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SPECIAL ISSUE
POWER LIST 2017

MIGHTY
THE HIGH
APRIL 24, 2017 `60
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FROM THE
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aroon Purie

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EDITORS: Kaveree Bamzai (Special Projects), Ajit Kumar Jha (Research) very year, india today chronicles and Brexit. The high and mighty list has
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EXECUTIVE EDITORS: Damayanti Datta, S. Sahaya Ranjit,
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E the high and mighty of this
country. These are men and
women who influence our lives in ways
a preponderance of businessmen, at 26,
but they are there not merely because
of their wealth. The post-1991 titans
MUMBAI: M.G. Arun HYDERABAD: Amarnath K. Menon CHANDIGARH: Asit Jolly
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beyond the most immediate. There dominate our world not only because
SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Kaushik Deka, Ashish Mukherjee are corporate titans who are embrac- of the goods they produce, but because
MUMBAI: Suhani Singh, Kiran Dinkar Tare; PATNA: Amitabh Srivastava
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Shougat Dasgupta, Chinki Sinha ing technology and transforming how they are tech evangelists, because they
KOLKATA: Romita Sengupta; BHOPAL: Rahul Noronha;
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jeemon Jacob; BEIJING: Ananth Krishnan we communicate with each other, how speak their mind on social media, be-
ASSISTANT EDITOR: PUNE: Aditi S. Pai
we educate our children, how we share cause they are building universities and
CHIEF COPY EDITOR: Aditya Mohan Wig
PHOTO DEPARTMENT: Vikram Sharma (Deputy Photo Editor), resources. There are bankers who are schools of the future, or because they
Rajwant Singh Rawat (Principal Photographer),
Kekhriezhazo Miachie-O (Senior Photographer), Chandra Deep overseeing integration and acquisitions influence the news we consume.
Kumar (Photographer); MUMBAI: Mandar Suresh Deodhar
(Chief Photographer), Danesh Adil Jassawala (Photographer);
while also welcoming digital innova- But power is also about endurance, in
AHMEDABAD: Shailesh B Raval (Principal Photographer);
KOLKATA: Subir Halder (Principal Photographer);
tions. There are technology czars who ample evidence in the nine members who
CHENNAI: N.G. Jaison (Senior Photographer) are changing the definition of owner- have been on our list since its inception
PHOTO RESEARCHERS: Prabhakar Tiwari (Chief Photo Researcher),
Saloni Vaid (Principal Photo Researcher), ship of assets, freeing up mindspace to in 2003Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata,
Shubhrojit Brahma (Assistant Photo Researcher)
CHIEF OF GRAPHICS: Tanmoy Chakraborty make us acquire less, and perhaps create Kumar Mangalam Birla, Azim Premji,
ART DEPARTMENT: Sanjay Piplani (Senior Art Director); more. There are cultural icons who Subhash Chandra, Amitabh Bachchan,
Jyoti K. Singh, Anirban Ghosh (Art Director),
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Bhoomesh Dutt Sharma (Senior Designer)
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT: Harish Agarwal (Chief of Production), we imbibe and the causes we gravitate Rukh Khan. These men have shown a
Naveen Gupta (Chief Coordinator),
Vijay Kumar Sharma (Senior Coordinator) towards. And there are private citizens, quality of power that is often overlooked:
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Manoj Sharma public intellectuals, who are determin- resilience. They have faced failure, flops
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Anil Fernandes (Impact)
ing the national discourse so essential and family splits, and yet have grown
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Senior General Manager: Jitender Lad (West) for the success of governance. their businesses, their empires of the
General Manager: Mayur Rastogi (North),
Upendra Singh (Bangalore), Velu Subramaniam (Chennai), Power for these men and women is mind. Some, like Ratan Tata, have even
Kaushiky Chakraborty (East)
GROUP CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Vivek Malhotra
not brute force that flows from wealth. withdrawn from active business to come
Assistant General Manager: Garima Prashar (Marketing) In many cases, in fact, the giving away right back, to safeguard what they believe
SALES AND OPERATIONS: D.V.S. Rama Rao, Chief General Manager
Deepak Bhatt, General Manager (National Sales) of wealth enhances their influence. The is held in trust to them. And though there
Vipin Bagga, Deputy General Manager (Operations)
Manish Kumar Srivastava, Regional Sales Manager (North) object of power is power, said George are just five women, I am happy to report
Rajeev Gandhi, Regional Sales Manager (West)
Arokia Raj L., Regional Sales Manager (South)
Orwell in 1984. Not any more. The they are from diverse fields: business,
object of power is to change lives, do banking, sport and entertainment.
good, make the world better. Otherwise, The listing, as every year, is a
a restive consumer/voter/audience will team effort of the magazines editors
Volume XLII Number 17; For the week led by Editor (Special Projects) Ka-
reject the authority seeking to impose
April 18-24, 2017, published on every Friday
it. Governments collapse, products flop veree Bamzai and a team of reporters
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A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY 1

