The three companies that are clubbed together as the Indian it industry's Tier I, TCS, Infosys and Wipro- strangely enough, there's a certain phonetic cadence to their names when strung together, irrespective of the order in which the companies are taken-are around the same size in terms of revenues (give or take a few hundred million dollars here and there), number of employees (again, give or take a few thousand here and there), and nature of business (overlooking obvious differences related to the type of contracts they prefer, or their revenues from specific industry-segments). Why, even the men who head these companies are of similar vintage: TCS CEO S. Ramadorai, turned 60 in October 2004; Wipro Chairman Azim Premji reached the milestone in July 2005; and Infosys Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy will do so in August this year.

The similarities, though, while interesting enough to find mention here, are not why this magazine believes the three men feature here. If Messrs Premji, Murthy and Ramadorai were the business leaders of 2005-it seems unnecessary to mention here that this is an opinion and that readers are free to buy into it, trash it, or even write to us with alternative names if they have the energy to do so-it is because each did something in the course of the year that set a trend or highlighted one, reflected the changing face of India Inc. or served as a stark pointer to the fact that plus CA change, plus c'est la meme chose (the more things change...), or simply proved why they are as different as they are from their peers.

Murthy, first. In 2005, he took on a politician, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (s) leader H.D. Deve Gowda, just as in 2004, he had taken on another, then hrd Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. He tried to do his bit to revive Bangalore's crumbling infrastructure (he failed), resigned from the stewardship of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) when Gowda alleged that he had done nothing for the company, and articulated (as he had a few years ago), his half-desire to be India's ambassador to the United States. And, in a year when some people in Bangalore started calling him the new Mahatma-this was in the wake of the spat with Gowda and the term was used part derisively, part respectfully-Murthy confirmed that he would step down as Executive Chairman of Infosys Technologies come August 2006 (when he turns 60). Renunciation has never come easily to India's CEOs. Earlier last year, Tata Sons revised an earlier norm about its non-Executive Directors relinquishing their position when they turned 70, and introduced a new one that put the ceiling at 75. That will allow Ratan Tata to continue as Chairman until December 2012.

Ramadorai, next. The last year began badly for TCS (its January-March 2005 financial results didn't look good), but the company recovered quickly. More importantly, in September, the company struck a blow for all of the Indian it industry when it bagged a $260-million (Rs 1,170-crore) deal from Dutch bank ABN Amro for application development and maintenance (ADM, the thing that accounts for the bulk of the revenues of almost all Indian it services firms). Infosys Technologies, too, grabbed a $140- million (Rs 630-crore) piece of the overall deal valued at $1.8 billion (Rs 8,100 crore). In the normal scheme of things, a customer with $1.8 billion worth of business up for outsourcing (the amount includes hardware and infrastructure too) would have picked a large vendor such as IBM, who would have then shopped out smaller pieces to other vendors, some of whom would have been Indian firms. This deal, then, signifies many things: the creation of space at the high-table for Indian firms; the ability of these firms to play with the big boys such as IBM and Accenture; and a growing belief among customers that there is wisdom in breaking a large deal into several mid-sized ones.

Premji, last. In a year when his personal holding in Wipro decreased by some 2 percentage points to around 82 per cent, the man bid adieu to his most high-profile lieutenant, Vice Chairman Vivek Paul. Claiming he had always been "hands-on", Premji set about re-shaping Wipro and the buzz is, this year could see the company make a really big acquisition. In many ways, though, the promoter-manager, professional-manager clash in one the country's most competitive companies (and in one that is engaged in the relatively new-age business of Information Technology) is indicative of India Inc.'s heritage. Most companies continue to be owned or controlled by promoter-families.

The Adventurer

The thing about people such as Vijaypat Singhania, Chairman Emeritus, Raymond Group, Hon. Air Commodore, Indian Air Force, aviator, writer, film-maker, is that there is always something else waiting to be done, another record waiting to be broken. "It has been my obsession," says the man simply, of his record-breaking ascent to 69,852 feet in a hot-air balloon (in late 2005). 70k next.

-Ahona Ghosh

Alive, He Cried

For a few months in 2005, everyone was talking about Sahara Supremo Subrata Roy's illness, even his alleged death. Then, the man made it to the front page of a daily, proclaiming his health and performing feats of strength and endurance. His public appearances since have been infrequent, but calculated.

-Krishna Gopalan

Gotcha

Former volkswagen exec Helmut Schuster had the perfect caper: set up a company in India, convince a state government to invest money in return for a plant in that state and siphon off the funds. Andhra Pradesh, to its embarrassment, took the bait.

-KG

VC-turned-VC

That's vice chairman turned venture capitalist, and after six years with Wipro, helping the company achieve an image that was finally in keeping with its business, GE-alum Vivek Paul left the company, ostensibly because he wanted to try his hand at being a venture capitalist. Now a partner at Texas Pacific Group, Paul says he is "truly excited about what lies ahead".

-AG

Take A Bow

Last year, Warburg Pincus sold its remaining stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures, 5.65 per cent, to Vodafone. On an investment of $300 million or Rs 1,350 crore (the investor had, at one time, an 18 per cent stake in the telco), Warburg made around $1.6 billion (Rs 7,200 crore). Head Rajesh Khanna should take a bow.

-Krishna Gopalan

The Saheb Returns

After 50 years, Hindustan Lever Limited, India's largest consumer products firm, got an expatriate, Douglas Baillie, as CEO. Now in charge of the company's operations in Turkey, Baillie will take over in March. Although the company hasn't said so, the change may have been necessitated by HLL's recent performance.

-Ahona Ghosh

Equal Opp. Employer?

Even if he is not guilty of casteist remarks, as alleged by a Scheduled Caste employee B.M. Ramteke, IDBI Chairman V.P. Shetty deserves a mention here for being perhaps the first Indian corporate head to realise that whiffs of casteism can, much like those of sexual harassment, be used to settle intra-corporate scores.

-AG

Dealmaker's Deal

One of India's best-known dealmakers, Hemendra Kothari struck the deal of a lifetime when he agreed to sell his 47.73 per cent stake in DSP Merrill Lynch for $500 million (Rs 2,250 crore) to Merrill Lynch. "When I started business, my objective was to be a leading financial house," says Kothari who has done just that.

-KG

The Real Thing

Is he guilty? Was he framed? The jury is out on that one, but fact is, Salil Chaturvedi, the promoter of Provogue, a fashion brand, was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act in August after a former employee seemingly ratted on him. He spent 34 days in custody.

-AG

Vroom!

The buzz is, soon after he sold his 64 per cent stake in BPL Communications to Essar, Rajeev Chandrasekhar went out and splurged on a Lamborghini (he is fond of fast cars and big bikes). Now, the former Intel employee, who nets around Rs 1,000 crore from the deal, is looking for new investment opportunities.

-KG

The Deal That Wasn't

First, Purnendu Chatterjee announced that he was part of a consortium taking over Basell for $5.7 billion (Rs 25,650 crore). That was contingent on Chatterjee buying out the West Bengal government from joint venture Haldia Petrochemicals, a deal that went awry. So did the Basell deal.

-KG