Global Indian Entrepreneurs

1. A Catalog of Most Successful Global Indian
Entrepreneurs & Management Leaders
Source: ENTERPRISING INDIA
– a book by
(From the Library of: SDSC Badamia College of Professional Studies Varkana, District Pali; A Degree College
Affiliated to Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India)
[Recreated by: Dr. Sandeep Solanki, M.Com. (Bus. Admin.), MBA
(Fin./Mktg.), Ph.D. (Mktg. – CB); Associate Professor, RNB Global University,
Bikaner, Raj. India]

2. Praising Entrepreneurship
The most enterprising people do have some common traits – a mind and heart
without measure, an unrivalled passion, dedication and devotion that is
nonpareil, an uncanny knack for calculated risk-taking, and a determination to
fight all odds. Yet, the route they adopt, and the methods they use are very
different. Blinkered preoccupation with valuations of businesses without an
appreciation of the people who run them will inevitably mean missing the
biggest multi-baggers. Entrepreneurs are passionate in what they do; they do it
with conviction, and are devoted beyond dedication. They rich in values &
cultural heritage. Entrepreneurs are the drivers of the Engine of Economics &
Financial Strength of any Nation. They are employment generators.
Entrepreneurs are the business leaders & motivators. Also they are opportunists.

3. Late Shri Dhirajlal Hirachand (Dhirubhai) Ambani
Born on 28.12.1932 in Chorvad, Junagadh State (Gujarat). Founded Reliance Co. in 1965 and its first
IPO in 1977. The company’s equity shares are listed on NSE and BSE. The GDRs (56 million)
issued by the company are listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange. If the vision of an individual
defied the imagination of the most optimistic, it would undoubtedly be Dhirubhai Ambani. From
working as an attendant in a filling station for Shell to owning a petrochemical giant, the rise of
Dhirubhai Ambani was meteoric. He built the ‘Reliance’ – Conglomerate from scratch and in less
than three decades, Reliance had emerged as one of the world’s leading refiners and producers of
plastics & polyesters, and has further diversified into oil exploration, telecom, textile, financial
services and energy. In 2016, he was honored posthumously with the Padma Vibhushan – India’s
second highest civilian award. The group later split into two separate entities, now owned by his
two sons – Mukesh and Anil who are still a figure in the Forbes Top 20 list of billionaires in the
world.

4. Shri Ratan Naval Tata
Born on 28.12.1937 in Surat, Gujarat. Ratan N. Tata started his career with the Tata Group as a blue-
collar employee working in furnaces in 1962, and spent 20 years before taking reins of the group in
his hand. Soon after taking charge, he set a new course for the group – with an emphasis on seven
business verticals: IT, Engineering, Materials, Services, Energy, Consumer Products, and Chemicals
– while exiting several businesses, including cement, textiles and pharmaceuticals. He made
globalization an integral part of the Group’s growth strategy in the mid-90s. It now derives ~65% of
its revenues from outside India. Ratan N Tata was the Chairman of Tata Sons, one of the two
promoter holding companies of the Tata group, from 1991 till his retirement on December 28, 2012.
He was also chairman of the major Tata companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata
Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels and Tata
Teleservices. During his tenure, the group’s revenues grew manifold, totalling over $100 billion in
2011-12. He is the recipient of two of the highest civilian awards of India – Padma Vibhushan
(2008) and Padma Bhushan (2000).

5. Shri Anil Kumar Manibhai Naik
Born on 09.06.1942 in Endhal, Bilimora, South Gujarat. On March 15, 1965, A.M. Naik joined L&T,
as a junior engineer. He was promoted as general manager in 1986. In 1999, he became the chief
executive officer and managing director. And in 2003, he was appointed as chairman of Larsen &
Toubro Ltd. (an Indian Engineering Conglomerate). Since he became MD in 1999, L&T’s shares
multiplied 24 times. Employees also gained from the creation in 2003 of the Employees Welfare
Trust, which bought 15% stake in L&T with no initial equity of its own. Under his leadership, L&T
transformed into a $16 billion group with presence in hydrocarbon engineering, construction,
metallurgical handling, ship building, mining machinery, power equipments and finance. The
company’s market capitalization increased to Rs. 1.58 lakh crore in 2017 from Rs. 4400 crore in
1999. International market (Saudi, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia & Africa) of L&T now accounts for
30% of the total turnover. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s one of the highest civilian
award, on January 26, 2009.

6. Shri Aditya Puri
Aditya Puri was born in Gurdaspur, Punjab. He became CEO of Citibank, Malaysia in 1992. He quit
his thriving career in Citibank to set up HDFC Bank in 1994, grabbing with both hands the
opportunities in a market split between government and foreign banks. Both had their own strengths
and weaknesses, leaving the market wide open for new-generation private banks, which could
straddle the entire value chain. Unlike many other private sector banks which chose to expand by
luring customers through credit card offers and big personal loans, HDFC Bank stuck to its tried,
tested and pre-evaluated customers. During periods of high industry growth, Aditya was often
criticized for being too conservative. The same critics lauded him for his prudence when the
downturn hit. Citibank’s loss has clearly been HDFC’s gain. He is a strong believer in keeping
connected, but he doesn’t need a mobile phone for it, nor e-mail – so no little red lights to bug him
on the greens. He says, ‘Now, as prosperity moves deeper, we will take our products to a larger
geography’.

