Innholdsfortegnelse for 14 May 2023 i Business Today

Being a CEO in these times is no walk in the park. Today’s global and domestic economic reality throws several challenges for the chief executive to deal with, and unless the leader has a vision and gets the organisation—down to the last guy on the field—to follow it, winning is going to be a distant dream. Consider the issues the CEO has to navigate today—rising inflation, interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions. And these are just some of them. Alongside, there are also changes in regulations and a very long list of compliances they have to contend with. That’s precisely why the latest BT-PwC India’s Best CEOs ranking is so important. The 20 leaders who are winners have not just led their organisations—of various sizes and sectors—with…

India’s long-awaited Digital Personal Data Protection Bill will likely be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, the government recently informed a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court that was hearing petitions challenging WhatsApp’s policy to share users’ data with other platforms owned by Meta (earlier Facebook). The proposed legislation aims to establish a framework for data protection in the country by regulating the collection, storage, processing and transfer of personal data by organisations and government agencies alike. The Bill is expected to have a far-reaching impact on businesses operating in India, particularly those that handle sensitive personal information, as it will require every entity collecting, storing, transferring or processing data to adopt the measures and safeguards established by the law. The draft Bill highlights the consent of the…

This year’s much-awaited BT-PwC India’s Best CEOs ranking has winners from diverse fields. Yet, they have one thing in common: a clear long-term growth strategy with India at the core. Be it large-, medium- or small companies, and regardless of the industry that they are in, there is no getting away from the India story. And it has gained even more momentum as most parts of the world grapple with uncertainty. These corporate bosses have grown their businesses through a mix of organic and inorganic expansion. They have been innovative, taken the tough decisions, and are steadily increasing the allocation of resources to India. Some initiatives like the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the removal of archaic regulations and clarity on complex issues have convinced these companies that the next few…

WITH A TURNOVER of $128 billion and multiple businesses, the Tata group is a behemoth. Despite being around for more than 150 years, the salt-to-software conglomerate—led by Tata veteran N. Chandrasekaran—is taking nimble steps towards capturing a slice of new-age businesses. With a capex outlay of $90 billion, the group is hoping to fire on many cylinders—such as Air India, Tata Neu, 5G and perhaps even fab manufacturing. The 59-year-old Tata Sons Chairman, who is Business Today’s Business Icon of the Year, talks about where the group is currently placed and what lies ahead. Edited excerpts: You took charge in February 2017. What did you want to do with the group and its businesses then? There is nothing more iconic [than] to have the opportunity to head this group and…

1 Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani describes himself as a ‘plumber’ who fixes things 2 Infosys Founder N.R. Narayana Murthy says Nilekani has a prodigious memory and an “inexhaustible rolodex” — two attributes necessary for a successful sales leader 3 He is known to be an ace networker with the ability to navigate people towards a common goal—a quality he put to good use at UIDAI 4 When Infosys was going through tough times in 2017 following the acrimonious exit of Vishal Sikka as CEO, he returned to steady the ship, guiding the company through choppy waters 5 After the success of Aadhaar and UPI, Nilekani is looking at ONDC as being the next big story…

TATA STEEL HAS a glorious past. Established in India in 1907, the company has the distinction of being Asia’s first integrated private steel producer. And with a history spanning over a century, the steel major has come a long way, with its footprint spread across India, Europe and Southeast Asia. T.V. Narendran, however is not new to Tata Steel. A veteran of nearly 35 years—with the past 10 years as CEO & MD—the IIM Kolkata alumnus knows that he has to constantly be on his toes to be ahead of the curve in an industry that is known to go through periodic up and down cycles. “Our ability to pick up [an] asset, integrate it, turn it around, unlock value, has got honed in the past three years,” he says,…

