Arun Sarin, Vodafone

I prayed to God and asked him how I could have more than 24 hours a day.... And God brought me Arun."
InfoSpace Founder Naveen Jain after getting
Arun Sarin to sign on as CEO, as quoted in
The Street.com

That didn't last. So, in July 2001, Sarin signed on as CEO of Accel-kkr Telecom. But the Vodafone connection remained: he continued to serve as a non-executive director of the company-he is also on the board of Charles Schwab, Cisco, and Gap. Come summer 2003, though, and 48-year old Sarin, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus will take over as the chief executive of the only mobile telephone company in the world that has over 100 million users across 29 countries. Clearly, the search committee had not forgotten the man who built AirTouch Communications from a small wireless company into a global player prior to its acquisition by Vodafone. Sarin takes over the hot seat at Vodafone (in London) at a time when the company is struggling to earn a return on the $90 billion it invested in 3g (third generation) licences. That's some task.

Rajat Gupta, McKinsey
Heading McKinsey is no mean achievement.

''Rajat is the future of the Firm"
Former McKinsey consultant and one-man industry Tom Peters in a 1994 interview to Business Today

In 1973, when Rajat K. Gupta, then a 25-year-old fresh out of Harvard Business School was interviewed by McKinsey, the firm rejected him because he lacked work experience. It was only after one of his professors, Walter Salmon wrote to Ron Daniel, then the manager of McKinsey's New York office and the man who had conducted the interview, asking him to reconsider his decision that Gupta got a look in. In 1994, Gupta was elected to the top post. The IIT-Delhi alum has been re-elected twice since, in 1997 and 2000.

Today, as he nears the end of his third and, probably, last term at the head of the world's premier consulting firm, Gupta is often described as one of the most powerful managing directors McKinsey has ever seen. In the eight years he has been in charge, the Firm has doubled in size and expanded into emerging markets such as China, India, and South Korea. A die-hard Indophile Gupta had to live down the firm's association with Enron and the dotcom bust (the firm had hired in anticipation of a continuing boom), but then, no CEO has had it easy these past years.

Rajiv L. Gupta, Rohm and Haas Co
The other Gupta, he heads a $6-billion speciality chemicals company.

"While few consumers know us, few industries don't."
Excerpt from Rohm & Hass' website

You could say that about Raj Gupta too. When Gupta moved from Scott Paper Co to Rohm & Haas in 1971 he did so because the company had an office in India: the IIT Mumbai alum believed that the move would one day help him return to India. That didn't happen-he did become director of the company's Asia Pacific operations in 1993, as close as he would get to India-but in 1999, he was named chairman and CEO. Gupta's election as chairman was indication of the growing importance of the division he headed, electronic materials-these go into creating components for cellular phones, computers, and other electronic devices. The year that was, 2002, was hard on Thorm And Haas-it involved a $200 million cost reduction-but surely, electronic devices aren't going to go away.

Ramani Ayer, The Hartford
Ayer may well be the first Indian to have made it big in the upper-crust world of American insurance.

A hartford lifer, Ayer belongs to a small people of non-American origin who head a large insurance company-The Hartford was one of the United States' largest insurance and financial services company in 2001 with total revenues of $15.2 billion. Like Gupta, Ayer is a product of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Aman Mehta, HSBC
The first Indian manager at HSBC has carried things to their logical denouement.

The third lifer in this section, Mehta is the only one of the six executives profiled here who is not from an IIT. An economics graduate from Delhi U, he began his career at the Mumbai office of Mercantile Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC in 1967. "A multicultural workforce has become something most MNCs see as an advantage these days," says Mehta who worked his way up, rung by corporate rung until he was named CEO of HSBC Ltd in 1999. The secret of his success: the Indian education system, proficiency in English, and old-world family values, common in India, that provide a support system.

Past Glory
CEOs who were trail-blazers on the global scene.

By Seema Shukla & Abha Bakaya

Shailesh J. Mehta,
Chairman and CEO, Providian Financial Corporation

One of the 20 most highly paid American execs in his time, Mehta, an IIT Mumbai alum made the headlines with his strategy of building a business by issuing credit cards to people with high risk credit profiles. On the strength of this strategy, Providian became the fifth largest issuer of credit cards in the US. Pressure from consumer groups that believed the company charged them too much interest may have had a hand in Mehta's resignation in October 2001. He is now President and CEO of Granite Hill Capital Ventures.

Jamshed 'Jim' Wadia,
Managing Partner, Arthur Andersen

A lawyer and accountant by training, Wadia headed premier accounting firm Arthur Andersen until internal disillusionment over his handling of the split with Andersen Consulting caused him to leave in 2000. The man who must be relieved he departed long before Enron happened now works for law firm Linklaters.

Ronojoy 'Rono' Dutta
President, United Airlines

Yet another IIT product (from Kharagpur), fortune magazine once called him "the company's principal blue-sky thinker". But Dutta could never see eye to eye with the 54 per cent employee-owned company's union. He quit in September 2002.

