NAME: GAUTAM THAPAR AGE: 45 DESIGNATION: VC & MD STATE: BILT

That he is aggressive and ambitious is evident from his achievements over the past nine years. And earlier this month, he proved that all over again with a $261-million (Rs 1,174.5-crore) takeover of Sabah Forest Industries, Malaysia's largest pulp and paper company, propelling, in the process, his flagship BILT into the ranks of the 10 largest Asian pulp and paper companies outside Japan. But this aggression doesn't reflect in his demeanour. In his personal life, Gautam Thapar, a third-generation scion of one of India's true-blue business houses, comes across as a mild-mannered, obsessively private person; not many people can claim to have seen his German wife and two daughters, aged eight and six years. He also doesn't hold forth on how he brought dying family flagships, Crompton Greaves and BILT, back to life after he took over their reins in 1997. "I had no option but to get these companies back into shape; so I just did it," is all he says.

A chemical engineer from Platt Institute in the US, Thapar, who began his career with BILT as shop floor management apprentice in 1986, is now looking ahead. "Our total turnover from all businesses is Rs 9,000 crore. My goal is to double this to Rs 18,000 crore over the next five years," he says. Only last year, he took over the transformer manufacturing business of Belgian multinational Pauwels for Rs 180 crore. This gave him manufacturing and marketing beachheads in Western Europe and North America. But he's most excited about his processed foods venture, Global Green. It's still small, with a top line of only Rs 100 crore, but Thapar hopes to scale this up to $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) within the next 6-7 years.

People who have worked with him say Thapar is a big-picture person who likes to chalk out plans and then leaves the actual implementation to his team. And his philosophy? "My focus will always be on creating value for my shareholders," he says.