INSIDE
UPFRONT STATES
CHINA PLAYS THE TIBET A NEW LOW IN THE VALLEY
CARD PG 3 PG 10
PAKISTANS SHOW TRIAL PALACE INTRIGUES IN

MADHYA PRADESH
15
C OV E R S T O RY
LEISURE
THE POWER
84
PACK
A list of the 50 most powerful Indians
in the country
FILMY
GEAR
Six designers
develop
ready-to-
wear apparel
inspired by
costumes
worn in the ilm
Baahubali
85 CREATIVE
PURSUIT
With 65 shows in Mumbai and Delhi
between April And November,
Aadyam aims to become the gateway
to Indian theatre
Cover by NILANJAN DAS
Page: 104-105
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UPFRONT
INDO-CHINA TIES: INDEX: FARM
ALL AT SEA DEBT TRAP
SPY: PAKISTANS POV: BANKING

SHOW TRIAL ON BAD DEBT
T E R R I T O RY
TENZIN CHOEJOR / AP
THE TIBET CARD

By Ananth Krishnan in Beijing
and Tongam Rina in Tawang
T
he symbolism of the Dalai Lamas week-long visit to also where the final chapter of his leadership of the Tibetan
Arunachal Pradesh, his seventh to the state, wasnt movement may begin. Although a very healthy 81, the
lost on local residents. On April 6, thousands lined up question of his succession looms ever larger. Tawang, the
to receive him in the monastery town of Tawang, where the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, is for many a most likely
Tibetan spiritual leader first arrived in India in 1959, aged location where a reincarnation could be chosen.
23, after a perilous 15-day journey across the Tibetan plateau. This significance wasnt lost on China, which claims
This is a very special visit for us, said local businessman Tawang, and it responded more angrily than during the Dalai
Jambey Lobsang, 28, because I dont think the Dalai Lama Lamas previous visits in 1997, 2003 and 2009. Besides sum-
may come back, given his age. We mustnt forget, he is 81. moning the Indian ambassador, Beijing said it would take
Tawang is where the remarkable 58-year journey in exile necessary measures to defend its sovereignty. This time the
began for Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Tawang is stridency of their tone, the kind of language they have used,

