Investing Tips

Billion dollar investing tips from Warren Buffett



Widely considered the most successful investor of all time, Warren Buffett is a luminous example of the school of value investing. Starting with an initial fund of $105,000 in 1956, Buffet grew it to $45 billion over the next 50 years, making him the second richest man in the world. Though he is widely recognized as being an investor, the bulk of Buffet's wealth was built through intelligent use of leverage offered by his insurance companies. Since most individual investors do not have access to the type of capital that Buffet does, it is not easy to replicate his astounding wealth-building feat. However, by understanding and applying the basic guidelines of Buffett's investment approach to their own investing decisions, most long term investors can comfortably beat the returns of all but the best mutual fund managers.

So, how did Buffet accumulate the huge fortune that he eventually gave away to the charitable foundation run by his best friend, Bill Gates? One of the greatest attractions of Buffett for investors is that his investment methodology is easy to understand. However, it is far more difficult to apply because it calls for large amounts of patience and calm when your stocks move against you. It is also difficult to apply because it requires an orientation towards research and the ability to understand the complexities of accounting and finance. But for those willing to invest time and effort into mastering this approach, superlative investment performance over the long term is guaranteed.

Invest in Businesses, Not in Stocks

"Whenever we buy common stocks for Berkshire's insurance companies (leaving aside arbitrage purchases), we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business. We look at the economic prospects of the business, the people in charge of running it, and the price we must pay." -- Warren Buffett

This is the cornerstone of Buffett's investment style. Whenever he evaluates an investment opportunity he analyses it as a business and not as a stock. This makes him look closely at the company's fundamentals, earnings prospects, financial health and management. Conversely, this style of evaluating a business prevents him from buying a stock just because it is going up even though it has dubious prospects. A lot of investors tend to buy stocks based on tips from friends, acquaintances or brokers. By adopting Buffett's approach, you can save yourself a lot of grief later on.

Only Buy Businesses that You Understand

"Did we foresee thirty years ago what would transpire in the television manufacturing or computer industries? Of course not. Why, then, should Charlie and I now think we can predict the future of other rapidly evolving business? We'll stick instead with the easy cases. Why search for a needle buried in a haystack when one is sitting in plain sight?" -- Warren Buffett

Buffett has a track record of generating 21 per cent annually compounded returns over a 50-year time frame, a feat matched by very few investment managers. Though technology companies delivered some of the best returns during this period, Buffet has never owned one for the simple reason that he could not understand the long term prospects of these companies and evaluate them thoroughly. So the next time you get a tip to buy a "hot" company that you do not understand, you should ask yourself: "If the greatest investor in the world will not invest in something he doesn't understand, should I?"

Buy Companies with Defensible 'Franchise'

"As Peter Lynch says, stocks of companies selling commodity-like products should come with a warning label: 'Competition may prove hazardous to human wealth'." -- Warren Buffett

Most of Buffett's portfolio companies, such as Coca Cola, Gillette (now Procter and Gamble), American Express and Washington Post, are businesses which have a significant hold over their market. This is because they have inherent competitive advantages, whether it be a highly recognizable brand, or near-monopoly status in a geographic area. Such companies can typically raise their prices without fear that customers will walk away. This in turn produces fantastic earnings growth and, consequently, great investment performance. So, before you make an investment in future, try to understand whether the company you are investing in has a strong and defensible market position and whether it can raise prices if it needs to.

Hold for the Long Term

"We are willing to hold a stock indefinitely so long as we expect the business to increase in intrinsic value at a satisfactory rate . . . we do not sell our holdings just because they have appreciated or because we have held them for a long time." � Warren Buffett

Buffett's companies have generated enormous returns for him. For example, his investment of $10 million in 1973 in the Washington Post Company had grown to more than $1 billion by 2003. While a lot of us may be able to do this occasionally, Buffett has generated such returns with startling regularity. One of the reasons he is able to do so is because he holds for the long term and is not quick to enter or exit businesses. In fact, he stuck with WPC for two years even though its price fell below his purchase price because he understood the fundamentals of the business and believed that it was undervalued. Even once it became profitable, he was not quick to exit because he believed that it had greater potential. He held it through several bull and bear markets and no greater proof is needed than the return he achieved to show that he was right in holding it for so long.