▶ ASHISH BHARAT RAM, the Chairman & MD of SRF Ltd, believes he is like the conductor of an orchestra, playing a symphony. And one indeed needs the poise of a conductor to manage SRF’s diverse portfolio of unrelated products. To understand this, one needs to look at the company’s evolution. SRF started life as Shri Ram Fibres, a technical textiles and tyre cord manufacturer, in the 1970s, before diversifying into refrigerant gases in the late 1980s; in the mid-1990s, the company got into polyester films (that was used for VHS tapes and audio cassettes back then), which has since then transformed into its packaging films business. That’s quite a handful for the 54-year-old, who has grown the company into a major global conglomerate today. Bharat Ram has also expanded the…

▶ GROWING UP IN Kashmir, Sanjay Koul spent his childhood surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of the valley nestled among the majestic Himalayan mountains. The area is also notorious for testing one’s perseverance during the harsh winter months. As he grew older, he developed a deep appreciation for sustainability, a sense of community and deep resilience—values that he still holds dear as Chairman and Managing Director of Timken India, incorporated in 1987 as Tata Timken Ltd (TTL), a joint venture between Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tisco) and The Timken Company, a world leader in tapered roller bearings. (In 1999, Timken acquired from Tata Steel its 40 per cent stake in Tata Timken Ltd and the name of the company was changed to Timken India Ltd). Koul has seen Timken India—which…

▶ SAJJAN BHAJANKA HAS the sniffles. Temperature variations from a whirlwind multi-city tour following the launch of their expanded Hoshiarpur factory in early February has given the 71-year-old Chairman of wood panel company Century Plyboards, a cold, a minor inconvenience considering he is racing towards a ₹5,000 crore-revenue target by FY26. That means nearly doubling the ₹3,000 crore-plus top line Century generated in FY22—that took it nearly 36 years to achieve—within four years. This also translates into a CAGR of 14-15 per cent, that too, without taking any debt and relying entirely on internal cash flows from making and selling doors, plywood, laminates, veneers, MDF (medium-density fibreboard) and particle boards under multiple sub-brands. Not an impossible feat for the debt-free company given its strong balance sheet and diversified portfolio, say analysts…

▶ WHEN SANDEEP KALRA was elevated as CEO and Executive Director of Persistent Systems in October 2020, he knew that he was taking command of the IT services firm at a pivotal time. The challenge before him was to harness the momentum built by the Founder, Anand Deshpande, a renowned tech leader, while also reigniting growth at the firm. Kalra had joined Persistent in May 2019 as President of the technology services unit from HARMAN International, a Samsung company. To his credit, Kalra took on the challenge with gusto—breathing new life into the three-decade-old company and propelling it to new heights. And he says his management mantra, of bringing people together and inspiring them to rally around a common goal, has helped him deliver the required results. For instance, one…

▶ WHEN ON MARCH 30 this year the board of Tata Power extended the term of CEO & MD Praveer Sinha for another four years till April 2027, it didn’t surprise many. For under the 60-year-old Sinha’s stewardship, Tata Power has gradually transformed into a new-age, sustainable, technology-oriented and customer-centric green energy solutions company. So, how did he do it? Let us find out. To understand Sinha’s impact, let us look at a few numbers. When he took charge in May 2018, Tata Power’s market capitalisation was at ₹23,843 crore. Nearly five years later, and the figure has grown to ₹61,813.84 crore as of April 19 this year—an increase of 159 per cent! Its consolidated total income for 2017-18 was ₹29,763.91 crore; for the nine months ended December 31, 2022, the…

Born in a business family and surrounded by self-driven enthusiasts like his father and wife, Saurabh Munjal himself is a visionary entrepreneur. Munjal has set up multiple businesses and driven them all to success, thanks to his passion for creating and sustaining value out of ventures. Munjal completed his schooling in Chandigarh and went on to pursue a degree in Commerce from the Punjab University and another in Entrepreneurship from Narsee Monjee, Mumbai. Eventually, he headed to Singapore for an MBA and stayed in the city to gain some ground experience. While at it, Munjal set up his first entrepreneurial venture that clocked an impressive revenue of USD 18.7 million and is thriving to this day. Back in India, Munjal found himself already getting a hang of entrepreneurship and forward…