Rakesh Gangwal,
President and CEO, US Airways

A mechanical engineer from IIT-Kanpur, Gangwal was one of the airline industry's most respected execs: he grew US Airways from a $800 million also-ran to a $8-billion powerhouse. But events following 9-11 compounded its woes-a long-anticipated merger with United Airlines had fallen through earlier-and he quit in November 2001. He is now a venture capitalist.

Rana Talwar,
CEO, Standard Chartered Bank

Talwar earned his spurs in Citi where he built its retail business in Asia. However, he may have displayed the Citi brand of aggressiveness a mite too soon in Standard Chartered, which named him CEO in 1998. He left in 2001 and will earn a reported £3 million for remaining unemployed till August 31, 2003-so said his contract-after his departure from the bank.

CEOs In The Making
The men and women most likely to occupy corner rooms in global corporations. Soon.

By Seema Shukla & Abha Bakaya

Indra Nooyi
PepsiCo may essentially be a coloured water company, but an Indian woman is its President and CFO.

From the lush Tambaram campus of madras Christian College-she was part of the college band and used to belt out popular hits such as Jailhouse Rock-to the town of Purchase, New York, may be a long strange trip, but Indra Nooyi has done the distance, and done it in style. Now 47, the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and Yale School of Management alum is responsible for all corporate functions at the $26-billion PepsiCo, the world's fifth-largest beverage company. From the spin-off of Tricon Global Restaurants and the IPO of Pepsi Bottling to the acquisition of brand Tropicana and Quaker Oats, Nooyi has played a major role in shaping PepsiCo's future. That is why many expect the diminutive mother of two to one day head the company.

Muktesh Pant
From HLL, to PepsiCo to Reebok Mickey Pant keeps running.

The marathon man-he still runs about 42 kms a week-and one-time poster boy of India Inc, Pant is now setting the streets on fire in Boston, where the $3-billion footwear major Reebok is based. The IIT-Kanpur alum-he refused an offer from IIM-A to join HLL (he calls it "the best training school in the world")-who has had stints at PepsiCo India and Reebok India, is in charge of marketing at the company he could one day head.

Jayshree Ullal
Go-go Cisco's optical business is headed by Ullal.

She has worked for crescendo, AMD, and Fairchild Semiconductor, heads one of Cisco's most important businesses, and was named by Newsweek as one of the 20 women to watch in 2001-surely, a CV can't get better.

Padmasree Warrior
Warrior was the first woman Chief Technology Officer in the US.

The requisite IIT Delhi qualification is there in Warrior's resume as is an impressive stint as CTO of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector-it is the world's largest embedded electronics producer. Now a Corporate Vice President at Motorola and in charge of an emerging business, Energy Systems Group, Warrior actually manages to find time for painting and pottery.

Arun Netravali
The man himself attributes it all to luck, but don't be fooled by that; Netravali is an ace scientific mind.

Ask Netravali about his education at IIT-Mumbai, or his stint at Bell Labs and Lucent's Chief Scientist passes it off as "luck". "It's all about being in the right place at the right time," he says. So, it is not easy to get him to talk about his achievements. Of those, the Padma Bhushan recipients has several: 70 patents, partial responsibility for high-definition TV, and the man whose work forms the basis for everything from streaming video on the Net to video compression techniques. And he calls that luck?

Keki Dadiseth
He generates half Unilever's revenues.

Hindustan lever limited may contribute just around 10 per cent to Unilever's revenues of $46.7 billion, but there's no denying its standing as one of the jewels in the Anglo-Dutch consumer product giant's crown. Much of that stems from its ability to feed the Unilever system with superior managerial talent. Like Keki Dadiseth. In 2000, the former HLL chairman moved to London, first as head of personnel and then as the man in charge of Unilever's home and personal care businesses, which accounts for half of Unilever's revenues.

Victor Menezes
Menezes is still in the race for Citigroup's leadership.

After blowing hot and blowing cold for well nigh to three years, Menezes, now Chairman and CEO, Citibank, seems to have lost out in the race to become CEO of Citigroup. Still the 53-year-old IIT-Mumbai, Sloan School product has managed to survive Citi's merger with Travellers, and thrived. Don't count the quiet, diplomatic Mr Menezes out yet.

Vyomesh Joshi
Joshi heads HP's most profitable business.

A techie at heart-he joined hp in 1980 and spent his first four years "inventing"-Joshi is the keeper of hp's digital imaging strategy (his card reads Executive VP, Imaging and Printing Group), key to the success of the new hp. Business isn't just about people and innovation, believes the fuelled-by-passion Joshi. It is about learning.

Rakesh Kapoor
Little-known Kapoor is a star in the Reckitt Benckiser system.

Head of Reckitt's operations in the UK and Ireland, Kapoor attributes his success to "the ability to change, and to get the business to change". In his present post since 2001, Kapoor believes it is too early to consider a move back. "I have unfinished business," he says. We understand.

