Any ranking or list is a tricky task. It can be based on objective data, but it still involves a certain bias. By default, some names have to be left out, especially if it is restricted to a certain number, 25 in this case. So, let us begin with what is missing from this list of new Indian business families and wealth creators in the past 25 years. Scions and members of the second and third generation are out. They built on existing wealth; they grew the respective empires. They did not start from scratch.
Similarly, businesspersons who had an elitist background, either in terms of wealth or power, were not considered. Ideally, Sunil Mittal of Bharti Enterprises should have sneaked his way in, but he didn’t. His father was an established politician, and the Mittal family made bicycle parts, imported gen-sets, and assembled push-button phones in the 1980s. Hence, when Sunil bagged a mobile licence, and launched the Delhi services in 1996, he was a known-unknown.
ALSO READ: To read this piece, and more such stories in India's most exciting and exacting magazine, plus get access to our 25-year archives goldmine, please subscribe.
THIS ARTICLE IS PRICELESS...