Unlike most entrepreneurs and businessmen who identify their drive only after years of experience and observation, Jatin Prasad was a dreamer from childhood. From a tender age, Jatin had a clear vision of what he wished to achieve and carefully crafted his strategy and career in that direction. Over the next decade, Jatin garnered extensive experience in various profiles across industries and built a vibrant network. Most importantly, his journey as a self-made business leader has taught him several key lessons that shaped his growth. One, he strongly believes that there are no shortcuts to success. Two, nothing can beat an organized, systematic approach to business and entrepreneurship. Three, the four key ingredients to a successful venture are simple: a clear vision, a strong brand identity, excellent customer service, and…

A genius by intellect and a leader at heart, Mr. NNV Naresh is the Founder and Managing Director of Naresh iTechnologies, a leading IT training institute in Hyderabad providing quality training at extremely affordable prices to each and every aspirant dreaming of making it big in the IT Industry. Hailing from a small town in rural Andhra Pradesh, Naresh completed his B. Sc from YN College, Andhra Pradesh and further went on to earn his MCA from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, post which, the far-sighted intelligentsia identified a vast gap between industry expectations and academic training in the IT sector and how the available IT training programs were heavy on the pocket of an average middle-class student thereby hindering opportunities for success in the industry. With a vision of democratizing IT…

DON’T SIT TIGHT Often, you’re stuck at your desk, and your busy schedule leaves you little time for exercise. What if you could do a version of your workout at the desk itself? Enter this nifty under-desk portable Elliptical. This machine combines the benefits of a mini elliptical and a stair stepper with adjustable resistance and can be used both while standing and sitting down. It features an LCD monitor to track workout data, and displays calories burnt, RPM, stride, time, and distance during exercise. Most importantly, the pedal exerciser, support rod, and the bottom of this under-desk elliptical machine have anti-slip material so that you don’t slip up. Available on: amazon.in POWER DRESSING A smart jacket, a freshly pressed formal shirt, a business tie and dress shoes—these are sartorial choices…

DURING A RECENT visit to Delhi, 17-year-old Sunny Vohra from Punjab’s Guru Har Sahai in Ferozepur district, was fascinated by the smartphones his cousins were gaming on. Once back home, he couldn’t find the brand in any store; calling up stores in Chandigarh—nearly 230 km away—didn’t help. Finally, he called up his Delhi-based cousin to find out where to buy the phone. His cousin shared a few links; Vohra went online, and a slew of brands on e-commerce platforms—some of which he had never heard of—serenaded him with options. While he had been searching for a POCO phone, he bought one from iQOO, a brand he hadn’t heard of earlier, based on the positive reviews on the platform. The phone arrived, he unboxed it and found a charger with the…

WHEN THE REFURBISHED Bombay House opened its doors on July 29, 2018, it marked another moment in history for the iconic headquarters of the Tata group. The new had not replaced the old. Instead, the conventional core received a contemporary brush, with high-tech offices, a digitally enhanced visitor experience centre, doors that open with the touch of a finger, and a cool Starbucks outlet, too. The structure from the British era, which was completed in 1924, retains its neo-classical look. Yet, it is in touch with the times. The evolution of the Tata group itself is not very different. The conglomerate, which began life in 1868 as a private trading firm founded by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, and then moved into hotels, steel, automobiles, power, IT, financial services, retail and a…

Some of the things closest to one’s heart are expensive and branded accessories that have fond memories attached to them deserving to be cherished as priceless memorabilia. Among the accessories that get prominent attention are shoes, bags and a host of other items, which tend to fade, wear and tear with use, but emotionally wrenching to discard them. Pressto’s wide exposure and experience in the business made them aware on subtler sentiments of their customers and their needs. This formed the geneses of Cobbler by pressto, to restore worn-out leather, damaged handles, lustre-less look, infusing new life into the valuable accessories. Also, it supports the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle for building a sustainable world and our efforts are towards contributing in restoring the plant. A leader in its league…