Somasegar Sivaramakichenane
Just think of Microsoft's Soma as Windows' keeper.

His designation may look innocuous (Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Windows Engineering Services Group), and he may be just one of the approximately 17,700 Microsoft employees (the software monolith has 50,621 employees on its rolls) who are Indian, but Soma is-we are not kidding here-Windows' keeper.

Offshore Enterprise
Twenty five Global Indian entrepreneurial success stories

By Seema Shukla & Abha Bakaya

Laxmi N. Mittal, Ispat International:

With an empire spanning five continents and valued at £900 million, the UK-based steel sultan is the richest Indian abroad.

The Brothers Hinduja, Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, Ashok:

With a $15-billion business, the controversy ridden Hindujas remain one of the most influential business families. They have interests in oil, finance and telecom.

Jasminder Singh, Edwardian Group Hotels:
Even as his upmarket chain of hotels across eight countries suffers the 9-11 effect, its value stays high at £400 million.

Vijay & Bhiku Patel, Waymade Healthcare:
In less than three decades, the Patel brothers have transformed a lone store in Basildon, UK into a £298-million pharma retail business.

Lord Swaraj Paul, Caparo Group:

The Lord Paul of Marylebone is one of the most respected NRIs in the UK. The turnover of his nine listed companies with interests in steel and engineering exceeds £525 million.

Anil Chandaria, Comcraft:
He has interests in steel, chemicals and plastics. His UK-based flagship company Comcraft's turnover alone is £200 million.

Tom Singh, New Look Clothing:
Founded in 1969, Singh's clothing retail chain has over 500 stores in UK with a turnover of $650 million.

Sir G.K. Noon, WT Foods:
Noon's wt Foods is one of Europe's leading suppliers of ethnic food with sales of £150 million.

Lord Raj Kumar Bagri, Metdist:

The first non-Briton to head the prestigious London Metal Exchange, Lord Bagri runs one of the largest non-ferrous metals businesses in the UK. His net worth is close to £80 million.

Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande, Sycamore Networks:

A student of IIT-Madras, Deshpande founded the Massachusetts-based $14.5-billion Sycamore Networks

Reuben Singh, RS Group:
The 26-year-old runs an internet company RS International, and is the UK's youngest millionaire with a personal fortune of £35 million.

Sanjiv Sidhu, i2 Technologies:
Sidhu and i2 were once Wall Street favourites. But the tech meltdown saw his fortune plummet from a high of $9.6 billion in 1999 to $400 million today.

Naveen Jain, Infospace:
Jain quit Microsoft in 1996 to found Infospace. The nasdaq listed company has more than 700 employees and a turnover of $162 million.

Vivek Wadhwa, Relativity Technologies Inc:
Forbes called him a "Leader of Tomorrow" while Fortune thinks his $118 million company Relativity, belongs in the list of 25 "coolest" companies in the world.

Vinod Gupta, infoUSA Inc.:

The IIT Kharagpur grad's $300 million infoUSA Inc. sells databases of 12 million businesses and 200 million households across the US.

Sabeer Bhatia:

From the heady days of Hotmail to Page 3, it's been one helluva ride for the bits Pilani alumnus. After his latest venture Arzoo's failure, Bhatia has chosen to play angel.

Lata Krishnan, SMART modular:
Kerala-born Krishnan's smart Modular, a memory modules manufacturer, netted more than $700 million last year and, according to Fortune, is one of the 50 fastest growing tech companies.

Ranjan Marwah, Executive Access:

He came to Hong Kong on a holiday 28 years ago with $300 rolled in his socks and started a search firm whose annual income today is in excess of $200 million.

Vinod Khosla:

His investments in a handful of now-hot telcos like Infinera, Asera and Centrata shows why Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, is the greatest VC of all time. His net worth is estimated to be around $550 million.

Rajendra Singh, Telecom Ventures:
He grew up in a small Rajasthan village and now runs a company that's into wireless and long-distance telephony. His net worth is close to $ 1.1 billion.

P. Mohammed Ali, Galfar:
Ali landed in the Gulf as a 22-year-old with a diploma in civil engineering. Today his $250 million company has interests in oil drilling and infrastructure.

Amar Gopal Bose:

Bose launched his first product in 1968. Today Bose Corporation has a turnover of $600 million and is synonymous with premier audio products.

Nav Sooch, Silicon Labs:
Sooch runs a chip design company and with a networth of $186 million he is the highest-ranked Indian American on Fortune's list of the richest Americans below 40.

Rakesh Mathur:
Mathur made $180 million in a stock deal when Amazon decided to buy his net startup Junglee Corp. He now runs a data management company.

Kanwal Rekhi:

The son of Sikh refugees who landed in the US in 1967, Rekhi became a pioneering VC. He funded Exodus Communications; today, the company is worth $15 billion.