Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (28 December 1933, - 6 July 2002; also known as Dhirubhai) was an Indian rags-to-riches business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries in Mumbai with his cousin. Many people consider Ambani's phenomenal rise to be an example of crony capitalism and the result of proximity to the ruling politicians because it was achieved through preferential treatment given to him in a highly repressive business environment (the License Raj stifled Indian business until the early 1990s and only those favored by the politicians were granted licenses leaving them with no competition). Ambani took his company (Reliance) public in 1977, and by 2007 the combined fortune of the family (sons Anil & Mukesh) was 100 billion dollars, making the Ambanis one of the richest families in the world.

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 December 1933, at Chorwad, Junagadh (now the state of Gujarat, India) to Hirachand Gordhanbhai Ambani and Jamnaben in a Modh Bania family of very moderate means. Although he was born in Gujarat, he is of Sindhi descent, which is a socio-ethnic group that belonged to Sindh, a former area of Northwest India that now belongs to Pakistan after the Partition. He was the second son of a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani is said to have started his entrepreneurial career by selling "pakora" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked with A. Besse & Co. for a salary of Rs.300. Two years later, A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products, and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s filling station at the port of Aden.

He was married to Kokilaben and had two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaocar.

In 1962, Dhirubhai returned to India and started the Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs.15,000.00. The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and export spices.

The business was setup in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen. The first office of the Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at the Narsinatha Street in Masjid Bunder. It was a 350 sq ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially, they had two assistants to help them with their business. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different temperaments and a different take on how to conduct business. While Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he considered that building inventories, anticipating a price rise, and making profits thnd Estate in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai^[4]. In 1968, he moved to an upmarket apartment at Altamount Road in South Mumbai. Ambani's net worth was estimated at about Rs.10 lakh by late 1970s.

Reliance Textiles

Sensing a good opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the year 1966. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand "Vimal", which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani's son, Vimal Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" in the interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail outlets were started and they used to sell "only Vimal" brand of textiles. In the year 1975, a Technical team from the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles' Manufacturing unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified as "excellent even by developed country standards" during that period.

born in an impoverished village, at 16 he goes off to Aden to learn business. He returns 10 years later and starts a small company. By canny trading around the textile bazaars of Bombay, he corners the market in imported polyester, starts his own factory, outwits sclerotic bureaucrats in New Delhi who are trying to run the economy by regulation, and ultimately ignites the moribund Indian stock market with his vision of turning Reliance into a petrochemical and oil refining empire—a dream he realized not long before he died.

Mohandas Gandhi and Dhirubhai Ambani were the two most famous scions of the Modh Bania, a Hindu commercial caste based in the arid Saurashtra peninsula of India's western Gujarat state.

Each changed India. Ambani's public wore his textiles as durable suits and glittery saris. Indians invested by the millions in his Bombay-listed Reliance Industries, a sprawling conglomerate with $12.3 billion in annual sales that recently became India's first privately owned entrant to the Fortune 500. When Ambani died on July 6 at age 69 after nearly two weeks in a stroke-induced coma, the country's media recounted his rags-to-riches life as an Indian morality play.

Ambani's his great achievement was that he showed Indians what was possible. With no Oxford or Yale degree and no family capital, he achieved what the Elite "brown sahibs" of New Delhi could not: he built an ultramodern, profitable, global enterprise in India itself. What's more, he enlisted four million Indians, a generation weaned on nanny-state socialism, in an adventure in can-do capitalism, convincing them to load up on Reliance stock.

Still, Ambani seems destined to be remembered as a folk hero—an example of what a man from one of India's poor villages can accomplish with non-shrink ambition.

Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Mittal (or Lakshmi Narayan Mittal, born June 15, 1950) is a London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, born in Sadulpur village, in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India, and resides in Kensington, London.

In March 2008, Mittal was reported to be the 4th wealthiest person in the world by Forbes Magazine (up from 61st. richest in 2004) up one place since a year ago. The Mittal family owns a controlling majority stake in ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company.

His residence at Kensington Palace Gardens was bought from Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for £57 million (U$S128 million), making it the world's most expensive house, at that date.