▸ Under T.V. Narendran, Tata Steel has completed three major acquisitions—Bhushan Steel, Usha Martin and Neelachal Ispat Nigam—in 2018, 2019 and 2022, respectively ▸ The steel major has showcased its ability to pick up assets, integrate and turn them around, and unlock value ▸ The company is pivoting towards increasing output in India; it is eyeing a capacity jump from the current 21-22 mtpa to 40 mtpa by 2030 ▸ Narendran is focussed on making Tata Steel structurally, culturally and financially future-ready ▸ He is putting equal thrust on digital transformation and sustainability, along with ensuring that young people find it an attractive place to work…

▶ IF YOU BELIEVE that you can find rags-to-riches stories only in movies, then Ande Prathap Reddy’s tale will make you sit up. His 10-km walk to school from a remote hamlet in Telangana (earlier Andhra Pradesh) served as an everyday motivation to become a “moneyed man” someday. “I have seen poverty. Those days inspired me to take risks and do something big,” he says. Reddy was barely 25 when he started his first venture in 1976, with a bank loan of ₹25,000. After dabbling with around eight successful small-scale ventures in RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) spun pipes, asbestos cement pressure pipes and the like, he changed tack in 1988. “I diversified because it was no longer viable to run these small businesses,” says Reddy. By then, he had realised…

▶ IN 2017, RAJNISH Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Khara, both MDs then, were in the running for the chairmanship of State Bank of India. While Kumar was picked as Chairman then since he had joined SBI as probationary officer four years before Khara and he was also a year older in the senior management team, it was a given that Khara would replace Kumar after his retirement. Even members of the Banks Board Bureau—set up by the government to recommend people to head public sector banks—who had interviewed him then, were impressed. “We found him intellectually very sharp, with a lot of innovative and practical ideas,” says a senior member, requesting anonymity. Finally, Khara was elevated to the corner office in October 2020, at a time when banks and the…

▶ “THE EXCITEMENT OF TRYING something new always drives me, and therefore stress doesn’t feel like stress,” says 66-year-old Deepak C. Mehta, with childlike glee. The Chairman and MD of Deepak Nitrite has been associated with the company, founded by his father Chimanlal K. Mehta in 1970, for the past 45 years. During this time, the company’s products portfolio has expanded significantly, whereas its market capitalisation has also grown manifold. Sample this: from the 24th spot a decade ago, Deepak Nitrite has now become the fifth-largest listed chemicals player in terms of market capitalisation, at ₹25,208 crore on April 19, 2023. Plus, its clients are now spread across more than 45 countries. And a major chunk of the credit for this growth goes to Mehta, whose ability to spot trends before…

▶ PARMOD SAGAR, MD & CEO of RHI Magnesita India, has had a busy quarter. We catch him shortly after the completion of RHIM’s two acquisitions and just a day after it reported its December quarter results. Sagar, 55, has been at the helm of affairs at the Gurugram-based manufacturer and supplier of refractory products—used in steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, and glass industries—since 2013. Now, it wants to expand further. RHIM India—born out of the integration of three Indian subsidiaries, RHI Clasil, RHI India and Orient Refractories, of Austria-based RHI Magnesita Group—had announced the acquisition of Dalmia-OCL and Hi-Tech Chemicals in the December quarter, for which it shelled out ₹1,708 crore and ₹621 crore, respectively. “These acquisitions will help us serve our customers globally, as well as make India a…

▶ THE MORNING SPRING breeze has a strong hint of the onset of early summer. A large number of beaming employees with boxes of sweets and chocolates are gathered outside the office of GAIL (India) Ltd’s Chairman & MD Sandeep Kumar Gupta to express their gratitude for their promotions. And Gupta, 58, greets each one of them with his trademark good-natured smile, wishing them the very best for their future. The future is very much on GAIL’s mind. As India’s hunger for energy grows with each passing year, GAIL is preparing to play a pivotal role in the world’s largest energy transition to cleaner sources. Spearheading this will be Gupta, who has been in the petrochemicals industry for 35 years. The veteran—who started his career with the public sector Indian Oil…

