By Babar Dogar
LAHORE: For the first time in the Indo/Pakistan history, the magnates of Indian business and trade arrived in Lahore to attend the 2nd Indo-Pak Economic Conference being held under the banner of Aman Ki Asaha, a joint venture of Jang Group of Pakistan and the Times of India Group.
Adi Godrej
Galaxy of Indian business tycoons had reached Lahore either after crossing Wahga border or landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport in their private jets on Sunday noon and were escorted to the hotel where they would stay for the next couple of days to attend the conference.
During their stay in Lahore, besides attending the conference, they would not only have taste of Lahori dishes but also enjoy a music gala specially arranged at Hazoori Bagh, Lahore Fort.
Within this galaxy of leading Indian businessmen, the five top businessmen Adi Godrej, Rahul Bajaj, Sunil Kant Munjal, Rakesh Bharti Mittal and Harsh Manglik will be the special focus of business community in Pakistan. Here is the brief of these top-five Indian businessmen who are considered backbone of Indian industry.
Adi Godrej is one of the top Indian businessmen who is the chairman of the Godrej Group and several entities that are part of one of India’s leading conglomerates. These include Indian companies like Godrej Industries, Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Properties as well as international companies such as Keyline Brands UK and Rapidol South Africa. In his capacity as the chairman, he also presides over the Group’s joint venture company Godrej Hershey. He is also the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Prize Fund.
Rahul Bajaj
He is director of numerous firms, including Godrej & Boyce, Godrej Agrovet, Godrej International and Godrej Global Mid East FZE. Over the last five decades Adi has played an important role in the development of a variety of industries by leading key organisations of trade and commerce as the former chairman and president of the Indian Soap & Toiletries Makers’ Association, the Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, the Compound Livestock Feeds Manufacturers’ Association, the Indo-American Society and as member of the Governing Board of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry. Adi Gofrej has also participated actively in the field of management education as a former chairman of the Governing Council of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, as a former member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Wharton Asian Executive Board. Adi is a member of Tau Beta Pi (The Engineering Honor Society) and also serves as a member of the Governing Board of the Indian School of Business. For his contribution to Indian industry Adi has been the recipient of several awards and recognitions, including the Rajiv Gandhi Award 2002.
Rahul Bajaj, born on June 10, 1938, is recognized as one of the most successful business leaders of India. He heads the Bajaj Group of Companies which is a leader in a variety of manufactured products and financial services in India and abroad, including motorised two and three-wheelers, home appliances, electric lamps, wind energy, special alloy and stainless steel, cranes, forgings, infrastructure development, material handling equipment, travel, general and life insurance and investment, consumer finance and asset management.
Sunil Kant Munjal
Bajaj is the chairman of the Board of many companies and is on the Executive Board of Indian School of Business. He was elected to the Upper House of the parliament (Rajya Sabha 2006-2010). Bajaj received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions, notable being the award of “Padma Bhushan” by the Government of India in 2001.
He is a member and former chairman of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, Geneva, a member of Harvard Business Schools’ Global Advisory Board and the international Advisory Committee of NYSE Euronext. He is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC.
Sunil Kant Munjal is the senior member of the $5.1 billion-plus Hero Group and is responsible for developing growth strategy and implementation of new business plans for the Group. He was selected by “India Today”-India’s largest English newsmagazine, as one of the “Faces of the Millennium” for business. He is member of a family that owns the Hero Group.
He is jointly managing director of Hero MotoCrop, the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturing company and chairman of Hero Corporate Service, the Corporate Office for the Hero Group. Apart from Hero Group companies, he is representing on the Board of DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd and is a member of the Coca Cola India Advisory Board. He is a member of the ‘Board of Directors of Life Insurance Corporation of India’, which is the largest life insurance company in India. He has also been a director of Bank of India (one of the largest banks in the country).
Rakesh Bharti Mittal
Rakesh Bharti Mittal is the chairman of Beetel Teletech Ltd and the vice-chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises, one of the India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri-business, financial services, retail cash and carry, realty, telecom software and communication and media devices.
Rakesh is the chairman of Comviva Technologies, Field Fresh Foods, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Bharti AXA General Insurance, Centum Learning and on the Board of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Ventures. Rakesh is also a Life Trustee and the co- chairman of Bharti Foundation, the Philanthropic arm of Bharti Group. He has been a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) since 1999 and has served as a chairman of its Northern Region Council. He is also on the Board of Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI).
A passionate advocate of the right to good education, Rakesh serves on Boards of several educational institutions. He is a member of the Executive Board of Indian School of Business (ISB) and the Campus Advisory Board [CAB] of ISB, Mohali.
Harsh Manglik
Harsh Manglik is a seasoned leader who brings with him over 30 years of rich and diverse experience in global business and in management consulting, gained in a number of world class organisations, spanning several industries and domains. These include aerospace and other
industries that produce highly engineered products and the domains of information technology as well as product development and manufacturing strategy.
His deep roots are in global aerospace and IT industries. Manglik served as the chairman of Executive Council at National Association of Software and Service Companies from April 2010 to April 2011, and serves as its member of executive council. He served as a vice chairman of Executive Council at National Association of Software and Service Companies.