In 2008, the British press reported that Mittal was seeking to buy another lavish property in Kensington Gardens, currently owned by financier Noam Gottesman. The Guardian newspaper reported that the purchase price would be £117 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.

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".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.

Lakshmi Mittal began his career working in the family's steelmaking business in India, and in 1976, when the family founded its own steel business, Mittal 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 and brothers, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business, which was already owned by the family. Mittal's family never spoke publicly about the reasons for the split.

Since 2008, Mittal has been the richest person residing in the United Kingdom, the richest person in Asia and the third richest person on the planet. He is the President of the Board of Directors and CEO of ArcelorMittal; ArcelorMittal is the world's largest producer of steel, with assets in France, Belgium, Romania, Spain, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Bulgaria, United States, Trinidad, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. On July 13, 2005 it was announced that he had donated £2 million to the Labour Party, and on January 16, 2007 it was announced that he had donated a further £3 million.

Mittal, the chairman and chief executive of the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS), joined Goldman Sachs' 13-member board on Saturday 28 June 2008 as an independent director, the firm said in a statement. Mittal is also joint-owner of the B4U international Bollywood television network.

Steel Tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, the 57 year old non resident Indian living in Kensington, London, is the fourth richest person in the world, with a personal fortune of US$45.0 billion according to Forbes magazine. The Financial Times named Lakshmi Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year. This London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, was named one of the "100 most influential people" by Time magazine in May 2007. He was also listed as the richest person in Britain in the Sunday Times Rich list 2005. Since 2005, Mittal has been the richest person residing in the United Kingdom, the richest person in Asia and the 4th richest person on the planet. He is the President of the Board of Directors and CEO of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest producer of steel. Arcelor Mittal is the combination of the world’s number one and number two steel companies, Arcelor and Mittal Steel.

Lakshmi Narayan Mittal alias Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was born on June 15th, 1950, in Sadulpur, a village which didn't have electricity until 1960's, in Rajasthan, India. His family moved to Calcutta in West Bengal, where he studied accounting and business at the prestigious St. Xavier’s College. His father Mohan Lal Mittal had set up a small steel mill in Calcutta. After class, Mittal used to work in his father's company.

After finishing his Bachelor of Commerce degree in business and accounting with first class, Mittal began his career in his father's steel firm in the early seventies. Realizing the fact that opportunities in India are limited for him, Mittal moved to Indonesia in 1976 and with his father's backing founded a steel plant, Ispat Indo and made the company a success. There began a saga of triumphs for the shrewd businessman.

His success has largely been built on buying up loss-making state-owned mills and quickly turning them around. He had one of his most notable successes in the late 1989, when he turned around a loss-making government-founded steel firm in Trinidad and Tobago which was losing $1 million a day. Within a year, Mittal had doubled the output and made the business profitable where US consultants and German experts failed to find a solution.

In 1992, he went to Mexico and bought the country's third largest steel producer, Sicartsa for $220 million. This was followed by an acquisition of Siderurgica del Balsas SA at Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico and then more companies in Canada, Germany, Ireland etc. Mittal followed the same strategy in former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, and took over the state-owned blast furnace steel plant in 1995, renaming it Ispat Karmet. It was a risky proposition even by Mittal’s standards, workers had not been paid for six months. But within a year it was profitable and production has doubled from 120,000 tons a month to 250,000. In 1995, two new companies Ispat International Ltd. and Ispat Shipping were formed to provide technical and commercial services to the Group and to meet its growing shipping needs. The same year, he entered into Europe by acquiring a steel plant in Hamburg, Germany. With this, the capacity of the group reached to 11.2 million tonnes.

Meanwhile in 1994, a partition in the family business group, transferred all the foreign business into Ispat International, under the control of Lakshmi Mittal. The Indian operations remained with his younger brothers P K Mittal and V K Mittal. In 1997, Ispat International, the company that controlled the Group’s steel making operations in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Germany went for listing in 1997 on the New York and Amsterdam stock exchanges. The Ispat group went on making major acquisitions.

