Roughly six years ago, at the dawn of the new millennium, six people were groping in the dark depths of their early entrepreneurial lives. Kishore Biyani, the first in our list, had failed twice. His first yarn factory had gone bust in the early 1990s. His branded apparel business was going nowhere. He was struggling to scale up department store Pantaloon, his third business. In 2000, Biyani was voraciously reading and re-reading Made in America, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton’s autobiography. The book was in tatters. Its spine was broken, pages torn, long paragraphs underlined. Back then, Biyani had not yet discovered his hugely successful big-box retailing formats like Big Bazaar.

Jignesh Shah was also staring at failure. In 2000, he failed to win a part of Project Merlin, a multi-million dollar IT outsourcing contract from Nasdaq, which he was banking on to revive his fortunes. A last-minute breakfast meeting in Hyderabad with Al Berkeley, Nasdaq’s then vice-chairman, had ended in disappointment. That year Shah’s company, Financial Technologies’ revenues dropped from Rs 1.95 crore to Rs 20 lakh.

In Karnataka, Narendra Murkumbi and his mother Vidya were struggling to raise money to set up a sugar plant. They were speaking to thousands of cane farmers across 80 villages in Karnataka’s Belgaum district. Finally, they persuaded 9,900 of them to invest at least Rs 5,000 each in Shree Renuka Sugars. The Rs 5 crore they raised was used to buy their first plant.
Around the same time, Tulsi Tanti was struggling to create a fully integrated wind energy business. He did not yet have the technology to make rotor blades and gear boxes, key components in a wind turbine. He didn’t know whether there would be any takers for wind energy either.

2000 was also the year when Glenn Saldanha had taken over a small pharma company, Glenmark, from his father. He decided that it would focus on new drug discovery. It seemed suicidal at a time when larger pharma companies were focusing on generics to make money.
And of course, in 2000, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had just got full control of Biocon from her former joint venture partner Unilever. Biocon was a very, very small company — but Mazumdar-Shaw was upbeat because she could now finally run it her way.
Indeed, in 2000 and 2001, Businessworld had put together two year-end, special issues that captured the simmering new spirit of entrepreneurship. None of these six featured in those issues. They were still too small, too obscure.

These stories seem distant, hard to believe now. Less than seven years into the new millennium, these six are among the most celebrated faces of Indian entrepreneurship.
Biyani is India’s largest retailer with revenues of almost Rs 2,000 crore. Jignesh Shah has co-promoted two exchanges — the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) and the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange. Tulsi Tanti’s Suzlon is one of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers. The Murkumbis are the second largest exporter of refined sugar. Saldanha has signed a $190-million licensing deal with US-based Forest Labs for his experimental anti-asthma drug oglemilast, a deal that is still being talked about in the industry. And Mazumdar-Shaw has become the face of the Indian biotech industry.

Not only are their companies doing well, they are also immensely wealthy personally. All of them are billionaires many times over, in rupee terms. They are at the forefront of BW’s list of 74 New Billionaires (see full list ). They represent the cream of Indian entrepreneurial talent.

To arrive at our list of new billionaires (persons with stock holdings worth Rs 100 crore — Rs 1 billion — or more), we first put together a full list of all billionaires in India, based on the value of stock holdings in listed companies as on 31 March 2006. There are 331 billionaires on this list (see list of ‘India’s Billionaires’). The list also includes those — like Ratan Tata — who control a certain stake in the organisation through trusts and the like without actually personally owning much stake. Of the 331, a little over 150 have become billionaires in the last five years. We further short-listed 74 as India’s New Billionaires, eliminating old or inherited wealth. These 74 are largely first generation entrepreneurs; most have established their businesses in the last five years; and much of their wealth has been made in the new millennium.
The issue is as much a celebration of their entrepreneurship as it is of the resultant wealth. Both phenomena are new as well as old.

