TOP TEN INDIAN CEO’S

Lakshmi 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.

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.

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.

Nandan Nilekani

Nandan 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

NANO COUNTRIES

1. Vatican City

Size: 0.17 sq. mi. (0.44 km²)
Population: 783 (2005 census)
Location: Rome, Italy

The size of a golf course, the Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. It's basically a walled enclave inside of Rome, Italy. It's so small that the entire country does not have a single street address. The Vatican City may be small, but it is very powerful.

2. Monaco

Size: 0.8 sq. mi. (1.96 km²)
Population: 35,657 (2006 estimate)
Location: French Riviera on the Mediterranean

Monaco is the second smallest country on Earth (it's roughly the size of New York's Central Park), yet it's the most densely populated (23,660 people per km²). Actually, Monaco used to be much smaller than it is now - about 100 acres were reclaimed from the sea and added to its land size. At the narrowest, Monaco is only 382 yards wide!

3. Nauru

Size: 8 sq. mi (21 km²)
Population: 13,005 (2005 estimate)
Location: Western Pacific Ocean

Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, the smallest independent republic, and the only republic in the world without an official capital. Nauru only has one significant source of income: phosphates from thousands of years' worth of guano or bird droppings.

4. Tuvalu

Size: 9 sq. mi. (26 km²)
Population: 10,441 (2005 estimate)
Location: South Pacific

Tuvalu is basically a chain of low-lying coral islands, with its highest elevation being 16 feet or 5 meters above seal level. With total land area of just 9 square miles, Tuvalu is not only a teeny tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, it may not even exist in the next 50 years

5. San Marino

Size: 24 sq. mi. (61 km²)
Population: 28,117 (2005 estimate)
Location: North-central Italy near the Adriatic coast.

With the formal name of The Most Serene Republic of San Marino, it's not surprising that San Marino has got lots of charms. Founded in AD 301.

JAMSHEDJI NUSSERWANJI TATA

Father of Indian Industry”

Born 3 March 1839(1839-03-03)

Navsari, Gujarat, India

Died 19 May 1904 (aged 65)

Bad Nauheim, Germany

Occupation Businessman

Spouse(s) Hirabai Daboo

Parents Nusserwanji and Jeevanbai Tata

Business: Jamsedji worked in his father's firm until the age of 29. In 1868, he started a trading company with a seed capital of Rs. 21,000. In 1869, he acquired a bankrupt oil mill in Chinchpokli, converted it into a cotton mill and renamed the mill to Alexandra Mill. He sold the mill two years later for a healthy profit. Thereafter he set up a cotton mill in Nagpur in 1874. He christened it Empress Mill on 1 January 1877 when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

He devoted himself to bringing to fruition four of his key ideas: setting up an iron and steel company, a world-class learning institution, a one-of-a-kind hotel and a hydro-electric plant. Only one of the ideas became a reality during his lifetime. The Taj Mahal Hotel was inaugurated on the 3rd of December 1903.

However, the foundations laid by him and hard work by his successors ensured that each of the ideas were eventually established and are respectable entities in their respective fields today:

• Tata Steel (formerly TISCO - Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited) is Asia's first and India's largest and became world's fifth largest steel company,after it acquired anglo-dutch Corus group producing 28 million tonnes of steel annually.

• The Indian Institute of Science

• The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was founded by Dr. Homi Bhabha. Dr. Homi Bhabha approached J.R.D Tata requesting his support towards the establishing of a scientific institution. The institution was founded in 1945
• The Tata Power Company Limited is India’s largest private sector electricity generating company with an installed generation capacity of over 2300 MW.