In 2004, Mittal Steel was formed through the merger of Ispat International and LNM Holdings, at the same time Ispat International merged with International Steel Group Inc. (ISG) an Ohio based company, becoming the world's most global steel producer with a net worth of over $22 billion. Mittal's industrial empire has steel making facilities in 14 countries and stretches from Indonesia to Poland, via Mexico, US, South Africa and Trinidad, North America, Africa, Asia and many European countries. In 2006, after six months of negotiations and major oppositions Mittal steel took over European steel giant Arselor SA for 26 billion euros ($33 billion), becoming the world's largest 100 million tonne steel entity. The merged entity would be called Arcelor Mittal with the Mittal family owning 43.6 percent of the combined group.

Mittal has received accolades for his achievements. In 1996, he was awarded the title 'Steel maker of the Year' by New Steel Magazine in the USA, and he received the Eighth Honorary Willy Korf Steel Vision Award, the highest recognition for world wide achievement in the steel industry in June 1998. The award was presented by the American Metal Market, a specialised publication, and Paine Weber’s World Steel Dynamics in New York., for outstanding vision, entrepreneurship, leadership and success in global steel development, from the American Metal Market and Paine Weber’s World Steel Dynamics. In 2004, he was awarded the 'European Business man of the year' by Fortune Magazine.

Although steel manufacturing remains the group’s mainstream business, they have diversified into shipping and has ventured into coal, power and oil enterprises in Kazakhstan.

Mittal is an active philanthropist and a member of various trusts. The LNM Group Foundation was created in 1998 to support health and education needs of the poor, particularly in India. He resides in a palatial home known as Summer Palace, in London that he bought in 2003 for a residential record of $129 million. On the rare occasions when he is at home, Mittal keeps a disciplined schedule, doing yoga for an hour every day and trying to catch a swim in his indoor pool. His wife Usha runs the Indonesian business and his son Aditya and daughter Vanisha are members of the Board of Directors of Mittal Steel.

The business empire has also been in the news for showering money on his two children. His daughter Vanisha's wedding to Delhi-born investment banker Amit Bhatia in 2004 June is reputed to have cost more than $55-million, with five days of events at some of France's most famous settings, including the 17th century Vaux le Vicomte chateau. For the wedding of his son Aditya in 1998, the Mittal family celebrated at Calcutta's Victoria Memorial, home to mementos of Britain's rule over India.

J.R.D. TATA

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904–November 29, 1993) was a pioneer aviator and important businessman of India. He was one of the few people who were awarded Bharat Ratna during their life time.

J.R.D. Tata was born in Paris, France, the second child of Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife Suzanne Briere^{[citation needed]}. His father was a first cousin of Jamsetji Tata, a pioneer industrialist in India. 'Jeh', or 'JRD' as he was commonly known, came to be regarded as the most famous industrial pioneer in modern India. As his mother was French, he spent much of his childhood in France and as a result, French was his first language. Tata also attended the French Foreign Legion. He attended the Cathedral and John Connon School, Bombay (now Mumbai).

J.R.D. Tata was inspired early by aviation pioneer Louis Bleriot, and took to flying. In 1929 Tata got the first pilot licence issued in India. He later came to be known as the father of Indian civil aviation. He founded India's first commercial airline, 'Tata Airlines', in 1932, which in 1946 became Air India, now India's national airline.

J.R.D. Tata studied engineering at the University of Cambridge. He did not continue beyond matriculation according to the biography written by Lala. He returned to India and started the Tata Group in a workshop in Jamshedpur with a group of 10 workers. Several years later, when the Tata Group became quite successful in India, he financed the building of the new engineering department at Cambridge University.

For decades, Tata directed the huge Tata Group of companies, with major interests in many industries in India, including steel, engineering, hospitality and electrical companies. He was famous for succeeding in business while maintaining high ethical standards - refusing to bribe politicians or use the black market. His contributions to founding many famous institutions of higher learning in India are also well recognised.