UPFRONT
their comments, its definitely far more than we

had seen earlier, says Ashok Kantha, Indias envoy
in Beijing until 2016 and director of the Institute
of Chinese Studies (he also handled relations with
China in Delhi at the time of the earlier visits).
Both in Delhi and in Beijing, the Tawang visit
has been seen as a shift in Indias diplomacy. Supp-
orters of the Narendra Modi government say India
is finally standing up to Chinaironically, a view
echoed in Beijing, where state newspapers said India
was playing the Tibet card. Hu Shisheng, a scholar
at the China Institutes for Contemporary Interna-
tional Relations in Beijing, said the visit was part of
a series of policies the Indian government has been
taking in playing the Tibet card, referring to the
Dalai Lama being hosted in December for the first
time at the Rashtrapati Bhavan along with other No-
bel laureates, and minister of state for home affairs
Kiren Rijiju accompanying him to Arunachal.
M ZHAZO
Beyond the optics, has there been a change in
Indias approach? If there is any change, it is actually
on the Chinese side, not on the Indian side, says
Kantha, suggesting India, in fact, had been very 5 QUESTIONS
consistent in allowing the Dalai Lama to travel.
Nirupama Rao, former foreign secretary and
ex-envoy to China, says the Tibet card is a stereo-
typed cliche that if Tibet
RESPECT OUR
A possible is not Chinas, it is ours to
gain. We have no ulterior
TERRITORIAL
reason for
Chinas iery
motives in Tibet. Our brief
is not Curzonian, says Rao. INTEGRITY
response is At the same time, she adds,
its anxiety The Chinese have shown The Chinese authorities had a border with Tibet.
on the Dalai little sensitivity to Indias made their displeasure China came into the picture
Lama succes- grievances on Masood over the Dalai Lamas visit only after it forcefully occu-
sion question Azhar or their activities to Tawang, in Arunachal pied Tibet. I was referring to
in PoK. Rolling over and Pradesh, clear to India, only our traditional border.
playing dead cannot be an to receive a terse response
option for a self-respecting large country like India. from the states chief minis Q. But what is your view on
One possible explanation for Chinas fiery ter, Pema Khandu. China the current status?
response is its increasing anxiety on the succession has no business telling us A. This is a subject for the
question. If the 15th Dalai Lama were chosen from what to do, said Khandu, Government of India. As a
Tawang, Beijing is aware that s/he could emerge as a who at 38 is Indias young responsible citizen, I respect
far more credible successor than the candidate that est CM and whose constitu the decisions of the govern-
China puts forward. Its an issue where India too has ency is Tawang. Speaking ment. And China, too,
a stake, says Rao. We cannot abandon the inter- to Kaushik Deka, Khandu must respect the fact that
ests of the Tibetans who live in India. Our position reiterates that Arunachal Arunachal Pradesh is a part
should be that the religious and cultural sanctity of Pradesh is and must rem of India.
the process of succession should be respected and ain a part of India.
upheld above all. We should be flag-bearers on this Q. What is your position on
aspect. Uncertainties notwithstanding, for Lama Q. What do you mean Chinas claim to Arunachal
Lobsang, the caretaker of the Urgeyling monastery when you say India shares Pradesh?
in Tawang, where the sixth Dalai Lama was born, the a boundary with Tibet and A. Arunachal Pradesh is an
future couldnt be more clear. China, he says simply, not China? integral part of India. His-
should mind its own business. n A. Traditionally, we always tory says that neither Tibet
INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

nor Arunachal was tra- worldthan a political PU LLQUOTE

ditionally part of China. leader. I have been invit-
If we recognise Tibets ing him since 2011 and It undermines [an] honest credit
assimilation with China, we are privileged by His
then they too must respect Holinesss visit.
culture, it impacts credit discipline, and
our territorial integrity. it plugs incentives for future borrowers
Q. How should the border to repay. In other words, [loan] waivers
Q. Did you invite the Dalai dispute between India
Lama knowing it would and China be resolved?
engender moral hazard.
trigger a controversy? A. This dispute must end
A. This is not the first URJIT PATEL, the RBI governor, sounded a iscally
now. It has been going
prudent note as the UP government fulilled a
time the Dalai Lama has on for over six decades.
poll promise to waive over Rs 36,000 crore in
visited Arunachal. In But whatever the solu- farm loans. The decision had a ripple efect, with
fact, this is his sixth visit. tion, Arunachal Pradeshs farmers in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu also
He is more of a spiritual geography must not be demanding thousands of crores in loan waivers.
leader for usas he is for compromised in the Patel is echoing sentiments expressed by his
his followers around the bargain. n predecessor Raghuram Rajan and, more recently,
by SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya
TIES INDEX
All at Sea Farm Debt Trap

On political and, perhaps, humanitarian grounds,
I
t was meant to be a rare bit of its hard to contest the Yogi Adityanath governments move
good news amid increasingly to waive farm loans. They are popular, and two consecutive
stormy relations: the Indian years of drought have left Indian farmers in several states
and Chinese navies, working hanging precariously on to livelihoods. But economists
closely together, had rescued warn that loan waivers are fiscally reckless, and cut off
a hijacked Tuvaluan merchant productive investments in agriculture
ship near the Gulf of Aden,
showing that both neighbours
could, at least on the high seas,
temporarily forget their long (and growing) list of diferences.
36,359 55,600 38.8
CRORE CRORE MILLION
Responding to a distress call early on April 9, the Indian
Navy said the INS Mumbai, INS Tarkash, INS Trishul and INS Crop loans UP Crop loans in UP in People, or 59%
Aditya, on deployment to the Mediterranean, immediately government has 2015, up from of UPs work-
came to the aid of the hijacked vessel. Working with the written of in 2017 31,900 crore in force, employed
Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel Yulin, a navy 2013 in agriculture,
Chetak helicopter carried out a reconnaissance of the vessel, says 2011 census
before the green light was given for the 18 Chinese personnel
to board. The Indian Navy, on April 9, even tweeted a photo 8.6 85%
of a Chetak helicopter lying above the Yulin, and showed the 22.2% MILLION Of UP farmers
INS Mumbai in close proximity to the Chinese vessel. Share of UPs have marginal or
Farmers ex-
Beijing, however, had a very diferent take the next day. GSDP generated small landhold-
pected to beneit
by agriculture, ings of below 2
The Chinese defence ministry said 16 Chinese personnel from debt relief,
down from 29.7% hectares (less
in Chinese naval aircraft carried out the rescue, making out of UPs 23
a decade ago than 5 acres)
no mention of Indias role in the reconnaissance. Foreign million farmers
ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, when asked about
the omission, replied that under cover of our helicopters,
special forces members of the navy rescued the 18 members
on board. Was there no Indian role, she was asked. The
Chinese convoy, Hua replied, had received reports from
42% 80%
Increase in farmer Of these suicides in
the UK Marine Trade Operations, not India. It seems bilateral suicides across 2015 were due to bank
relations, for now, remain in troubled waters. n the country in 2014 debts, according to
Ananth Krishnan and 2015 NCRB data

