Section 34
Great Heroes of Business
The people who built Indian business, era by era. Each profile has the story, the milestones, the numbers and three lessons a small founder can use.
- profiles
- 30
- eras
- 4
- years of Indian business
- 158
Before Independence
Mills, steel and banks built under British rule
- Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata1839–1904 · Tata GroupFounded the Tata Group and planned India's first steel, power and science institutions.
- J R D Tata1904–1993 · Tata Sons / Tata Airlines (Air India)India's first licensed pilot, founder of Tata Airlines and Tata chairman for over 50 years.
- Ghanshyam Das Birla1894–1983 · Birla group (Birla Jute, Hindustan Motors, Hindalco and others)Set up the first Indian-owned jute mill and co-founded FICCI to give Indian business a voice.
- Walchand Hirachand Doshi1882–1953 · Walchand group (Scindia Steam Navigation, Hindustan Aircraft, Premier Automobiles)Built India's first modern shipping line, aircraft factory, shipyard and car plant.
- Lala Shri Ram1884–1963 · Delhi Cloth & General Mills (DCM)Turned DCM into a large industrial group and founded SRCC, LSR and the Shriram Institute.
- Jamnalal Bajaj1889–1942 · Bajaj GroupFounder of the Bajaj Group who ran business as a trust and funded the freedom movement.
- Ardeshir Godrej1868–1936 · Godrej & Boyce (Godrej group)A lawyer turned lock-maker who founded Godrej in 1897 and made vegetable-oil soap in 1918.
1947 to 1991
Licence Raj: building with permits and quotas
- Verghese Kurien1921–2012 · Amul / National Dairy Development BoardBuilt Amul and led Operation Flood, which helped make India the world's largest milk producer.
- N R Narayana Murthyb. 1946 · InfosysCo-founded Infosys in 1981 with six engineers and built it into a global IT services firm.
- Azim Premjib. 1945 · WiproTook over a family cooking-oil firm at 21 and turned it into Wipro, a global IT company.
- Shiv Nadarb. 1945 · HCLStarted HCL in 1976 in a Delhi rooftop room and built one of India's largest IT companies.
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shawb. 1953 · BioconStarted Biocon in her garage in 1978 and built India's largest insulin maker.
- Brijmohan Lall Munjal1923–2015 · Hero Cycles / Hero Honda (Hero MotoCorp)Grew a Ludhiana bicycle-parts shop into Hero Cycles and Hero Honda.
- Rahul Bajaj1938–2022 · Bajaj AutoMade Bajaj scooters a household name and grew Bajaj Auto's turnover from Rs 7.2 crore to Rs 12,000 crore.
- Aditya Vikram Birla1943–1995 · Aditya Birla GroupTook Indian manufacturing abroad in 1969, starting with a yarn mill in Thailand.
- Hasmukhbhai T Parekh1911–1994 · HDFCFounded HDFC at 66 and made home loans available to ordinary Indian families.
- Prathap C Reddyb. 1933 · Apollo HospitalsA cardiologist who opened India's first corporate hospital, Apollo Chennai, in 1983.
1991 to 2010
Liberalisation: software, telecom and private banks
- Ratan Naval Tata1937–2024 · Tata SonsLed the Tata Group from 1991 to 2012 and took it global with Tetley, Corus and Jaguar Land Rover.
- Sunil Bharti Mittalb. 1957 · Bharti AirtelMoved from bicycle crankshafts in Ludhiana to building Airtel, a leading mobile network.
- Uday Kotakb. 1959 · Kotak Mahindra BankBegan with bill discounting in 1985 and built the first Indian finance company to become a bank.
- Sridhar Vembub. 1968 · Zoho CorporationBuilt Zoho, a privately owned global software firm, and moved work into rural Tamil Nadu.
- Kishore Biyanib. 1961 · Future Group (Pantaloon, Big Bazaar)Pioneer of Indian modern retail with Pantaloon and Big Bazaar; his Future Retail later went into liquidation.
- Anand Mahindrab. 1955 · Mahindra GroupGrew Mahindra & Mahindra from a $177 million company in 1991 into a broad global group.
- Kumar Mangalam Birlab. 1967 · Aditya Birla GroupBecame group chairman at 28 and built a global group through 26 acquisitions in 17 years.
- Mukesh Ambanib. 1957 · Reliance IndustriesLed Reliance into giant refining at Jamnagar and launched Jio, which changed mobile data in India.
- Nandan Nilekanib. 1955 · Infosys / UIDAI (Aadhaar)Infosys co-founder and founding chairman of UIDAI, which enrolled over a billion people in Aadhaar.
2010 to now
Digital India: startups, payments and D2C brands
- Falguni Nayarb. 1963 · Nykaa (FSN E-Commerce Ventures)Left investment banking at 50 to start Nykaa, which listed in 2021.
- Vijay Shekhar Sharmab. 1978 · Paytm (One 97 Communications)Founded One 97 Communications, whose Paytm app brought digital payments to crores of Indians.
- Vineeta Singhb. 1983 · SUGAR CosmeticsAfter two ventures that did not work, co-founded SUGAR Cosmetics in 2015.
- Deepinder GoyalZomato / Eternal LtdStarted Zomato as Foodiebay in 2007 and built Eternal, the first Indian tech startup in the Sensex.