Among a host of awards, he received the in 1955. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992 for his service to industry and nation building. He also received the Guggenheim Medal for aviation in 1988. He died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1993 at age of 89. He is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

After his father's death in 1926, Tata became the director of the Board of Tata Sons Ltd. Eventually in 1938, he became the chairman of the company. Under his leadership Tata Sons expanded into one of the largest industrial empire in the country- from ironworks and steelworks into chemicals, hotels, engineering and lot of other industries. In 1945, Tata Steel promoted the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) with an objective to produce locomotives for the Indian Railways. Today Telco has emerged as the country’s largest Commercial Vehicle producer.

JRD Tata was the first Indian pilot to qualify for a British private license. He founded Tata Airlines in 1932 and by 1953, it developed and came to be known as Indian Airlines. Till 1978, Tata was the Chairman of the Indian Airlines and Air India.

Tata was an early advocate of family planning and he created the Family Planning Foundation in 1971. His innovations in India's fledgling hotel and tourist industry as well as his contributions to scientific and technical research and corporate management gained public recognition from the Indian Government. He was honoured by India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna in 1991 and United Nations Population Award in 1992. In 1991, at the age of 87, Tata retired from Tata Sons. He passed away on November 29, 1993.

Azim premji

Azim Premji ((born July 24, 1945), an Indian businessman, is the Chairman & CEO of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India. Its headquarters is in Bangalore, "the Indian Silicon City". Azim Premji was rated the richest person in the country from 1999 to 2005 by Forbes. His wealth in 2006 was estimated at $14.8 Billion which places him as the Fifth Richest Indian. He is now considered to be worth closer to 17.1 billion.

Azim Hasham Premji, founder of Wipro Limited, India's biggest and most competitive IT company based in Bangalore, was born on July 24th 1945 in Bombay. Premji was forced to leave his studies in computer science from Stanford University, California, USA at the age of 21 to take over the family business of vegetable oils 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.

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's story of success and prominence clearly shows how determination and perseverance, when coupled with knowledge, clear vision and proper planning, enable one to reach the peak of success and leadership. A straight forward person, he doesn't believe in resorting to bribery or corruption to get things done and associates quality with integrity. He is an absolute workaholic and according to him work is the only way to success and survival in a competitive environment. A tough employer, he expects his employees to be competent and will not tolerate lies or deception from anyone.

Azim Hasham Premji finds himself in the Forbes Billionaire List 2000, placed in 41st position with a wealth of $ 6.4 billion. Over the years, Azim Premji has been privileged with many honors and accolades. He was chosen as the Business India's 'Businessman of the Year 2000', He was named by Fortune (August 2003) as one of the 25 most powerful business leaders outside the US, Forbes (March 2003) listed him as one of ten people globally, Business Week featured (October 2003) him on their cover with the sobriquet 'India's tech king'. The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education have both conferred honorary doctorates on him. He is also a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India.

In the year 2001, Premji established Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with a vision of influencing the lives of millions of children in India by facilitating the universalisation of elementary education. The foundation works closely with the state governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc and the programs cover over 5000 rural schools. Premji contributes the financial resources for the foundation.

Personally, Premji is known for his humility and helping mentality. Easily one of the richest men in the world, he always travels in economy class. One of his favorite recreational activity is hiking. He leads a quiet life with his wife Yasmin Premji who had worked for 'Inside Outside' (editorial) in Mumbai and his two sons in a simple, but elegant villa in Bangalore. The elder son, Rishad, works in the USA for GE and the younger one, Tariq, has co-founded a dotcom and works from Bangalore. Mr. Premji who holds 78% stakes in the company does not believe in naming one of his sons as his successor just for the norms.

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.

In a world where integrity purportedly counts for naught, Azim Hasham Premji symbolizes just that. The 55-year-old Wipro chairman made international waves in 2000 ever since his group became a Rs 3,500-crore empire with a market capitalization exceeding Rs 500,000 million! If any stargazer had been foolish enough to predict in 1966 that a 21-year-old Indian at Stanford University would one day achieve all this, he'd have been laughed out of business. At that juncture, Premji was forced to discontinue his engineering studies in the States due to the untimely death of his father. Returning to India to take charge of a cooking oil company, the youth infused new life into the family's traditional mindset and trade.