UPFRONT
GL ASSHOUSE
Paean to the PM
Vile Talk
T he 2,322nd birth anniver-
sary celebrations of Emperor
B JP MLA T. Raja Singh, who
represents Goshamahal in the
Telangana assembly, has kicked
Asoka in Patna soon turned into
competitive sycophancy among
up a storm by saying that traitors BJP leaders, who lost no time
opposing a Ram temple in inding his modern equal in Prime
Ayodhya will be behead- Minister Narendra Modi. Among
ed. His April 5 remark them was Bihars Opposition
went viral, but an unre- leader Sushilkumar Modi. The
pentant Singh repeated writ of both Asoka and Narendra
it four days later. Muslim Modi, Sushilkumar explained,
leaders are demanding ran over the world. The BJP
Singh be booked for the hate has in the past described Chan-
speech and the police oicers, who dragupta Maurya, founder of the
were at the venue where he made Mauryan empire, and his grand-
the comment, be taken to task. son as members of the Kushwaha
community. But something was
amiss. Ergo, Sushilkumar has
now demanded that the Bihar
In Modis government rename state capital
Patna as Pataliputra, the ancient
Footsteps capital of the Mauryan empire.
Jogi Ride
M
aharashtra
Nitish Kumar is yet to respond.
Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis
has launched Mee
Mukhyamantri Boltoy (This is me,
the CM, speaking), on the lines of PM
Narendra Modis Mann ki Baat on
radio. The irst episode was telecast Flying High
on AIRs Asmita channel on April 9.
F
The brains behind the initiative is state ormer Chhattisgarh chief
information secretary Brijesh Singh minister Ajit Jogi, whose
from Fadnaviss hometown Nagpur. birthday falls on April 29, has
Guessing already got a presenta crowd-
funded helicopter. Supporters of
Curtains on a Games Jogis party, the Chhattisgarh Janata

Congress, financed
Colonial Past W ith the ile on the appointment
of the irst chief of defence
the helicopter for
their leader so that
W est Bengal Governor

Keshari Nath Tripathi is
ridding Kolkatas Raj Bhavan of
staf doing the rounds of the PMO,
the armed forces brass is speculating
if the appointee will be an admiral,
he can comfortably
do the 600-odd public
meetings that Jogi
colonial vestiges. He has renamed general or air chief marshal. The buzz hopes to address
the VVIP Prince of Wales Suite as in South Block is the appointment is before the assembly
Rabindranath Room. The John likely soon. Since the seniority prin- elections next year.
Anderson Suite will now ciple was set aside by the government The names of a transport company
be the Vivekananda while picking General Bipin Rawat owner and an MLA are doing the
Room. The Second as the army chief, few are willing to rounds as the likely financiers, but
Class Suite that hazard a guess on the new appointee. Jogis party denies it.
housed staff and ser-
vants will simply be
called the under- Amitabh Srivastava, Sandeep Unnithan, Amarnath K. Menon,
ground chamber. Romita Datta, Rahul Noronha and Kiran D. Tare