7. Shri Akhil Gupta
Akhil Gupta did his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan
University, following that with a Mechanical Engineering Masters from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Also did Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University. After
practisinig CA in 1980s he ran his own electronics business, before joining Bharti in 1994. In
Bharti, Akhil has been instrumental in some transformational deals. These included the IT
oursourcing to IBM and network management to Ericsson and Nokia-Siemens, deals that enabled
Bharti to expand its network much faster than any other operator, and emerge as the leader in mobile
telephony. In a daring move, Akhil led the creation of Indus Towers, a passive telecom infrastructure
JV with Vodafone and Idea Cellular, which saw the three companies pooling the biggest chunk of
their fixed assets into a single company. With 56% of the mobile net subscriber additions coming
from the rural areas, Akhil believes that rural India will become a much more prominent revenue
contributor for Bharti. Akhil Gupta has won many corporate awards recognizing financial
excellence and leadership.

8. Shri Anil Jain
Anil Bhanwarlal Jain has been the Managing Director of Jain Irrigation Systems since 1993. He has
commerce degree from Pune University and Law Degree from Mumbai University. He joined
management team in 1984 and was in charge of our US based marketing operations. Mr. Anil Jain
has an extensive background and experience in Finance, Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategic
Planning, Restructuring Operations, Export Marketing, International Business Relations,
Collaborations and Joint Ventures. He is Currently also the Vice Chairman of the Company. The
company was started by his father in early 1960s. In 1963 selling kerosene in a pushcart, the young
law graduate, Mr. Bhavarlal Jain (father of Anil B. Jain), founded the family business in trading. The
family partnership began with a meager Rs. 7,000, the accumulated savings of three generations, as
capital. Soon, agencies for two wheelers, auto vehicles and automobile accessories were established
in quick succession. Anil was brought up in Jalgaon, Maharashtra. With a focus on bringing high-
end technology in agriculture at an affordable price, he made available micro-irrigation equipments
at the doorstep of the small Indian farmer, and in the process, multiplied shareholder value
manifold. Under his leadership, the company has won 193 awards since 1993 for excellence in
products and leadership. Business of micro-irrigation equipments.

9. Ms. Chanda Kochar
Chanda Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and raised in Jaipur Rajasthan. She was educated at
St. Angela Sophia School, Jaipur. She then moved to Mumbai, where she joined Jai Hind College
for a bachelor's degree. After graduating in 1982, she studied cost accountancy, and later acquired a
master's degree in management studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.,
Mumbai. She received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies as well as
the J. N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy. Ranked among the top women in the Forbes’s list
of ‘World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’, Chanda Kochar, as CEO and MD of ICICI Bank
(Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India), is no stranger to the corridors of power. She
has been with ICICI Bank for 25 years, and has been instrumental in its transformation from a
project finance institution, when she joined, into the country’s largest private sector bank with a
current asset base of US$83 bn. Life insurance and General Insurance along with interests in
brokerage, venture capital, and asset management firms. She has already rolled back plans on retail
and international expansion, and is looking at consolidating operations by improving the CASA
ratio, cost control, lowering credit charges and capital conservation.

10. Shri Azim Premji
Premji was born in Bombay in 1945 in a family with origins from Kutch in Gujarat. Azim Premji took
over his father’s vegetable oils business at the age of 21, when returned from Stanford University (to
study Electrical Engineering) in 1966. Western India Products – Wipro, was initially set up as a
manufacturer of vegetable and refined oils, under the trade names of Kisan, Sunflower and Camel,
in Amalner, Jalgaon District, Maharashtra. In 2005, he was awarded with the highest civilian award
– Padma Bhushan and in 2011, he has been awarded Padma Vibhushan, award by the
Government of India. In 2001, he founded Azim Premji University – a non-profit organization.
Wipro today is into the businesses of IT, consumer care, and engineering services. He has set highest
standards of ethics and quality in Wipro. He became the first Indian to sign up for The Giving
Pledge, a campaign led by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, to encourage the wealthiest people to make
a commitment to give most of their wealth to philanthropic causes. In 2014, Wipro signed a 10-year
$1.2 billion contract with ATCO, a Canadian Energy & Utilities corporation based out of Calgary,
Alberta. This was the largest deal in Wipro's history. In October 2016, Wipro announced that it was
buying Appirio, an Indianapolis-based cloud services company for $500 million.