Over the years, Premji diversified into sectors like computer hardware and lighting, disregarding marketing laws that extolled the virtues of core competence and frowned on brand extensions into unrelated segments. Despite all the success, the media-shy Premji maintained a low profile, letting his work do all the talking. Until early last year the media broke the story that Azim Premji had become the second-richest man in the world… In spite of his billions, however, he still travels economy class and stays in budget hotels.

When the man was recently honored with the Businessman of the Year 2000 award, he attributed his stupendous success to the 12,000 people who work for Wipro Corporation. Nor did he forget to mention his family. The great man then shared some tips for success: • Have the courage to think big. • Never compromise on fundamental values, no matter what the situation. • Build up self-confidence, always look ahead. • Always have the best around you, even if they are better than you are. • Have an obsessive commitment to quality. • Play to win. • Leave the rest to the force beyond. Premji the businessman practices what he preaches. When it comes to upholding personal values, there's no margin for error. Wipro managers speak in awe of the time they received a terse message that their chairman was flying down to Bangalore for a meeting. It was clear that something major was in the offing. Premji came straight to the point. A senior general manager of the company had been given marching orders-because he'd inflated a travel bill. The man's contribution to the company was significant; the bill's amount was not. Yet he had to go for this solitary lapse. It was, Premji stressed, a matter of principles. Wipro's code of conduct for employees says it all: Don't do anything that you're unwilling to have published in tomorrow's newspaper with your photograph next to it. It's that kind of integrity that has catapulted Premji and Wipro to unprecedented heights.

N. R. Narayana Murthy

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, known as N. R. Narayana Murthy, is an Indian industrialist, software engineer and one of the seven founders of Infosys Technologies, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. He is currently the non-executive Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys. He was the CEO of the company for 21 years, from 1981 to 2002. After stepping down as CEO in 2002, he has broadened his scope of activities to social services as well as promoting India globally.
Murthy's corporate and social vision has been appreciated globally and he is the recipient of several awards including Padma Vibushan - India's second highest civilian award.

N R Narayana Murthy, 53, has a resume befitting a man who founded what 'Asia Money' called 1998's Best Managed Indian Company and one of a handful of the best managed companies in the Asia-pacific region. Graduating as a Bachelor of Technology from the University of Mysore in 1967, he completed a Masters in Technology, Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1969.
His career began as a modestly paid Chief Systems Programmer in the Indian Institute of Management, Ahemadabad in 1969, which gave him a chance to be close to the latest IT developments. He joined SESA in Paris as a systems engineer in 1972 and in 1975 he worked for the systems research institute in Pune, before heading the software group in Patni Computer Systems. It was from Patni that he persuaded six colleagues to join him in starting Infosys Technologies.
Known for his visionary Management Style, Murthy has received various national and international awards, including the IT Man-of-the-year in 1996 and other awards for his leadership skills. Businessweek named him in its June 1998 issue as one of its "Stars-Of-Asia". He was the chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) between 1992 and 1994 and is a member of the governing councils of several central government institutions. He is also in demand as a guest lecturer at engineering and business schools, such as the Kellogg and Wharton Business Schools, and Stanford and Harvard Universities.
Infosys was founded by seven software professionals with the objective of conducting an experiment in leveraging sweat equity and creating wealthlegally and ethically. At that time however, most companies were founded on the basis of financial strength and parentage. But the original idea of Infosys was to add value to India & to create high quality jobs for bright young men and women.
The actual business of Infosys is Customised Software Development, re-engineering and maintenance in many vertical areas. They were India's first software industry to conceptualise, articulate and implement the concept of offshore software development. Infosys was also among the first Indian Software companies to be assessed at level 4 of the Capability Maturity Model of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and to obtain company wide immediate certification for ISO 9001

Dr. Vijay Mallya

Dr. Vijay Mallya is an Indian businessman and Rajya Sabha MP. The 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.
As of 2008, Mallya was ranked as the 962nd richest person in the world and the 42nd in India with a net worth of US$1.2 billion. He receives substantial press coverage that focuses on his lavish parties and his yacht, the Indian Empress.

