Top 8 Prominent Business Icons of India

India has a handful of transformational leaders and business icons who have achieved ultimate success. One thing that is common to all these successful business icons in India is that their ideas have revolutionised their respective industries.

The road to success is never easy and these entrepreneurs have overcome many hurdles and hindrances to create their business legacies. The sheer determination and commitment exhibited by leaders such as Sanjiv Bajaj, Adi Godrej, Azim Premji, Mukesh Ambani, etc., is visible in both the economic as well as social impact being made by them. These transformational business icons in India have not only created wealth for themselves but have empowered people across the country to do the same by creating employment opportunities and through varied philanthropic endeavours.

Here is a list of eight famous entrepreneurs that are most prominent and successful business icons of India:

Rahul Bajaj

One of the most diversified conglomerates, the Bajaj Group, was chaired by Rahul Bajaj until April 2021. He is now the Chairman Emeritus. The ex-member of parliament has passed the baton to his two sons, Rajiv and Sanjiv Bajaj, who have inherited the exemplary business acumen of their father.

Rahul Bajaj is also the recipient of the third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan amongst many other honorary doctorates from leading universities. The Bajaj Group is most popularly known for its auto manufacturing arm, Bajaj Auto, and the financial services arm, Bajaj Finserv.

Azim Premji

A tech-magnate, and well-known for his philanthropic initiatives, Azim Premji, the Chairman of Wipro is an ardent humanitarian and strategic investor. Azim Premji’s company flourishes because of the culture of excellence propagated by him, enabling him to achieve operational brilliance over the past four decades.

His recent honour was the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, which was bestowed upon him by the French Ambassador for his excellence in developing the IT industry in India. Azim Premji’s determination led to the diversification of Wipro and he ended up with the IT powerhouse in over 58 countries. He is India’s most generous business tycoon and is the only Indian to pledge twenty-five percent of his wealth to charity.

Mukesh Ambani

The Chairman and MD of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani needs no introduction. Known for his zeal, hard work, and ambition, he has achieved unparalleled success and is one of the richest business icons globally. RIL's varied businesses comprise energy, natural gas, petrochemicals, telecommunications, retail, textile, and mass media.

He inspires many aspiring entrepreneurs across the world with his aggressive and positive approach, which has taken Reliance Industries to astounding heights. He has won many awards including ‘Business Leader of the Year’ by NDTV, ‘Top-performing CEO’ by Harvard Business Review amongst numerous others.

Sanjiv Bajaj

Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv, has indeed become a name to reckon within the financial services sector. He started off with Bajaj Auto, dabbling in a few roles including finance, legal, and international business functions.

It was only under his able leadership that Bajaj Allianz General Insurance became the second most profitable insurance company in the country. Also known to make life easier for his large consumer base, this one of the top NBFC leaders in India strongly believes that reinvention is the primary thing that can fuel business growth and thus to stay ahead of the game they digitise and innovate every 3 to 5 years.

Though Bajaj Finance started off as an NBFC, today under the leadership of Sanjiv Bajaj, they are the forerunners in leveraging technology and digitising their interface to make it user friendly.

A few of Sanjiv Bajaj’s many awards include ‘Banker of the Year’ by Financial Express in 2019, ‘Business Leader of the Year’ by Economic Times, the ‘Award for Corporate Governance’ by Asian Centre’s Leadership, and many more. A philanthropist at heart, Sanjiv Bajaj via the Bajaj Group promised Rs. 100 crores for the cause of COVID-19 and dedicated resources such as healthcare access and other COVID related provisions for the underprivileged.

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Known as the king of commodities, Kumar Mangalam Birla is the fourth-generation head of the multibillion-dollar Aditya Birla Group. The group’s interests encompass everything from cement to telecom to financial services to aluminum. His milestone acquisitions of companies like Novelis, Columbian Chemicals, Domsjö Fabriker, and others have strengthened his manufacturing capacity making him a force to reckon with globally. With over 40 strategic investments in two decades, Kumar Birla has strengthened his position making him an industry leader.

The recent merger of Idea & Vodafone was engineered by him, and Vi emerged as India’s largest telecom operator and the second-largest globally. He’s continued to carry on his father’s legacy since the age of 28 and has only grown the company by leaps and bounds.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Popularly known as the face of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal is the founder and chairperson of Bharti Enterprises. This is one of India’s top conglomerates with multiple businesses comprising telecom, real estate, food, and insurance, amongst others. In India, he spearheaded the mobile revolution making affordable data and voice services available for the common man.

A recipient of one of the most prestigious awards, Padma Bhushan, Sunil Bharti Mittal has also received numerous industry honours and honorary doctorates from leading universities. He has digitally empowered millions by offering connectivity across India and the world. His philanthropic arm, Bharti Foundation is doing great work across mandates.

Ratan Tata

One of the best Indian entrepreneurs, Ratan Tata, who belongs to a family of philanthropists and visionaries, became the Chairman of the Tata Group in 1991 and briefly in 2016. A man well-known for making dreams come true, Ratan Tata introduced the ‘people’s car’, Tata Nano, and made significant global acquisitions under his leadership.

Some of the most prominent ones being Land-Rover, Jaguar, Tetley Tea, steel manufacturer Corus Group, Daewoo motors, and more. On the philanthropic front, Tata Trust under his leadership has made a significant difference to various causes by partnering with over 450 organisations, doing exemplary social work in the field.

Adi Godrej

Adi Burjorji Godrej is the Chairman of the renowned Godrej Group. This global conglomerate is involved across sectors like FMCG, consumer goods, appliances, real estate, security, industrial engineering, and more. Apart from being an exceptional industrialist and businessman, he also presides over many Indian trade and trade body associations. He started off with pursuing engineering at MIT but crossed over to management to take on the Godrej Group after his return to India.

The main force fuelling the Godrej Group, Adi Godrej is the recipient of many prestigious awards such as the Padma Bhushan, ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’, ‘Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards’, ‘Rajiv Gandhi Award’, ‘Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year’, AIF leadership in philanthropy award, and many more.