Ignore Short-Term Fluctuations in Price

"Charlie and I let our marketable equities tell us by their operating results�not by their daily, or even yearly, price quotations�whether our investments are successful. The market may ignore business success for a while, but eventually will confirm it." � Warren Buffett

The stock market has a tendency to overreact on both the upside and downside. Often the market ignores the fundamentals of a business and reacts sharply to news flow. Sometimes entire sectors become either unduly depressed or overpriced. One of the key pillars of Buffett's approach is to ignore short-term fluctuations in price. He does not sell a stock because the market suddenly decides to drop. Neither does he buy one because it is going up. Once Buffett has calmly evaluated the fundamentals, he will buy the stock if its price is right. If the stock dips after he has purchased it, he does not worry so long as its fundamentals are good. Had he gotten jittery due to short-term price fluctuations, he would have been a lot less richer than he his currently.

Buy Good Businesses When Prices are Down

"If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they feel elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices." � Warren Buffett

On 19 October 1987, all global stock markets crashed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average actually suffered a decline of 22 per cent, the greatest single-day drop in its history. Every stock on the market fell. Most people sold their holdings in panic that day. Buffett, however, was buying! He made the single largest stock purchase of his life that day. While all others around him hit the panic button, Buffet bought 10 per cent of Coca Cola for $1 billion. Not only was it his largest single stock purchase, he also became the single largest shareholder in the company. In his analysis, Coca Cola had a great business, great long-term prospects and the ability to expand because of globalisation. If the market was willing to sell it at an unreasonably cheap price, he wanted to scoop it up with both hands. And scoop it up he did! Coca Cola became one of the most successful investments in Berkshire's portfolio. By 2006, Buffett had made over $11 billion on Coke since he bought it.

Don't Be an Active Trader

"Indeed, we believe that according the name 'investors' to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a romantic." � Warren Buffett

Buffett is an atypical investor not only because he is highly successful, but also because he does not even look at stock tickers. He believes that trading too much is a tax-inefficient and costly approach to investing. Consequently, he has a very low turnover portfolio, very low brokerage charges and has not paid very much in the nature of capital gains taxes.

Do Not Over-Diversify

"If you are a know-something investor, able to understand business economics and to find five to ten sensibly priced companies that possess important long-term competitive advantage, conventional diversification makes no sense for you." -- Warren Buffett

A striking aspect of Buffett's portfolio at Berkshire is the small number of stocks in it. This number has rarely exceeded 10 stocks. Buffett believes that there are very few outstanding investment opportunities at any given point of time and that one should invest enough in each of those to make a substantial difference. In contrast, most people fill up their portfolios with more than fifty stocks. As a result, even if a stock appreciates 100 per cent, the impact on their net worth will only be 2 per cent. Investors who want to generate truly outstanding returns should identify a small number of great businesses at the right prices and invest a significant amount of their money in each of them.

Invest Only When There is a Margin of Safety

"Margin of safety" is a slightly difficult concept to understand. It can be loosely defined as the difference between value and price. If the value of what you buy is higher than the price you pay for it, you have a high margin of safety. If the price you pay is greater than value, you have a low margin of safety. When the margin of safety is high, the investor need not worry about short-term fluctuations in price and can buy more if he or she has the resources to do so. Also, if you are investing in a situation with a significant margin of safety, you are likely to make a higher return because you are buying at a relatively low price.

However, how does one quantify this margin of safety? It is admittedly a grey area. There are seemingly scientific approaches, such as the discounted cash flow, which are taught in most corporate finance textbooks. In practice, though, it is both very subjective and very difficult for an individual investor to apply. However, there are other short cuts which are more approachable. Since the discounted cash flow ultimately crystallizes into the price / earnings (P/E) ratio, one way of estimating the margin of safety is to look at the P/E ratio. A low P/E means there is a margin of safety. But even this approach has its pitfalls. Slow growing, lousy companies often tend to have low P/E ratios. And, sometimes, very promising companies have high P/E multiples.

One way around this problem is to divide the P/E ratio by the growth rate of the company's profits to arrive at its price-earnings to growth ratio. Thus, if a company's P/E is 20 and the growth rate of its profits is 20 per cent, its PEG is 1. Oftentimes, a PEG of less than 1 implies that there is a significant margin of safety. A PEG of greater than one means that the margin of safety is not very high.

That said, PEG is not the holy grail of valuation and there are several ways to value a company -- and all these approaches have their flaws. You can consider your time well invested if you spend some time researching valuation by reading a corporate finance textbook.

Thus, Warren Buffet's investment approach is easy to understand, but calls for significant effort on your part to understand businesses, evaluate them and invest successfully but then, nobody said that becoming a billionaire was easy!