Personal life
Mallya is originally from the town of Bantwal in Karnataka. He was educated at La Martiniere Boys' College, Calcutta in Kolkata and completed his degree from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta under Calcutta University. Mallya is married twice. His first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Sidhartha Vijay Mallya. After separation with his first wife he got married to Rekha and has two daughters Leana and Tanya Mallya. Mallya has a home in Sausalito, California, USA.

Dr Vijay Mallya -- Chairman and Managing Director, Force India Formula One Team
The UB Group is one of India's largest conglomerates with annual sales of over US$ 4 billion and a market capitalization of approximately US$ 12 billion. The Group has diverse interests in brewing, distilling, real estate, engineering, fertilizers, biotechnology, information technology and aviation. It is also the largest Indian manufacturer of beverage alcohol (beer and spirits). Dr Vijay Mallya is the Chairman of the Group.
Mallya, 52, was elected by shareholders as Chairman of UB in 1983, at the age of 28. He previously assisted his father, the former Chairman, who passed away in the same year.
Prior to being entrusted with the responsibilities of a classical Indian corporate conglomerate, Mallya worked for the American Hoechst Corporation (now Sanofi-Aventis) in the US and with Jenson & Nicholson in the UK. Since 1980, he assisted his father, the then Chairman of The UB Group, in managing the important Brewing and Spirits Divisions and in re-launching the Kingfisher Brand of Beer. In 1983, the sales volume of the UB Spirits division was approximately 2.85 million cases and UB's beer business trailed behind that of Golden Eagle from Mohan Meakins. Also included in the Group were activities such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, paints, petrochemicals and plastics, the manufacture of electro-mechanical batteries, the manufacture of food products and carbonated beverages, a fast-food pizza chain and several medium and small scale industrial units.
Upon assuming the position of Chairman in October 1983, Dr. Mallya initiated the process of defining a corporate structure with performance accountability, inducting professional management and consolidating the unwieldy empire into individual operating divisions.
In 1988, Mallya became a non-resident Indian to pursue global opportunities and to transform The UB Group into India's first multinational company. While, in the initial stages, overseas representative offices had been commissioned, the real break came in 1988 when Mallya, in a leveraged buyout, acquired the global Berger Paints Group with operating companies across four continents. The exit strategy for this investment was profitably executed when Mallya successfully directed five Initial Public Offerings on the London , Singapore (Main Boards), Nairobi, Jamaica and Abidjan Stock Exchanges. The paints business was divested for significant value in 1996.
Mallya also founded a software company in the US in 1993 which was subsequently listed on the NASDAQ in 1996 and which provides a considerable window of opportunity to the vast US market. He also initiated several ventures for the promotion and globalization of UB brands and, in particular, Kingfisher and McDowell.
In 1990, following the Government of India's liberalised economic policies, Dr. Mallya decided that the UB Group would only retain interests in businesses that were globally competitive and which did not depend upon fiscal tariff protection. He also decided to focus on areas of core competence and transformed the vastly diversified UB conglomerate into a handful of key operating businesses.
On entering the new millennium, The UB Group is considerably more focused and has dramatically increased value for its shareholders through its various operating businesses. Sales of the UB Spirits Division have touched 74 million cases (9 litres each) during the third quarter of the fiscal year 2007-08. In addition, this Division is one of only three in the world to own fifteen millionaire brands and at least five brands rated by Drinks International, UK to be amongst the ten fastest growing brands in the world in their respective categories. The market share of the Spirits Division in India is currently 60% and exports to the Middle East, Africa and Asian countries are growing rapidly.
In 2007, United Spirits Limited, the flagship of The UB Group, acquired a hundred percent of premium scotch distillers Whyte & Mackay and Liquidity Inc, a United States-based maker of specialty vodkas. The Delaware-based Liquidity Inc produces speciality brands like Pinky Vodka and Marakesh.
The UB Group's Brewing Division has also assumed undisputed market leadership with a national market share in excess of 48%. Through a process of aggressive acquisition and market penetration, The UB Group today controls 60% of the total manufacturing capacity for beer in India. The flagship brand, Kingfisher, is now sold in over 50 countries worldwide having received many accolades for its quality.