SENTENCE C H AT T E R
The week in social media

PAKISTANS @ShougatDasgupta
SHOW TRIAL Dont Block Social Media

The recent violence in
Bhadrak, Odisha, was
communal, but appeared
mostly directed at prop-
erty rather than people.
Dozens of shops were
burned down and a cur-
few was ordered as the
Centre rushed paramili-
tary forces to the town. Reports suggest the trouble started
when Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists
demanded the arrest of three Muslims who were accused of
making insulting remarks about Ram and Sita on a Facebook
thread. All social media platforms were blocked for 48 hours.
It is a common response to unrest, as Kashmiris know all too
well. But if social media can be a means of fomenting unrest,
it is also a means of countering false narratives and com-
municating emergency information. Are virtual curfews ever
J
ust when it seemed India-Pakistan relations couldnt get any necessary? Or are they used to limit free speech under the
worse, came the April 10 announcement that Pakistan was to pretext of law and order? n
execute Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Indian naval commander
supposedly arrested in Balochistan on March 3 last year and charged
with spying. According to a Pakistani military press release, army Half-baked
chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa confirmed Jadhavs death sentence
handed down for involvement in espionage and sabotage activities.
Indias external affairs ministry issued a dmarche to Pakistans
high commissioner in Delhi, described Jadhavs trial as farcical
and said the sentence, if carried out, would be viewed as noth-
ing short of premeditated murder. The ministry says Jadhav was
kidnapped from Iran. Pakistan has denied Indian diplomats access
to Jadhav 13 times since his arrest.
Military law experts say Jadhavs court martial goes against the The trailer for the ilm version of Chetan Bhagats Half Girl-
spirit of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Politi- friend has gone viral, viewed over two million times in just
cal Rights, which calls for trial under an independent court. India six hours. The novel was dedicated to the non-English
does not try civilians in military courts. Even those facing charges of types, as if this majority is Bhagats natural constituency,
espionage are tried by our regular judiciary with the full rights as if this majority is who Bhagat, an IIT-IIM and Gold-
available to any other citizen, says Major Navdeep Singh (retired), man Sachs alumnus, represents. He has parleyed this
an expert in military law. disingenuous shtick into a self-appointed role as the voice
Pakistans move was clearly aimed at diverting some of the flak of Indian aspiration. Last week, he made a request to the
Muslim community to give its blessing to the building of
it has taken in recent months following cross-border terrorist at-
a Ram temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya. Simple-
tacks and a voluble campaign to declare Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
minded emotional blackmail sold as reasonableness.
What a disservice to the majority. n
founder Maulana Masood Azhar a global terrorist. Forcing the
Pakistanis to stop Jadhavs execution will now put Indian diploma-
cy to test. Options on the table could include leaning on Pakistans
patrons and Indias friends in the Arab world.
The Pakistani media, meanwhile, was rife with speculation that
Troll Dismissed
Rana Ayyub, a controversial journalist with an outspoken
a retired Pakistani army officer, Lt Colonel Mohammad Habib, who distaste for Amit Shah and the prime minister, has often
went missing from Lumbini in Nepal on April 6, had been abducted been at the end of vicious trolling. Last week, she got her
by Indian security agencies in a tit-for-tat response to Jadhavs own back. An Indian man employed in the UAE was sacked
abduction. Just more smoke and mirrors? n and deported for his persistent online abuse of Ayyub. Its
Sandeep Unnithan not right to laugh. But ha ha. n
UPFRONT
POINT OF V IEW
Banking on Bad Debt