Cholesterol

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance, present in many body tissues. It is an essential nutrient necessary for healthy cell membranes, as well as synthesis of vitamin D and some hormones. It is made in the liver from digested fats and is carried in the blood. Cholesterol is also present in certain foods, such as egg yolk and liver.

Blood cholesterol level is affected by the diet, since cholesterol is present in certain foods and is manufactured in the body from digested fats. High levels of cholesterol in the blood are associated with hardened arteries (known as atherosclerosis), coronary artery disease (heart attack), and stroke.

What is "bad" and "good" cholesterol?

There are many types of cholesterol. LDL or Low-density lipoprotein is the "bad" cholesterol, as it blocks the arteries. HDL or High-density lipoprotein is the "good" cholesterol, as it protects the arteries from clogging.

What are normal cholesterol levels?

Blood can be tested for the cholesterol level. The total cholesterol in the blood includes both HDL and LDL cholesterol. A total cholesterol level of less than 250 mg% is considered normal. High HDL levels (more than 60 mg%) reduce the risk for heart disease and low levels (less than 35 mg%) increase the risk.

How to control cholesterol?

Cholesterol levels can be kept in the normal range by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. It is important to eat the right foods (low cholesterol) to keep a healthy weight.

Avoid foods that contain a lot of cholesterol like meats and egg yellow. Eat less fat especially saturated fats, generally obtained from animal sources. Avoid fried foodstuff especially snacks and fast foods.

Eat more of fresh fruits, grains, vegetables and salads avoiding oil-based dressings, which can be substituted with vinegar or lemon-based dressings. Cook vegetables with herbs or spices instead of cooking oil or ghee. Use oils like sunflower, safflower, olive or corn oil. Avoid palm or coconut oil. Eat egg whites instead of whole eggs. Use low-fat dairy products like skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt or cottage cheese instead of cream or processed cheese.

What is the treatment for high cholesterol levels?

There are drugs known as statins that inhibit the liver enzyme used in the manufacture of cholesterol. They are the most effective drugs for the treatment of high cholesterol. They are recommended for most patients with high cholesterol levels, particularly those with diabetes, existing heart disease, or both.

Globalize your Accent

What is an Accent
An accent is a pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of people relative to another group.

American Accent:
An Overview
American Accent is matter of flow.
There is no need to put in an extra effort. If you have to then that means something is wrong.
Plosive Sounds
•Vowel Sounds
•T Rule
•R Sound
•Z, H, L

Plosive Sounds:
Pure Perfect
•P : Peter
•T : Tom
•K : Kilo

Impure Perfect
•B : Bob
•D : David
•G : Grey

Plosive P Sounds:
•American P is pronounced with a gush of air.
•It is different from Indian “ph” sound

•American P is pronounced with a gush of air.
•It is different from Indian “ph” sound
Example……

•“Pauline, Peter and Patrick were all perfect in their professional college. Patrick pretty much knew it all. Pauline and Peter picked up their degrees prior to Patrick”. “Pave our path for prosperity was their pledge”. “Patrick and Pauline would dream of places where they could procure peace and harmony. People would always pity the poor kids, for how much they would pressurize themselves in their studies”.
• “A pilgrimage pondered and wandered.
Plowing through peals of apples,
Polishing and picking and poking,
Hoping to find one promising.”
•Tongue Twister
“A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked,
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
Where’s the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked.”
Practice these words with right “P” Sounds.
Plymouth Pittsburg Poker Pamela Patricia Providence Payment Program Papa Paul .

T’ Rules:
Rule 1
‘T’ at the beginning of a word is a sharp T and it is pronounced with a burst of air.
Exercise
•It took ten times to try the telephone.
•Stop touching Ted’s toes.
•Turn towards Stella and study her contract together.
•Tell Tyler to take two turns this time.
•Tina tried to tame Ted’s tiger on Tuesday

Rule 2
Whenever single or double ‘T’ is between two vowel sounds it becomes soft ‘D’ sound.
•What a good idea.
•Get a better water heater.
•Put it in a bottle.
•Betty bought a bit of better butter.
•Go get a letter opener

Rule 3
Whenever ‘T’ is at the end of the word it is a held T
Exercise
•Take it.
•It’s what they want to get.
•Put them back in the pot.
•What did you find at that site?
•She hit the hot hut with her hat.
Special ‘T’ Rule (for understanding)
Whenever ‘T’ is preceded by ‘N’, ‘T’ is silent and ‘N’ is pronounced twice.
•The person who speaks fast would use the above mentioned rule. A person who would speak slowly would say the plosive ‘T’.
Exercise
•Internet = Innernet.
•Percentage = Percennage
•Printer = prinner
•Twenty = Twenny
Enter = Enner