Kingfisher, one of the flagship brands of The UB Group, has partnered with NDTV, India's leading broadcast group in a first-of-its-kind media alliance for the promotion of NDTV Good Times. The NDTV Good Times channel would leverage from the editorial credibility and quality of the NDTV group and the strong lifestyle appeal of the Kingfisher brand and icon, to offer Indian viewers a world-class television entertainment experience.
The UB Group's Kingfisher Airlines is today the undisputed market leader in India's booming aviation market. In the short span of just under three years since it was launched, Kingfisher Airlines has redefined the whole experience of flying and has raised the bar by unleashing a host of product and service innovations. It has received over thirty awards since its inception.
Kingfisher Airlines offers full service and promises an unparalleled experience to the Indian air traveller. On offer are the plushest sleeperette seats in the Indian skies with a 48 inch pitch, 125 degree recline, adjustable headrests and fully extendable footrests. In-flight entertainment has been taken to a new level with the introduction of live television to compliment the latest and finest audio and video on demand system that is available.
With the merger of Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines, the airline covers all segments of air travel from low fares to premium fares and offers the maximum number of flights offered by any single airline network in India.
India's largest domestic airline connects 71 cities and has 549 daily departures. The combined entity of Kingfisher Airlines currently operates a fleet of 49 brand new Airbus A-320 family aircraft and 30 ATR aircraft.
In 2007, Mallya made a strategic and significant investment in Epic Aircraft, a US-based aircraft manufacturing company specializing in high performance airplanes-Very Light Jets (VLJ). VLJs are a new breed of aircraft, developed through innovative technology and manufacturing processes that have reduced the cost of a jet by up to 60%, potentially transforming the economics and convenience of owning and operating private jets.
Mallya is the Chairman of public companies both in India as well as in the US. He has been the Chairman of Aventis Pharma India (previously Hoechst) as well as the Chairman of Bayer Crop Science in India (previously Agrevo) for over 20 years, in addition to his Chairmanship of several other corporations.
He is a keen sportsman and is an ardent aviator and yachtsman of distinction. He not only participates in various sporting events but also supports various sporting activities worldwide, particularly for the under privileged.
Force India Formula One Team: Mallya has had a longstanding presence in Formula One having sponsored the Benetton Formula One Team in 1996-97. In 2007, Kingfisher Airlines was a sponsor of the Panasonic Toyota Formula One Team. Mallya also serves as the Chairman of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, the Government of India, recognized National sporting body as well as the Motor Sports Association of India, the current FIA ASN for India.
Mallya is the first Indian ever to become the owner of a Formula One Team. The Netherlands-based Mol Family and Mallya have formed a consortium that is now the joint owner of Force India Formula One, which is also India's first-ever Formula One Team and represents India's first, truly global sports foray.
The Silverstone-based team has evolved from the iconic Jordan Grand Prix Team to the more recent Spyker Team and boasts a tally of three race wins since its inception in 1991.
Under the leadership of Mallya, the team is now a finely tuned, state-of-the-art Formula One entity ready to challenge some of the automotive industry's greatest brands for track success. The team can now benefit from a competitive advantage in the areas of aerodynamics technology-thanks to Airbus support; access to the latest in composite manufacturing and operations technology through Epic Aircraft.
Force India Formula One is the new global face of an emerging superpower and is increasingly viewed as a team that will change the dynamics of Formula One, bottom up and a team that dares to dream. Most importantly, Force India Formula One has come to epitomize the dream of every Indian and is powered by a billion prayers!
Mallya has received several professional awards both in India and overseas. He was conferred a Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration, by the Southern California University, Irvine. He has also been nominated as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.
Mallya has always believed that Corporations have a responsibility to society and mankind. To this end, he has contributed generously to various Charities and Foundations in several countries in addition to establishing The Mallya Hospital, The Mallya-Aditi School and the Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation in Bangalore, India