▶ EVEN AS I show up early for our 10 am appointment on a Thursday, Vardhman Textiles Chairman S.P. Oswal is in his first meeting of the day. In about 15 minutes, I am shown into a room which could be mistaken for a meditation chamber. Ludhiana’s golden winter sunrays streaming through the all-glass windows illuminate titles on the Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo. Seated on one of the grey sofas lining the three walls of the room is the bespectacled second-generation businessman. The octogenarian’s slight frame, on which his grey woollen suit hangs a tad loosely, belies the vertically integrated billion-dollar textile giant he has built the company into since joining the family business as his uncle’s reportee in 1966. “I don’t like to beg from bankers,” says Oswal softly…

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A business zealot, Mr. Gautam B. Boda is a third-generation leader of the J.B. Boda Group, a leading global insurance and reinsurance broking company founded in 1943 by Gautam’s grandfather, known for providing unparalleled and exemplary services to clients ranging from life and non-life insurance, P&I services, loss surveys to property valuation for over seven decades now. A strong-willed, dogged and tenacious leader, Gautam owes his leadership style to having held a virtually vast overseas experience and possessing traits like deep self-awareness and humility which have helped him establish meaningful relationships with clients, partners and employees worldwide in his three-decade long experience in the business community. A good Samaritan and a philanthropist, now Group Vice-Chairman of the of the J. B. Boda Group, Gautam finds his key inspiration in making…

A true visionary, intellect and genius, Mr. Nikhilesh Tiwari is the Founder and CEO of Spay Technology, a Fintech Company empowering the undeserved rural sections and migrant population by going cashless. Born and brought up in Lucknow, Nikhilesh worked in the sales and fintech industry for around 15 years until he decided to take the plunge and started his own business with a dream to bring the rural market at par with the urban population in today’s fast-paced world of digital revolution asseverating going cashless as a necessity. Spay Technology is presently one of the fastest growing B2B portals offering a range of services such as online money transfers, utility bill payments, recharges, aadhaar enabled payment system, travel bookings, and insurance among others owing to Nikhilesh’s unparalleled determination, hardwork and…

ARDIKA SHAH, the 51-year-old Founder and CEO of Kinara Capital—one of the leading fintech lenders in the MSME space—is a self-confessed perfectionist. So much so, that even when it comes to art, something she enjoys doing, she still selected one of the toughest genres. “I started painting when I was a teenager. Now that I look back I think a little bit of that perfectionist in me came from painting. I started by painting portraits which is one of the hardest things to do. I started with pencils and then moved to charcoal. And then to acrylic and oil,” says Shah, who is based in Bengaluru. She says it was a great way to capture what was happening around her. “Now that I am older I appreciate it even more.…

▶ TITAN COMPANY‚ THE country’s largest branded watches and jewellery maker, has adopted an aggressive strategy to transform its core business over the next three years. Titan—that has its roots in traditional watches and is a part of the salt–to software conglomerate Tata group—is increasingly betting on the relatively new smartwatch market to more than double its revenues from the watches business segment. After diversifying into wide-ranging categories, from perfumes to sarees over the last decade, the Bengaluru-based company is intensifying its focus on the local smartwatch market that has been the playground of smaller domestic startups and global giants until recently. While it already had a wide portfolio of traditional watches serving all age groups and purposes, it was only after the pandemic that Titan started focussing on the…

OCT ’17 Tata Sons transfers consumer mobile business of Tata Teleservices to Bharti Airtel APR ’18 The group announces the consolidation of various businesses across aerospace and defence sectors under a single entity MAY ’18 Tata Steel acquires Bhushan Steel for over ₹35,000 crore SEP ’18 Tata Steel buys Usha Martin’s steel business for ₹4,094 crore; Indian Hotels retains Taj Mansingh, Delhi MAY ’19 Consumer businesses of Tata Chemicals and Tata Global Beverages combined to create Tata Consumer Products SEP ’20 Tata Projects wins a bid to construct the new Parliament building, Central Vista, for ₹862 crore DEC ’20 Tata Power announces the acquisition of all four Odisha power distribution companies, adding more than 9 million consumers MAY ’21 Tata Digital picks up a majority stake in bigbasket, India’s largest…

