till retirement - and beyond. Zubin Irani has returned to India twice - and it seems unlikely there will be a third time. Dealing with entrepreneurially-driven clients is a refreshing change, and Aisha De Sequeira is taking in every moment of it. Gunit Chadha learned the ropes on Wall Street, and is putting that education to good use on Dalal Street. Life has turned full circle for Malay Mukherjee who had left India two decades ago. These corporate biggies have left plum jobs in the developed world to return to their country of origin and partake of its growth story.
People business
Leaders who consistently think ahead of their time are a rare breed. A list of global Indians who put the country on the world map.