Practice

•He interrupted twenty interviews in Toronto.
•There were a large percentage of international students.
•He won’t even interfere with the interaction.
•He’s at the Intercontinental Hotel.
•He wasn’t even helping was he?
•Trevor, Todd and Teresa would tie up together every night, and go out for the movies. Their favorite movie was “The teacher taught the truth to Tony”. Todd and Teresa were quite fond of tourism, in fact they thought of touring together to twenty different tourist spots. Trevor, however was a typical untidy person, so for him packing for tour seemed terrible.
•Tongue Twister
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock ticked
A timeless ticking and tricking
A tremendous effort, but time
Always won what mattered
Thirty thrifty three toms watched the tower.

Plosive “Kh” Sounds
•American “k” is pronounced with a gush of air.
•It is different from Indian “kh” sound
Example……

Practice

•Catherine, Katy and Kelly were quite close when it came to being companions. Kelly and Katy, could not keep a secret, they couldn’t care much for privacy. Catherine, kept a close contact with Katy’s brother, cooper, who stayed in California. Cooper co-operated a lot to cope with Catherine’s habit of cake baking. She would bake a cake for Cooper and Kelly, but would fall short to keep a slice of cake for Katy.
•The Kite that beat the kite,
That was the other kite.
That shifted kites to the other kit.
That was a kitten’s ball of kitty wool
•Tongue Twister
Coughing through the corridor
Carefully coping
With clusters of people
What a cold I have

Vowel Sounds

•A, E ,I, O, U are the vowel sounds.
•Americans stress on the vowel sounds.
•Opening of mouth wide not vertically but horizontally.
Exercise
•Option Aeption
•Case Khaise
•Webpas Webpaes

Rolling of ‘R’ Sound

•In American English ‘R’ is like a Vowel and the tongue is rolled at the time of pronouncing it.
LEATHER CARE HIGHER BLOWER PAVER
POWER TEAR GREATER CARETAKER LAYER
SNIPPER WATER NEAR SHOWER DREAMER

‘Th’ sound

•The “Th” Sound can be pronounced like “s” between the teeth, or, with the buzzing sound
•Throw Them
•Thelma Those
•Thomas Brother
•Thank you Father

‘Q’ Sound

•There is no ‘Q’ sound in American English, it is ‘Khue’.
Queen Khueen
Quite Khuite
Quarrel Khwaerel
Silent ‘E’ sound

•When ‘E’ is at the end of a word it is not pronounced
Nashville Mobile Automobile
H’ and ‘L’ Sounds

•H is aich
HP Harry Hamilton
•L is ail
Lima Loss Linda

V’ and ‘W’ Sounds
At the time of pronouncing ‘V’ lower lip comes in contact with the teeth
“W” is a Glide
Vision View Vulnerable Vacant Vagabond Vial Validate Valid
Virtual Value Valentine Victory Vanish Vanilla Vacant
Victor Vickerson voted to review the very vilest version of the veto to avoid a controversy.
Even Evan reviewed Virginia’s available provisions for the vacation as inevitably devoid of value.
Evan eventually arrived at the village and saved the day with vast amounts of venison & veal.
Wine Window Went Where When Wellington Willful
Wonderful Dwell Wild Whichever `Width Waiter While
Where were we in the World War – I? On one wonderful Wednesday, we were wandering in Westwood with a wonderful woman from Wisconsin, whose name was Wanda for weeks, and we were wondering when we would wear out our welcome. I’ve been waiting since winter.
''Z" sound:
Zulu Zebra Zen Zenith

