Nine Indian corporate honchos, including Ratan Tata and the Ambani brothers, have been named among the 50 emerging market business leaders in a list compiled by the British financial daily the Financial Times.
The paper has named the top 50 emerging business leaders for their role in shaping the strong economic performance of their respective regions.
The nine Indian business leaders who have made it into the list include the Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, ICICI Bank managing director and chief executive Chanda Kochhar, Mahindra group patriarch Keshub Mahindra, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot, Hero Group founder Brijmohan Lall Munjal, and Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani.
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“The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and other emerging economies have powered ahead economically over the past decade, marking a distinct shift in global power...
we present a selection of 50 emerging market business leaders who have shaped the economic performance of their respective regions,” the FT stated in the report.
The list has only three women including ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar. Other two women on the list are Chinese -- Soho Group chief Zhang Xin and Nine Dragons founder Zhang Yin.
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The Financial Times report states that BRIC countries could together outstrip the world’s existing six biggest economies by 2039 and China may overtake the US by 2041.
About Ratan Tata, the report said, “as the chairman of India’s largest automaker, Tata has targeted the consumer-end of the automotive market since taking leadership of the group in 1991.”
About Mukesh Ambani, the daily states, “although the 52-year-old’s wealth comes from oil and petrochemicals, he has committed to invest USD 5 billion in a retail supermarket and consumer electronics store network that he hopes will become the Wal-Mart of India.”
Talking about younger brother Anil Ambani, the daily says after his takeover, Reliance Communications, “helped to invent the Re 1 per minute mobile phone call that gave hundreds of millions of low-income earners access to the service.”
The FT list includes business leaders from the emerging markets of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. However, the paper said “all such lists are subjective and not exhaustive.”