Dr. Ajay Bakshi is a qualified Mechanical Engineer from MIT Manipal and an MBA from Pune University. A celebrated HR thought leader, Ex CHRO, Board Director and Business Leader with 30 years of extensive experience in work force management, he is a veteran in transforming organizations by empowering its people. He was awarded and recognized by Economic Times for his contribution in Executive Coaching and Change Management. Metamorphosis Unlimited, the Pune based company founded by him excels as a Strategic HR and Talent advisory consulting firm. It focuses on developing the leadership skills of the existing human resources, to enhance the value of the organization and plot its success. Their services identify and judge the potential of the existing personnel and enhance their skillsets. Ajay explains, “Creating a culture of…

Envisioning to change the way people view cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in India, four quixotic tech fanatics, namely, Sidharth Shukla, Dr. Abhishek Bhandari, Ankit Bhasin, and Anshit Jindal founded Crypque Private Limited in 2022 with an objective to create an ecosystem which enables the users to use their crypto assets in day-to-day transactions like utility services payments, UPI, IMPS, P2P buying and selling, credit card payments and insurance premium payments, just like fiat currency. The quad squad has undertaken to simplify the use of crypto technology for the masses and make it accessible to everyone, providing financial freedom to millions of people with the launch of Crypque, specializing in blockchain, crypto, and web3 solutions. Co-founder and CEO of Crypque, Mr. Sidharth Shukla, an astute and discerning professional, au fait with…

▶ WHAT DOES IT take to run one of the oldest businesses in the Indian subcontinent? Ask S. Suresh, MD of 235-year-old sugar and nutraceuticals manufacturer EID Parry (India), and he says staying calm in a crisis, maintaining an exercise regimen and keeping your eyes peeled for any change in the market does the trick. His mantra is corroborated by the fact that since he took over as MD in August 2017, the company’s consolidated top- and bottom lines have grown by 10 and nearly 12 per cent, respectively, every year till FY22. So, what has helped him to achieve such double-digit growth in recent years? Suresh cites the example of shutting down under-utilised plants in Tamil Nadu and shifting the assets of another to a factory in Karnataka, to explain…

▶ “IT WAS A mess,” says Puneet Dalmia in a calm voice. Dressed casually in a T-shirt, the Managing Director of Dalmia Bharat Group is all keyed up when he talks about the cement business. The “mess” he is referring to is in connection with the buyout of Murli Industries, a Nagpur-based company, announced in late 2017 through the IBC process. The ₹402-crore acquisition brought to the table capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur region. From a strategic point of view, it was a necessity. The cement major needed a presence in western India, which was a weak link in Dalmia Bharat’s portfolio. But, as Dalmia says, the plant was a mess. While he and his team knew that it had been shut for four…

▶ SIX YEARS AGO, Havells India acquired the consumer durables business of Lloyd Electric. It marked the entry of the Noida-headquartered electricals major—which earns half of its revenues from cables & wires and switchgear sales—into India’s burgeoning ₹1 lakh crore consumer durables market. Since then, the company’s persistent focus on expanding its footprint in the consumer durables business and B2C operations has propelled it to the forefront of India’s white goods market. As a result, Havells’s portfolio is more evenly distributed between its B2B and B2C operations than earlier. In fact, it’s the consumer business—under the Lloyd brand—that is driving Havells India’s growth, pulling its revenue up by double digits despite macroeconomic challenges. The brand is expected to report revenues of ₹3,500 crore in FY23, up from average annual sales of…

▶ WHEN SURESH NARAYANAN presented Nestlé India’s performance for the quarter ended December at a recent post-earnings call, he began his speech by highlighting the company’s success in spite of a challenging business environment. With inflation running high and demand faltering, at least in the hinterlands, fast moving consumer goods companies like Nestlé were being tested to the hilt. That however has failed to dent his resolve of emerging stronger—a habit he has cultivated over his three-decade-old journey in the corporate world. In fact, if one were to describe Nestlé India’s performance under his stewardship as Chairman and MD over the past seven years, there probably isn’t a better phrase than the title of his speech — “Consistency in the face of a storm”. Once nearly decimated by the ban on…

