NAME: Shashi Ruia (left AGE: 62 DESIGNATION: Chairman STATE: Essar Group

NAME: Ravi Ruia AGE: 57 DESIGNATION: Vice Chairman STATE: Essar Group

The Essar Group is suddenly blipping furiously on the radars of the business press. Its 11-million-tonne oil refinery at Vadinar is scheduled to go on stream next month; the expansion of Essar Steel's capacity from 3 million tonnes to 4.6 million tonnes is expected to be completed the following month; and it has announced plans of setting up another 16-20-million-tonne oil refinery at Jamnagar at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore. And its telecom play, and more specifically, its high profile row with the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Group over Hutchison Essar and BPL Communications is hogging the headlines almost daily.

Guiding the group through all these twists and turns are brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia. Essar Shipping first catapulted them into prominence in the 1980s. Then followed forays into the steel, power, oil and gas, and telecom sectors. After a giddy period of growth in the early-to-mid 90s, the group went through a difficult patch. Several of the industries it was in faced downturns. Essar Steel defaulted on its $250-million international floating rate notes. Overkill, the media shouted, and blamed the promoters for stretching themselves too thin. But the Brothers Ruia rode out the storm and slowly put the business they had built back on the rails. They complement each other well-elder brother Shashi, who is the face of the group, manages the outside environment, while Ravi works in the background as the planner, and fills in the details. But their management styles are strikingly similar. "Both are very hands-on and are very tough task masters," says V.G. Raghavan, Director (Finance), Essar Steel, who has worked with the duo for close to three decades. Their hard work is paying off. The Essar Group has emerged as India's fourth largest in terms of assets (Rs 27,000 crore). The good times are rolling and all their businesses are doing well. But the task before the brothers now is to win back the confidence of the institutions and investors. Going by the positive press they have been receiving recently, they are already part of the way there.