Meenakshi Madhvani
Managing Partner I Spatial Access
With media auditing still to catch on in India, Madhvani becomes a casualty of that old malaise: being ahead of time.

Meenakshi madhvani wanted to become the media planner's media planner when she launched Spatial Access last year. The objective was to find out whether advertisers were getting value from the money they were spending. The idea still stands, but circa 2004, is not exactly at the vanguard of trends in the advertising industry. Will the lady be back? Something tells us she will.

Ravina Raj Kohli
Former President Former CEO I Star News MCCS
With Star News lagging at #4, it was only a matter of time before Kohli moved on.

Despite everything that has been said to the contrary, it was most likely Ravina Raj Kohli's inability to help Star News take the battle to market leader Aaj Tak (owned by TV Today, part of the India Today Group that publishes this magazine) and latecomer NDTV India that precipitated her exit from Star News. Still, she couldn't have done much: The Fox model worldwide revolves around packaging news into snappy, for-the-masses capsules, something the competition has already done in India.

Ekta Kapoor
Creative Director I Balaji Telefilms
Forget Star TV's decision to take a 25 per cent stake in her company, her influence is waning.

The numbers say it all. This time last year, Balaji's top programme on Star Plus, Kyunki... Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi... boasted television rating points of 20.32 (read: viewership) and a reach of 27.34 per cent. This year, the programme remains on top, but its television rating points have slipped to 14.32 and reach to 18.79 per cent. That story is repeated across the company's various K-serials. Balaji, clearly, is losing touch with what the market wants.

Villoo Morawala Patell
Founder & CEO I Avestha Gengraine Tech.
Avestha remains a company with great promise; only, it is taking time to realise it.

In many ways, this magazine is probably to blame for Ms Patell's exclusion from the listing of the most powerful women in Indian business this year: we may have expected too much of Avestha in too short a time. The company still remains hot: not too many start-ups can boast the kind of IP it does. That means Patell will probably be back in this listing sooner than later.

Vineeta Rai
Revenue Secretary I Government of India
Simple, she is retiring.

Vineeta Rai was a shoo-in to this listing last year. After all, she remains the only woman to date to have been revenue secretary of the Government of India. She may have been helped by a resurgent India Inc. but 2003-04 was a good year for the government from the revenue collection point of view. She is set to retire sometime in September.

Shahnaz Husain
CMD I Shahnaz Husain Group
It's the competition, silly.

India's Anita Roddick, Shahnaz Husain, aka Princess, featured in last year's listing as someone responsible for the birth of the herbal beauty industry in India and, consequently, inspiring several other women like her to jump into the same or related businesses. The recent decision of CLSA to invest $10 million in vlcc, founded by one such individual Vandana Luthra, may well indicate that the 'several others' have caught up.

Simone Tata
Chairperson I Trent
Because the lady is retiring gracefully.

These days, it is noel Tata (Simone's son and the company's CEO) who is driving Trent's retail strategy (and being spoken of as a possible successor to Ratan Tata). Simone Tata has been content to play the chairperson's role. However, the lady who founded Lakmé will remain a role model for generations to come.

Kishori J. Udeshi
Deputy Governor I RBI
She dropped out.

Udeshi made the list last year on the strength of being the first woman to become the Deputy Governor of India's central bank. She should have been an automatic inclusion in this year's listing too, but for her decision to opt out. With RBI execs refusing to part with information on what the lady has been up to this past year, the magazine had to regretfully drop her.

Ranjana Kumar
CMD I NABARD
Because it is still early days.

Ranjana Kumar turned around the near-bankrupt Indian Bank, and how. For her efforts she was rewarded with the post of Chairman and Managing Director of NABARD. She has been that for just around a year, not enough time to judge performance. However, with this government's marked emphasis on the agricultural and rural sector, NABARD is an organisation to watch. Ergo, Kumar is probably a shoo-in for the 2005 listing.