▶ A WOMAN OF habit, Suneeta Reddy, MD of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, has been striving hard since she joined the business in 1989 to keep it at the forefront of healthcare services in the country. Under her leadership, Apollo—which started as a single hospital in Chennai in 1983—has now mushroomed into one of the biggest healthcare businesses in India. Today, it offers a wide range of healthcare services through its chain of 71 hospitals, over 5,400 pharmacies and 250 primary healthcare centres spread across India. And even as it faces stiff competition from several quarters across its verticals, its growth momentum has continued under Reddy’s care. As one of a handful of businesswomen in the Indian healthcare industry, Reddy is credited with bringing the first foreign direct investment into healthcare…

▶ AS A YOUNG boy in his early twenties, things that fascinated Shashi Kiran Shetty were quite out of the ordinary. From the bustling sounds of containers being loaded onto cargo ships to the salty seaside breeze that filled his lungs and the endless splashes of water stretched out before him, all of it held him in thrall. And soon after leaving his home town of Bantwal in Karnataka for Mumbai in 1978, Shetty realised that his calling was in the shipping industry. By then, he knew that he would strive hard to make his dream a reality. And today, that dream has grown into a business worth some $2.5 billion. “Looking at the enormity, the process of unloading ships, the movement of goods from one place to another—ocean transportation…

A tenacious boss lady, Ms. Chinu Kala is the founder of the renowned online fashion jewellery brand Rubans Accessories, one of the swiftest growing companies in the Country today. The gritty and mettlesome entrepreneur started Rubans in the year 2014 after a rendezvous with the fashion industry as a participant in Gladrags Mrs. India in 2006 galvanized a spark in her to appreciate and envisage the importance of a small piece of jewelry in enhancing a person’s overall look. The stouthearted prodigy, however, did not have it easy and had a rather difficult journey for simmered differences with her father led her to run away from home at the age of 15 with just a pair of slippers, 2 salwar suits and a mere 300 rupees in her pocket. Having…

Mr. Shikhar Aggarwal, a scion of one of India’s leading home-grown multi-conglomerate and the company’s joint managing director, has led the company through many exciting milestones and triumphs on the international stage. A Chartered Accountant by virtue of academic qualifications, is additionally also trained in international business from the University of California. Befitting to his exactitude vision for the company he was appointed as the Joint Managing Director and a member of the Board of Directors of BLS International in early 2014. Since then, he has played a key role in steering the organization’s strategy, operations, and governance structures both in India and beyond. Shikhar’s laudable and sterling leadership coupled with his deep understanding of the complexities of the global business environment has led to an expansion of BLS lnternational’s…

Mr. Suresh Kumar Goyal, a multi-faceted doyen and intellect, is the Managing Director of Sambhv Sponge Power Pvt. Ltd., one of the leading steel manufacturing companies in India today. Sambhv Steel was built on a commitment to sustainability and excellence in 2018 by the visionary Shri Brijlal Goyal, who entered the steel market in 2004 laying down seeds to become a prominent name in the iron and steel industry today. The incandescent and resplendent group has presently become an integrated steel plant in Central India producing sponge iron, captive power, hot-rolled coils, billets & blooms, pipes and cold-rolled steel products. Sambhv Sponge Power has built its reputation on the remarkable and premium quality and consistency of its products which have low sulphur and phosphorus content while adhering to stringent ISO…

Owner and founder of the Sakhiya Skin Clinic chain of 26+ clinics, Dr. Jagdish Sakhiya is a respected and renowned authority in dermatology with over 500,000+ satisfied patients. An expert in dermatological care, Dr. Sakhiya strongly advocates the need for both the right diagnosis and treatment plan along with a patient-doctor relationship fostered on trust. Dr. Sakhiya started on a mission to help treat skin disorders from 1998 onwards, and his practice has only expanded since then. With an able staff of skilled and experienced doctors, the Sakhiya Skin Clinics have been pioneering cutting-edge dermatological technologies for more than 25 years now, offering online consultations in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as well. The clinic, which aims to be present in every corner in India, also has along line of global…

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