In India, entrepreneurship is an ancient theme. It is as old as the East Asian business empires that the 11th-century Cholas built, primarily through maritime aggression. But it is also a new theme. For the first time since Independence, there is so much opportunity in so many sectors. Never before in modern Indian history have so many entrepreneurs staked their careers, time, money and their entire being in a quest to build businesses around these opportunities. Never before have so many entrepreneurs become so successful in so short a span.

Many have failed, too. And perhaps for the first time, failed or bankrupt entrepreneurs are no longer treated as social outcasts. Indian society is learning to tolerate, even appreciate failure. For example, when the dotcom bubble imploded spectacularly in 2000, it broke hundreds of entrepreneurs. But that has not stopped a second wave of entrepreneurs from surfacing (see ‘Venturing Into The New Web’).

Wealth is also an ancient theme in Indian history. It always existed. Much was created too. People were enriched through trade — all those spices and textiles that went to Europe through the centuries. Often it was plundered. But rarely has wealth, especially that created by entrepreneurs, been celebrated.
There are reasons for that. Much of the great wealth that was accumulated by various people in ancient India was through plunder and loot. Even when wealth was created through industry, it was rarely meant for distribution within the country. Right till the end of the British era, great wealth was synonymous with might and plunder. Partly as a reaction, in the Nehruvian-socialistic era the government chose to exercise a monopoly over wealth creation and distribution. Entrepreneurs had no opportunity, no freedom and little incentive to create wealth. The few that still did it chose to conceal it.

That is why wealth, though old, is yet new. This is perhaps the first moment in Indian history when wealth creation is being celebrated as an admirable outcome of entrepreneurship. But as you will read in the following pages, these billionaire stories have been told with tact, meaning and purpose. The last is important. The stories are meant to inspire, not titillate.

You will also find that the lifestyles of Indian billionaires are far more austere and restrained in comparison with global billionaires. They don’t seem to have much in their lives except their businesses and families; they rarely take holidays; they avoid conspicuous consumption — a Mercedes Benz is as far as they will go, that too with great reluctance. They seem averse to give up their largely middle class values.
Many of India’s New Billionaires have been birthed in emerging sectors like software, BPO, retail, etc. But new entrepreneurs have been successful even in old sectors like sugar, shipping, auto components etc. That is extraordinary.

In sugar, a sector dominated by old, established players, the mother-son duo of Vidya and Narendra Murkumbi, first-time entrepreneurs, experimented with an asset-light, capital-light business model. They chose to buy old units rather than set up new ones. They chose to lease out factories rather than invest in new facilities. Result: with little capital, Shree Renuka Sugars has become India’s eighth largest sugar company. More importantly, it earns a 46 per cent return on capital employed, the highest in the industry and almost double the industry average of 20-25 per cent. Narendra also spotted a global opportunity when Europe stopped exporting refined sugar and is setting up India’s largest sugar refinery in Haldia.

It was the same spark that helped H.K. Mittal break into the shipping industry. He, too, lacked capital. Initially, he bought old tonnages at near scrap prices and hammered them back to shape. He spotted opportunities and moved faster than others. He was among the first to acquire capacity to transport crude after the monopoly of the Shipping Corporation of India ended. He was also among the first to set up an offshore base in Singapore. He had acquired Mercator Lines for Rs 2 crore in 1988. Today, it has a market capitalisation of Rs 830 crore. It is the third largest private shipping operator and has the second highest operating profit margin in the country.

There are many such stories. Jignesh Shah bagged the licence to set up a commodity exchange, though he was not a commodity expert or a large institution. Many expect MCX to be valued at Rs 1,000 crore when it lists. Asif Khader tried to acquire a Rs 65-crore US company when his firm, Cranes Software, was worth Rs 4.5 crore. He failed. But that didn’t stop him from pulling off a series of acquisitions later. Dinesh Hinduja inherited a textile business with one factory, 250 workers and Rs 50 crore in revenues. By the end of this year, it is expected to have 50 factories, 44,000 employees and Rs 1,000 crore in revenues. You will read their stories in the following pages.

