NAME: B. MUTHURAMAN AGE: 62 DESIGNATION: Managing Director COMPANY: Tata Steel

He is the chief executive of India's largest steel company and the world's fifth largest, and he's hungry for more. On the anvil: a possible joint venture with Nippon Steel Corporation of Japan, the world's second-largest steel producer, for producing auto grade steel. And, he will become CEO of what will probably be India's largest corporation once the formalities of closing the Tata Steel-Corus deal are completed. The graduate trainee, who joined Tata Steel straight from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1966, has come a long way.

B. Muthuraman's climb to the top has been gradual. He spent some time in the engineering and iron and steel-making side of the company before moving to sales and marketing, where he has spent most of his career, which has had its share of ups and downs. In the early 90s, he had to steer the sales team through one of the worst recessions faced by the Indian economy. Then, in the late 90s, he spent a fruitless stint in Gopalpur, Orissa, trying to set up a greenfield steel plant there. In between, he achieved what till then was the high point of his career-the commissioning of Tata Steel's Cold Rolling Mill in Jamshedpur ahead of schedule. Under his leadership, Tata Steel has charted many new paths. Muthuraman took the initiative of de-commoditising steel through branding and retail initiatives; this reduced the company's dependence on market conditions. He has shown foresight and agility to spot and seize the opportunities of economic development by setting up new capacities in steel making and moving into newer markets spread across the globe-in South East Asia, the company bought Nat Steel (Singapore) and Millennium Steel (Thailand); taking Tata Steel's capacity to 7 million tonnes per year in 2004.

Muthuraman has always been a hands-on executive, though his ability as team leader can be gauged from the way he steered his team through the worst of recessions. Now, all that is history. The acquisition of Corus has been a game changer for Tata Steel. How he manages its transition from a national icon to global giant will define his legacy.

-Amit Mukherjee