10 top Indian CEOs

Lakshmi N Mittal

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is the richest Indian in the world, with an estimated wealth of $25 billion. He resides in London, has his company registered in the Netherlands, but still holds an Indian passport. Although Mittal Steel was already the world's biggest steel company, his king-sized ambitions were evident when he took over steel giant Arcelor to create a new steel behemoth -- Arcelor-Mittal. L N Mittal left India in the mid-1970s to start his career. He was sent to Indonesia by his father to shut down the family's ailing steel plant and sell the land. Instead, young Mittal saw an opportunity and turned the plant around. To prove that this was no fluke, Mittal acquired a 1.3 million tonne, Iscot Steel plant in Trinidad & Tobago, which was losing $100,000 a day. One year of Mittal-style management and it was making profits, the LN Mittal legend was born. That move helped him get into America. The Mexican government seeing the success that Mittal made of Iscot, asked him to take over their ailing steel plants in 1992. But it was not all that smooth. In 1994 Mittal had differences with his brothers and father, and went on to form his own company. The following year Mittal entered the European market, acquiring the 5 million tonne Kazakh steel plant, Karmet. Meanwhile, Mittal had listed Ispat International on the New York and Amsterdam Stock Exchanges in 1997. Eight years later Mittal Steel became the world's largest steel maker when he took over the US's largest steel producer -- the International Steel Group. He then consolidated all his steel holdings into Mittal Steel.






Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata, a bachelor, is the chairman of the Tata Group, India's most respected conglomerate. He was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai (then called Bombay) to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata on December 28, 1937. He did a short stint with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles, California, before returning to India in 1962. He had earlier turned down an IBM job offer. He joined the family business in 1962 and worked with many of his group's companies. He took over as group chairman from the legendary J R D Tata in 1991. Since then, he has been instrumental in boosting the fortunes of the Tata Group, which has amongst the largest market capitalisations in the Indian stock markets. Tata Motors developed the Tata Indica in 1998. This was the first 'entirely Indian' passenger car. Ratan Tata's dream now is to manufacture a car costing just Rs 100,000. Ratan Tata holds a degree in Architecture and Structural Engineering from Cornell University. He has also done the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School in 1974-1975. Ratan Tata was honoured with one of India's highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan, on January 26, 2000.





Mukesh D Ambani

Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of India's largest private sector enterprise -- Reliance Industries Limited -- was born on April 19, 1957. His father, the legendary Dhirubhai Ambani, was then a small businessman who later on rose to become one of the legends of Indian industry. Mukesh joined Reliance Industries in 1981 and was the brain behind Reliance's backward integration from textiles into polyester fibres and into petrochemicals. During the process of backward integration, Mukesh Ambani led the creation of 51 new, world-class manufacturing facilities involving diverse technologies that raised Reliance's manufacturing capacities manifold. The world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar is his brainchild. He was also the in-charge of Dhirubhai's dream project Reliance Infocomm. But after the split in the Reliance Empire, Reliance Infocomm went to his brother Anil. Mukesh Ambani is now planning to enter retail sector in a big way and will launch a chain of 'Reliance Fresh' retail stores. He also entered into an agreement with the Haryana government to establish a Special Economic Zone with an investment running into billions of rupees. He has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Bombay and a master's in Business Administration from Stanford University, USA.







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.






Azim H Premji

Azim Hashim Premji, the chairman of Wipro Technologies, is one of the richest Indians. He is an icon among Indian businessmen, especially in the software industry. Born on July 24, 1945, Premji was studying Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his father, he was called upon to handle the family business at the age of 21. Wipro was then Western Indian Vegetable Products, a small cooking oil company. Premji diversified into bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. And then shifted focus from soaps to software. He transformed Wipro into one of India's most successful IT companies. Under Azim Premji's stewardship, Wipro has grown from a fledgling Rs 70 million oil company into an IT giant with a turnover of $2.4 billion and an employee strength of 57,000. Azim Premji has regularly featured in the Forbes' list of the world's richest people. He was also rated among the world's 100 most influential people by the Time magazine. In 2005, the Indian government honoured him with Padma Bhushan, one of the nation's highest civilian awards.







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.







Sunil Mittal

Sunil B Mittal is chairman and managing director of Bharti group. Bharti is India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service. Son of a politician, he built his Bharti group, along with two siblings, into India's largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. Vodafone and SingTel both own stakes in recently renamed flagship Bharti Airtel. The group also has partnerships with Axa for insurance and with the Rothschild family for exporting fruits and vegetables. He plans to go into retailing along with the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart. The 49-year-old has always been a pioneer. A first generation entrepreneur, he started his first business in 1976 with a capital investment of Rs 20,000. He decided not to be a politician and set up a small bicycle business in Ludhiana. By 1979, Sunil Mittal realised that his ambitions could not be fulfilled in Ludhiana, so he moved out to Mumbai. He initially founded a number of trading concerns, and established the first company to manufacture push button telephones in India. In 1982, Mittal started a full-fledged business selling portable generators imported from Japan. He was one of the first entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area and launched services in Delhi in 1995. Under his leadership the company has gone from strength to strength.







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.