Top Ten Indian CEO's

K V Kamath



Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, the largest private bank in India.

Kamath, born on December 2, 1947, began his career with ICICI -- the parent body of ICICI Bank -- in 1971 and has since then worked to take ICICI places. He has helped the financial institution evolve into a modern, tech-savvy organisation.

He joined the project finance division of ICICI in 1971 and moved on to different departments to gather rich experience. In 1988, he joined the Asian Development Bank, Manila in their private sector department. He worked in most of the developing countries in the region including China, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. In May 1996, he returned to ICICI as its managing director and chief executive officer.

He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Kumar Mangalam Birla



Kumar Mangalam Birla, born on June 14, 1967, is among the richest persons in India and the eighth youngest billionaire outside India.

He is chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of India's largest business groups. Some of the AV Birla group's companies are: Grasim, Hindalco, UltraTech Cement, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Idea Cellular.

He took over as chairman of the group in 1995, at the age of 28, after the sudden demise of his father, Aditya Birla.

When he took charge, there were doubts about his ability to handle the giant business house, but he proved all naysayers wrong.

In the 11 years that he has led the group, he has won admiration, recognition and praise for his management acumen and contribution to the industry.

Under his leadership, the group has consolidated its position in existing businesses and ventured into cellular telephony, asset management, software and BPO.

He is a chartered accountant and also holds an MBA from the London Business School.

Rahul Bajaj



Rahul Bajaj is the chairman of the Bajaj Group, which ranks among the top 10 business houses in India. He is one of India's most distinguished business leaders and internationally respected for his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.

He took over the reins of Bajaj group in 1965. Under his leadership, the turnover of the Bajaj Auto the flagship company has risen from Rs 72 million to Rs 46.16 billion. The initiation of liberalisation in India posed great challenges for Bajaj Auto. Liberalisation brought the threat of cheap imports and FDI from top companies like Honda. Rahul Bajaj became famous as the head of the Bombay Club, which opposed liberalisation.

The scooter sales plummeted as people were more interested in motorcycles and the rival Hero Honda was a pioneer in it. The recession and stock market collapse of 2001 hit the company hard and it was predicted that the days of Bajaj Auto were numbered.

However, Bajaj Auto re-invented itself, established a world-class factory in Chakan, invested in R&D and came up with Bajaj Pulsar Motorcycle. Bajaj Pulsar is currently a leader in its segment.

Recently, Rahul Bajaj was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.

He is an alumnus of Harvard, St. Stephen's and Cathedral

Anil D Ambani



The fourth richest Indian today, with a net worth of about $13.5 billion, Anil Ambani is chairman of Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources Limited.

Before the Reliance empire split, he was vice chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited. The Reliance group was founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani.

Anil was born on June 4, 1959. He joined Reliance in 1983, two years after his elder brother Mukesh, as co-chief executive officer. He is credited with leading India's foray into overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and bonds. He also directed RIL's efforts to raise $2 billion from global markets.

Anil was elected as an independent Member of the Rajya Sabha with the support of the Samajwadi Party, but resigned on March 25, 2006.

Ambani who was once ridiculed for being overweight at a shareholder's meeting is now a fitness freak and runs the Mumbai marathon regularly.

He has a bachelor's degree in Science from the University of Bombay and a master's in Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

He is married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim.

Nandan Nilekani



N andan Nilekani is the CEO and managing director of Infosys Technologies. He, along with N R Narayana Murthy and five others, co-founded India's IT jewel, Infosys.

Born in Bangalore to Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani, he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

After graduation, he met Narayana Murthy, who then led Patni Computer Systems's software group, seeking a job. Murthy hired the young engineer. That was the beginning of a relationship that was to create Indian corporate history.

Three years later, seven enthusiasts (including Nandan) decided to start their own outfit (Infosys Technologies Ltd) with Murthy in the lead. Their decision rewrote the domestic software industry of India.

He became the chief executive officer of Infosys in March 2002. He now leads the company with Narayana Murthy having retired in August 2006.

He is married to Rohini, an English-language novelist, and they have two children: daughter Janhavi and son Nihar. He speaks Konkani at home.

In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He is regarded by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in its issue of May 2006.