But perhaps the most fascinating tale is that of C.J. George. A communist in his student days, George started Geojit Financial Services, a stock brokerage firm, in Kerala. He operated on the principles of fairness and transparency. He refused to deal in cash and transacted only in cheques. Against many odds, he built a Rs 87-crore business that’s valued at Rs 312 crore.

These new entrepreneurs have put technology, innovations and new business models to good use. But above all, it is their enterprise that has made the difference.
Of course, some would argue that it would never have been possible for our new billionaires to become so wealthy had the stockmarkets behaved any less spectacularly. The period 2001-2006 has seen one of the best bull phases ever. The Sensex rose from 3605 points to 11280 points. But the growth in market capitalisation (or shareholder wealth) was even more significant. In March 2001, about 1,155 companies, whose shares were actively traded, had a combined shareholder wealth of over Rs 55 lakh crore. By 2006, these companies were worth Rs 296 lakh crore.

Entrepreneurs rode this wave adeptly. For most of the five-year period, they were able to raise substantial sums of money at a high premium. This was important. Ideas could take them only so far; to go beyond they needed capital. That the stockmarkets offered, relatively easily and in abundance.
As the entrepreneurs went public, their companies created substantial shareholder wealth. Case in point: Financial Technologies. This company, with consolidated revenues of Rs 182 crore, enjoys a market capitalisation of Rs 7,520 crore. (Of course, there are also many a black sheep that rigged up share prices in this bull market.)

This prosperity of the new entrepreneurs created ripples in the rest of the corporate world as well. Several large, established companies that had preferred to remain closely held opened up. This is evident in several sectors like media (the Reddys of Deccan Chronicle with personal wealth of Rs 1,464 crore; the Guptas of Jagran Prakashan, Rs 874 crore); gems & jewellery (the Doshis of Shrenuj, Rs 173 crore); and real estate (the Sarin family, Rs 1,041 crore).
This is good for the economy. Old wealth that was locked up in closely held companies was unlocked, distributed and multiplied many times over.

The first known listing of the super rich was published in Britain by Spectator magazine in 1873 (it was a millionaire listing at that time). That and many others that came later were controversial and often erroneous. Stewart Lansley, in his recent book Rich Britain, traces the hilarious history of such listings. (Read an exclusive extract of the book on page 84.) He recounts several faux pas committed in such listings:

“When Paul Getty was named richest person in the world by Fortune magazine in 1957, he told his brother, ‘I don’t know how much money I have. I don’t know how they would know.’
The first such list in America was published in 1892 by the New York Tribune. Then, in 1918, a new business magazine called Forbes compiled a list of the 30 richest Americans. Sixty four years later, in 1982, Forbes started its annual list of America’s 400 wealthiest families. The magazine sold out within hours but the list didn’t please everybody. One person credited with two million shares in Campbell Soup turned out to have only two. Comedian Bob Hope said of his $200-million valuation, ‘If I had that kind of money, I wouldn’t have gone to Vietnam, I would have sent for it.’
When The Sunday Times published its first list of 200 richest Britons in 1989, it contained a few blunders, including a bankrupt and someone who had died eight months earlier.”

Like all its global predecessors, Businessworld’s listing of India’s New Billionaires will also generate some controversy. Who knows, in keeping with tradition, it may even have a few errors. And it certainly has a few limitations. For one, the focus is on people who have their companies listed in the Indian stockmarkets. There are others like steel king L.N. Mittal and real estate czar K.P. Singh who do not figure in this listing because their companies are not listed on Indian stock exchanges. Some, like the much withdrawn Shapoorji Pallonji, have only a small fraction of their wealth reflected in listed companies.

What purpose do listings of super rich people serve? The compilation of India’s New Billionaires is evidence that there is indeed a wellspring of growing entrepreneurial activity in India. For years, Businessworld has been at the very forefront of the reporting on India’s entrepreneurial renaissance. (‘Got An Idea? Here Is The Money’, BW, 17 May 1999; ‘The Democratisation Of Business’, BW, 3 January 2000; ‘Celebrating Entrepreneurship’, BW, 8 January 2001). But now, wealth, the fruit of those entrepreneurial initiatives, is becoming evident.

