What a year for business 2004 has turned out to be! And what a year for business news it has turned out to be! In many ways, the 12 months that have passed have been a lesson for futurists of all hues, a classification that I think includes journalists. Here is just a sampling of things no one could have predicted 12 months ago:

• That a new Congress-led government would come to power

• That the communist parties would witness a revival of their fortunes and actually become strong enough to support the government from outside

• That the process of economic reform would go on despite this

• That the markets would crash (and how!) and boom (and how!) again

• That foreign portfolio investors would pump in an amount in excess of $8 billion (Rs 35,200 crore) into the Indian market

• That the Birlas would be embroiled in a messy court battle; that the Brothers Ambani would fall out; and that T.P.G. Nambiar would drag son-in-law Rajeev Chandrasekhar to court

If there is a moral to it all, it is that predicting the short-term future is well nigh impossible.

That brings me to the theme of the issue you hold in your hands: India in 2020. And it brings me to the secret of the science of futurism. While it is impossible to predict the short-term future, it is well within the realm of the possible to envisage the long-term one. That is what we have got 25 CEOs and thought leaders to do. Among the perspectives of the future you will find in this issue are Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC, the company whose e-Choupal initiative has set a global benchmark in the engagement of rural communities, writing on creating wealth in villages; K.V. Kamath, CEO, ICICI Bank, the company with the highest proportion of women in senior managerial positions in India, on the growing power of women in the workplace; and Roopa Purushothaman, the young Goldman Sachs economist whose report on emerging powerhouses (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or BRICs) has received as much notice as a bestseller, writing on India's future place in the global economy. That's just a sampling; there are 22 more perspectives, each on an equally stimulating topic.

The one thing that makes me exceedingly happy is the fact that all columnists strike a very positive note about India's future. Anand Mahindra, the Vice Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra, actually offers an engaging argument as to why India will become a fount of innovation or "be condemned to creativity" as he calls it. Indeed, if there is one message I would like to take away from 2004, it is that India Inc. has moved out of its 'whining mode' into a winning one: in the past 12 months, it has taken a change in regime, a market crash, the looming threat of a reform-blockade by the communists, and a spike in global oil prices in its stride, shrugged them off, and continued to register higher sales and return higher profits. The year ahead may bring bigger challenges, but surely, this bring-them-on attitude will see Indian industry prevail. As always, your magazine will be there to cover these happenings.

Wish you a Prosperous New Year.

Aroon Purie