The new poster-girl of India's biotech revolution, and a pioneer of India's global software superiority.
A man whose name is literally a by-word in the remotest lanes and alleys of the country, and a guru who tells the chairman of Fortune 500 firms how to manage their businesses. If you're looking to see unity in diversity live, come to the ET Awards, class of 2004. The suspense, which had been wracking the boardrooms of India Inc, is finally over.
Meet the winners of the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence:
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Business Woman
- Azim Premji, Business Leader
- Rahul Bajaj, Lifetime Achievement
- CK Prahalad, Global Indian
- CK Ranganathan, Entrepreneur
- HDFC, Corporate Citizen
- Tata Motors, Company Of The Year
- Bharti Televentures, Emerging Company
On October 14, a heavyweight jury, presided over by Infosys chairman NR Narayana Murthy, assembled at the Grand Hyatt to pick the winners of the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence. The jury's task was not an easy one, given the distinguished pedigree of previous award winners, and the star-studded nominee list. However, the list of winners the jury picked is sure to meet the exacting standards the ET Awards have set over the years.
The jury, consisting as it was of the brightest minds of India Inc, was more than equal to the task of selecting corporate India's finest. Alongside Murthy, were HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh; Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla; Bajaj Auto's larger-than-life chief Rahul Bajaj; Citigroup's CEO in India Sanjay Nayar; Venu Srinivasan, the promoter of TVS Motors; Anu Aga, former chairman of engineering company Thermax; and Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor to the Indian government. Arun Arora, chief executive, and Rajrishi Singhal, associate editor, represented The Economic Times on the jury.
Each jury member chose the winners after making a shortlist of three nominations, and then arriving at a consensus through debate and discussion.
In any case where a member of the jury, or one of his or her family was a nominee, the member left the jury room for the entire proceedings. The award for Businesswoman of the Year went to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of biotech major Biocon Ltd. In many ways, the discussion for this award was the shortest and the decision was unanimous.
ET's Business Leader of the Year is the legendary Azim Premji, India's wealthiest man and one of the fathers, along with jury chairman, Narayana Murthy, of India's software industry. "Azim has done a great job of transforming his company and in the quality of people he has selected," Murthy said after the meeting. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to the ebullient and outspoken Rahul Bajaj. Generations of Indians owe their first vehicle to Bajaj, who is also one of the few industrialists unafraid to speak his own mind and take on the government if need be.
The award for Global Indian went to management theorist, C K Prahalad, the Harvey C Freuhauf Professor of Business Administration at the Michigan Ross School of Business. Prahalad, who is spoken of in the same breath as Peter Drucker and Michael Porter, is responsible, along with Gary Hamel, for introducing the idea of core competence. The jurors chose Tata Group flagship Tata Motors as the Company of the Year. The jury was influenced not only by the turnaround the company has achieved but also the manner in which it has globalised.
The Emerging Company of the Year was a slam dunk, with the jury unanimously plumping for the Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Televentures, the wunderkind of Indian telecom, which has overtaken well established players like MTNL and VSNL in terms of market cap within 18 months of listing. CK Ranganathan, the CMD of FMCG company CavinKare, is ET's Entrepreneur of the Year. Ranganathan has successfully taken on the likes of Hindustan Lever and P&G and build up a strong indigenous brand.
The award for Corporate Citizen went to housing finance major HDFC. The market leader in housing finance has, over the years, advanced housing loans at subsidised rates to the weaker sections of society alongside its regular business. It has also worked to rehabilitate the victims of the Gujarat earthquake and the victims of the Mumbai bomb blasts. In addition, HDFC has been for years operating a mobile creche for the children of women construction workers
Tamils brave risks for better life |
|  | The refugees are grateful for the sanctuary provided by India 
| Priyardarshini is holding her eight-month-old baby, Yadushika. They have just arrived on the southern shores of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and the journey from Sri Lanka nearly cost them their lives. "The boat capsized and we thought we were all going to die," she tells me. "Luckily we'd wrapped the baby in polythene, so she floated." Finding herself once more in Sri Lanka, Priyardarshini had faced a terrible choice. Return to her home surrounded by war and violence, or risk making the crossing again. "I was very scared and refused to make the journey. But in the end we were forced to. Every day our house was being shelled, the shops were being burnt. We couldn't live there." Common language When the ceasefire was signed in Sri Lanka four years ago, some of those displaced by two decades of fighting began to return home. But the recent upsurge in violence has again forced large numbers of Tamils from the north of the island to look across the narrow Palk Strait to India. Packed into tiny fishing boats they risk the crossing to Tamil Nadu where they find relative safety, and a common language and religion. So far this year more than 13,000 have made the journey. It's thought at least 10 people have drowned. There are more than 100 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, providing shelter, food and a subsistence living allowance as well as education for the children. The conditions are basic, but in a poor country they are often better than those endured by many of the locals living close by. Lucky ones The Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR) is a charity that has been providing support for Sri Lankan refugees in India since the early 1980s. Founder member SC Chandrahasan says the refugees are grateful for the sanctuary that India provides. He says not only are they fleeing the shells of the Sri Lankan army but also the recruiting tactics of the Tamil Tigers, still believed to be using child soldiers. "A lot of the refugees are taking their children to safety," he says. "They may not say it openly but confidentially they will say that they don't want their children to be recruited by the Tigers or taken away by the army." The United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 people have been internally displaced within Sri Lanka. Many are living in areas that the aid agencies find it very difficult to reach. So in some ways the refugees who make it to the white sandy beaches of southern India are the lucky ones. In the Mandapam transit camp near the town of Rameshwaram a group of more than 100 new arrivals sit in the shade waiting to be registered by the camp officials. They're surrounded by what's left of their lives, a few suitcases and plastic bags stuffed with what little they could carry. Priyardarshini and her family have lost everything. Her husband, Vinayaka-Murthy, was a successful tailor in Trincomalee. As well as leaving the home and business, they lost all their belongings when the boat capsized. All they have is their tiny daughter. But they're not looking back. "Anyone who says there is no war in Sri Lanka should speak to us," Vinayaka-Murthy tells me. "There is a war, we were living in the middle of it. I'm never going back. We will find our future in India."
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The refugees may not say it openly but... they don't want their children to be recruited by the Tigers or taken away by the army 