Between the twin themes of entrepreneurship and wealth, the former is of greater significance and value. The latter is merely a by-product, though one that is to be cherished. Still, for the foreseeable future, wealth (quantified by the value of stock holdings in listed companies) will continue to be used as an objective measure of an entrepreneur’s success. That is why a listing of India’s wealthiest is a good way to identify and showcase the country’s best entrepreneurs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Rich_List

India Richest People

As of 15 December 2005, the following were the 40 richest Indians according to Forbes.

Rank Name Net Worth ($bil) Age City Company Name Industry
1 Lakshmi Mittal 23.5 56 Sadulpur Mittal Steel Metals
2 Azim Premji 13.3 60 Bangalore Wipro ITeS, Software
3 Mukesh Ambani 7.00 48 Mumbai Reliance Diversified
4 Anil Ambani 5.50 46 Mumbai ADAG Diversified
5 Kushal Pal Singh 5.00 74 Delhi DLF Real Estate
6 Sunil Mittal 4.90 48 Delhi Airtel (Bharti Televentures) Telecom
7 Kumar Birla 4.40 38 Mumbai Birla Group Diversified
8 Tulsi Tanti 3.70 47 Pune Suzlon Wind Power
9 Pallonji Mistry 3.30 76 Mumbai (related to the Tatas) Textiles, Construction
10 Anurag Dik$hit 3.10 NA Delhi PartyGaming Internet Site
11 Shiv Nadar 3.00 60 Delhi HCL ITeS
12 Shashi & Ravi Ruia 2.70 62 Mumbai Ruia Group Textiles, Telecom
13 Adi Godrej 2.30 63 Mumbai Godrej Industries Diversified
14 Anil Agarwal 2.10 52 London Vedanta Resources Mining
15 Dilip Shanghvi 2.00 50 Mumbai
16 Naresh Goyal 1.90 56 Mumbai Jet Airways Airlines
17 Indu Jain 1.70 NA Delhi
18 Venugopal Dhoot 1.60 52 Mumbai Videocon Consumer durables
19 Malvinder & Shivinder Singh 1.55 NA Delhi Ranbaxy Pharma
20 Rahul Bajaj 1.50 67 Pune Bajaj Diversified
22 Jindal family 1.40 NA Delhi, Mumbai Jindal Steel Metals
23 Baba Kalyani 1.20 56 Pune Bharat Forge Metals
24 Brijmohan Lall Munjal 1.18 83 Delhi Hero Honda Automotive
25 Yusuf Hamied 1.15 69 Mumbai Cipla Pharma
26 Vivek Burman 1.10 64 Delhi
27 N. R. Narayana Murthy 1.05 59 Mysore Infosys IT,ITeS
28 Uday Kotak 1.00 46 Mumbai Kotak Mahindra Finance
29 Vijay Mallya 0.95 49 Bangalore Mallya Group (Kingfisher) Beverages, Airlines
30 Subhash Chandra 0.90 55 Mumbai Zee Entertainment
31 Vikrant Bhargava 0.87 33 NA PartyGaming Internet Site
32 Habil Khorakiwala 0.80 63 Mumbai
33 Ajay Piramal 0.77 50 Mumbai Nicolas Piramal Pharma
34 Nandan Nilekani 0.74 50 Bangalore Infosys IT, ITeS
35 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw 0.71 52 Bangalore Biocon BioTech
36 S Gopalakrishnan 0.70 51 Bangalore Infosys IT, ITeS
37 B Ramalinga Raju 0.67 50 Hyderabad Satyam Computer Services
38 Narendra Patni 0.65 63 Boston, Mumbai Patni Computer Systems IT
39 Karsanbhai Patel 0.64 61 Ahmedabad Nirma FMCG
40 Jaiprakash Gaur 0.60 75 Delhi

i better find those rich guys and marry them

i will top this list in 6 yrs

give me 10yrs and i'm set

I want to be like this guy:



In dollar terms he bought a company for less than a million and sold it six years later for over a billion dollars!!!