11. Shri Nitin Paranjpe
Nitin Paranjpe, son of an IAS officer, took over as CEO of India’s largest consumer products
company, HUL (Hindustan Unilever), at the age of 44, becoming the youngest person in the
company’s top job. Nitin joined HUL as a management trainee in 1987 directly after completing his
MBA from Mumbai’s Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. He also did ‘mechanical
engineering’ from College of Pune. HUL was his dream company in campus; in his words, he would
have “given his an arms & a leg” to join the company. He has worked across sales & marketing
roles in HUL and his first big achievement was the highly successful launch of Vim dishwash bar,
which introduced the convenience of dishwash bars to millions of Indian who had until then known
to better than ash. HUL faced a ‘class action litigation’ moved by the former workers of its
thermometer factory in Kodaikanal who were allegedly exposed to toxic mercury vapour during
their employment. But the company’s settlement was historical and agreed to provide ex-gratia
payments to 511 former workers/association members & their families towards livelihood
enhancement projects and skill enhancement programmes. Nitin is convinced that long term value
creation is possible only if your actions are informed by a clear set of values & principles.

12. Shri Nagavara Ramarao Narayan Murthy
N. M. Narayana Murthy (born 20 August 1946), commonly referred to as Narayana Murthy, is an
Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys (1981), a multinational corporation providing
business consulting, technology, engineering, and outsourcing services. Murthy studied electrical
engineering at the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore and M.Tech at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is a classic example of a socially responsible entrepreneur. He
started Infosys with his friends with a capital of US$250 and built it into one of India’s most
respected global companies, with annual revenues of over US$5bn. He was honored with Padma
Vibhushan by Govt. of India, Officer of the Legion of Honor by Govt. of France, Commander of
the Order of the British Empire by Govt. of UK. Mr. Murthy articulated, designed, and
implemented the Global Delivery Model, which has become the foundation for the huge success in
IT services outsourcing from India. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries.. He serves on the
boards of Ford Foundation, United Nations Foundation and the Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton, New Jersey. He is a member of the University of Tokyo's Global Advisory Board. He has
served as a member of the HSBC board and the Unilever board. He has served on the boards of
Cornell University, Wharton School, Rhodes Trust and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford
University. He has also served as the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

13. Shri Kishore Biyani
Kishore Biyani is an Indian Businessman – The Raja of Retail. He is the founder and CEO of Future
Group and also the founder of retail businesses such as Pantaloon Retail and Big Bazaar. According
to Forbes magazine, he had a net worth of US$475 million in 2011. Kishore Biyani comes from a family
that has been involved in business since the time of his grandfather, who opened a clothes shop in what
was then called Bombay after moving there from the village of Nimbi in Rajasthan. Growing up in the
Malabar Hill area of Mumbai, Biyani attended the city's Hassaram Rhijhumal College of Commerce &
Economics, Mumbai but thought little of his studies, preferring instead to rely on a gut instinct and
observation in business. In addition to the threat posed by the conglomerates, the 2008 economic
downturn affected Biyani's business and his methods. There were postponements in planned expansion
and downsizing in some areas. Biyani reacted to the crisis with measures such as a considerable
reduction in the numbers of his mid-level management staff and a restructuring of his corporate interests.
He also rolled-over debt, converting it into loans that would mature in three to five years' time, and
pulled out of JV deals with companies such as Etam. In addition, he reduced the scope, concentrating on
four retail formats — fashion, food, home, and general merchandise — rather than the 22 or more with
which he had previously been involved. The Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar brands, which have been
targeted at cost-conscious consumers, were compared to Wal-Mart.

14. Shri Anil Agarwal
If Anil Agarwal were a literary character, he would without doubt be Ayn Rand’s Hank Rearden. He
came to Mumbai in 1975, and in 20 yrs, he has risen from virtually nothing to heading a world-class
non-ferrous metals major. His journey started with the setting up of Sterlite Industries in 1986, to
manufacture jelly-filled telecom cables. That’s when he saw there was enormous value waiting to be
unlocked in the Indian non-ferrous space, in which almost all resources were controlled by the
Government. Anil Agarwal is the founder and Chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc. He controls Vedanta
Resources Plc through Volcan Investments, a holding vehicle with a 61.7% stake in the business. He
started by setting up a 100kt copper smelter in Tuticorin in 1997 and followed that up with acquisition of
the Government’s stake in Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and Hidustan Zinc. For sheer
audacity, Agarwal would shave few equals: his Rs.5.5bn bid for BALCO was twice as much as the next
bid, and that too when Sterlite did not even have Rs.200m in the bank. Risky it might have seemed then,
but time has vindicated him – each of his businesses have grown multifold in value. Agarwal was the
first Indian Businessman to list his group on the LSE in 2003. He now heads his global conglomerate
from his Mayfair House. Agarwal remains true to his roots, having recently pledged US$1bn to set up a
world-class university in Orissa. Anil Agarwal was ranked second in Hurun India Philanthropy List 2014
for his personal donation of Rs.1,796 crore (about $36 million). He was ranked 25th in the Hurun India
Rich List with a personal fortune of 12,316cr.

15. THANKS FOR PATIENT
READING & ATTENTION!