COVER STORY
Now, that we at Outlook have done the list of 50 all-time greats, we want to make it an annual feature to list out the 50 most important contemporary CEOs.
Outlook Magazine - 3 April 2017
India’s 50 Greatest CEOs
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Parvinder didn’t induct his sons to the company’s board, instead named senior executive D.S. Brar as Ranbaxy’s CEO.
Hamied played a key role in forming the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association and successfully lobbied for patent law changes in the country.
Quitting a corporate job, Bikhchandani started Info Edge and Indmark, working out of a servant’s quarter for which he paid his dad Rs 800.
Mazumdar Shaw struggled to raise capital not just because she was a woman, but because of her ambitions in a globally competitive and advanced field.
Chauhan believes that executing a project is more than just getting the job done.... He has a way of making brands a part of consumers’ lives.
Sobti’s success is due to clear strategy and innovative execution. He has also used technology to create various banking products.
It was the booming middle class that helped Biyani’s growth from Pantaloon
Eight young men quit DCM in 1976 to create HCL in a Delhi barsati, “akin to a garage startup”.... It went on to revolutionise Indian technology.
Under Bhargava, Maruti became India’s No. 1 automobile firm and a precious profit-making engine for its parent Suzuki.
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Parvinder didn’t induct his sons to the company’s board, instead named senior executive D.S. Brar as Ranbaxy’s CEO.
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Hamied played a key role in forming the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association and successfully lobbied for patent law changes in the country.
-
Quitting a corporate job, Bikhchandani started Info Edge and Indmark, working out of a servant’s quarter for which he paid his dad Rs 800.
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Mazumdar Shaw struggled to raise capital not just because she was a woman, but because of her ambitions in a globally competitive and advanced field.
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Chauhan believes that executing a project is more than just getting the job done.... He has a way of making brands a part of consumers’ lives.
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Sobti’s success is due to clear strategy and innovative execution. He has also used technology to create various banking products.
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It was the booming middle class that helped Biyani’s growth from Pantaloon
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Eight young men quit DCM in 1976 to create HCL in a Delhi barsati, “akin to a garage startup”.... It went on to revolutionise Indian technology.
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Under Bhargava, Maruti became India’s No. 1 automobile firm and a precious profit-making engine for its parent Suzuki.
OTHER STORIES
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Naik’s plucky support for indigenisation helped L&T become a major supplier of missiles and weapon systems.
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The idea to set up a hospital chain simmered within Dr Reddy on returning to India after a successful career in the US. He sensed the potential of good private healthcare.
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To Y.C. Deveshwar can go the credit of pulling ITC out of its status as a pure cigarette major and diversifying it.
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Bhatia’s low-cost airline is now the biggest in India. The flights are 15% more fuel-efficient, ply in routes that burn less fuel. Even the speed is moderated.
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A regular column on the essential buzz
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The group ranks among India’s top ten, with footmarks beyond auto: home appliances, travel, insurance, financial services and iron and steel.
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Onkar built on his father’s beginnings and established himself as a global tyre tycoon.
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The secret of Yogi Adityanath’s success could well be his appeal across castes
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Under Anand Mahindra, the group grew inorganically through acquisitions like Reva Electric Car, Satyam Computer Services and Peugeot motorcycles.
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Desai gave India its first quartz watches, a respite from watches that had to be set up and wound every day. J.R.D. Tata instantly liked the idea of launching a watch brand.
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The joint venture with Honda overtook Bajaj Auto to become India’s biggest two-wheeler manufacturer.
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In <em>The Z Factor</em>, his autobiography, Chandra barely couches his belief that business isn’t a straight path and requires one to do all it takes.
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A firm believer in automation and paperless trading, Patil linked trading terminals across India using V-SAT technology.
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TCS’s growth points to Chandra’s pace and focus on agility. His management style, he said once, is a fusion of a ‘high and soft’ touches.
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Nilekani executed the Aadhaar project, an attempt to create a biometric database of the entire population of India. It was hailed as the biggest social project on the planet.
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In 2010 and 2013, the Wipro chairman donated a total of more than Rs 28,000 crore to Azim Premji Foundation—one of the highest philanthropic contributions ever by an Indian.
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JRD started with 14 firms in the Tata Group. When he left in 1988, it had 95, many of which he founded. He was also the progenitor of commercial flights in India.
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“He had a vision and coming from a political family, he also has insight into how policy making works,” says telecom expert Mahesh Uppal.
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The scale at which Tata Consultancy Service’s strategy and business model grew under Ramadorai as the CEO since 1996 was unimaginable.
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“He had this dream of building the best company in the world so everything he did had to be top class,” says former colleague T.V. Mohandas Pai.
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“He was the high priest of public sector management. He’d turn companies around,” says biz historian Raman Mahadevan.
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“The whole DNA of his business was not only to innovate for survival but also to innovate to change the rules of the business game,” says Pritam Singh, former director, IIM Lucknow.
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Banking wasn’t his first choice in profession. Kamath had studied to be an engineer to join his family business of tile manufacturing.
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“Parekh made us believe that even a single product company can be phenomenally successful,” says biz-analyst Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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A bachelor known for his low-profile lifestyle, Ratan Tata’s coup against his successor last year showed he’s still the boss.
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“He had the wisdom and managerial skills to convince the government to invest in rockets,” says K. Raghavan, chief architect of satellite systems.
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In the 1990s, Samir Jain brought in his corporatised approach with an unabashedly growth and profit orientation, defining media as a consumer product.
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“Whenever there’s a problem, he focuses on the target—‘like Arjuna’. It doesn’t matter who he has to crush on the way, even politicians,” says his biographer Rajendra B. Aklekar.