by Ashok V. Desai
T
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) money out of unwilling borrowersand the
takes pains not to be misunder- banks will not do it. Let there be specialised
stood. If the hunger for clarity machines for the job. The RBI calls them
makes it clumsy, that is the read- wholesale and long-term banks, but they are
ers problem; the RBI could not be bothered banks only in the sense that they will hold
less. One of its conspicuously awkward in- the bad loans of other banks.
ventions is wholesale and long-term finance They will have no assets. They will
banks. This is not entirely the RBIs fault; it require a lot of specialist stafffinancial
is a difficultto be frank, confusedconcept traders, lawyers, chartered accountants,
that it is trying to put across. for instance. Once they have liquidated the
It has been dithering for at least a decade bad loans, these new institutions will have
on licensing new private banks. Meanwhile, nothing to do. Experts will be reluctant to
the bad debtseuphemistically called non- take a job with them. To say that now would
performing assetsof old, mainly govern- be to kill them before they are born. So the
ment banks, have skyrocketed. The finance RBI assumes and hopes that they will pick
minister admitted them to be Rs 6 lakh crore up normal banking business while they are
in the middle of 2016. Rating agencies and collecting the bad debts.
other observers think they are twice to five The RBI does not define the essence of
times as muchsomewhere between a fifth the new institutions and ask how to create
and a half of every rupee lent. them. It goes into the history of bank regula-
So what the RBI has now thought of is tion and tries to find some way of relating
a bank that would have two very different the new institutions to the ones proposed by
functions. First, it would take priority sector one committee or another. It looks across
assetsthat is, long-term loans banks have the globe for other countries way of dealing
given to infrastructure builders who have with the problem. It finds few useful lessons
defaultedoff the books of banks. Second, abroad, so it returns home to the job.
it would also take off small loans to unreli- Then it lets the cat out of the bag; it turns
able businesses, securitise themthat is, out to be a pretty weird creature. It will be
package them into relatively homogeneous universalthat is, unspecialised, run-of-
bundles carrying similar risksand sell the-millbanks. But they will be set up by
them as packages. big business houses, which will be made to
To put it baldly, it would take from banks put in Rs 1,000 crore in equity into each
the bad loans they are passively holding bank, and give big, long-term loans for infra-
and have neither written off, nor made structurejust the kind that went bad and
borrowers cough up, nor chased them into made these new banks necessary.
liquidation, sold off their assets and realised Realisation of bad loans will be a side
The wholesale whatever a firesale can raise. Realising the business for them. And why should they take
and long-term loans requires different strategies. The big on the thankless job? Because otherwise
banks are borrowers have to be hounded through they will not get a banking licence. Will any
the judicial process until they pay, because business house take a licence on these terms?
banks only in they can afford expensive litigation. Small The RBI has tried and failed to attract any in
the sense that borrowers must be dealt with in a more the past. Let us see if it can this time. If not, it
they will hold informal fashion. can prevaricate for another dozen years. n
the bad loans Why these new banks with a silly name?
of other banks Because there is a job to be doneextracting The author is former chief economic advisor

STATES
MADHYA PRADESH: MAHARASHTRA:
PALACE INTRIGUES JOURNOS GET COVER
JA MMU & K ASHMIR
A New Low in
the Valley
The alienation of the people is near total, as manifest in the
SRINAG AR
abysmal turnout during the Srinagar byelection
By Asit Jolly
MUKHTAR KHAN / AP
E
ight civilians, including a 15-year-
old schoolboy, killed in police
firing; at least 300, including
a hundred security personnel
injuredbut perhaps the most ominous
signal from the still-to-be-concluded April
9 Lok Sabha byelection in Srinagar is the
abysmal 7.1 per cent voter turnout.
Its the lowest since the beginning of
the turmoil in Kashmir in 1989, when
Mohammad Shafi Bhat of the Na-
tional Conference took Srinagar without
contest, but the alienation of the people
across the Valley was writ in the five per
cent turnout in neighbouring Anantnag
and Baramulla. Apprehensions of even
greater violence and a more embarrass-
ing rejection of the poll process forced the
Election Commission of India to defer the
other J&K byelection slated for April 12 in
the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency in
volatile South Kashmir.
Ever since 1996, when despite mili-
tancy being at its peak, Kashmiris voted in
SLING SHOTS
large numbers (53.9 per cent in assembly
Kashmiri stone pelters outside a polling station in Srinagar on April 9
polls and 48.1 in Lok Sabha), Delhi has
1 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

JAISON G
consistently presented the high voter turn-
outs as evidence of the common Kashmiris
commitment to Indian democracy. This
was tom-tommed even more in 2014 when
close to 50 per cent voted in the Lok Sabha
elections, and a resounding 65.2 per cent
turned out in the assembly elections that
saw the Peoples Democratic Party and the
Bharatiya Janata Party cobble an unlikely
alliance to form the state government. Now,
the events of the past week, using Delhis
own yardstick, seem to suggest that the Val-
ley is more alienated than ever before.
Its very quickly getting to a situation
worse than the late 1980s, says a former
J&K police officer who fears the anger that
erupted after Hizbul Mujahideen militant
HEAT AND DUST
Burhan Wanis killing in July last year
O. Panneerselvam, centre, canvasses
hasnt abated.
for his AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi
During polling in Srinagar on April 9, TA M I L N A D U Amma) candidate in RK Nagar
scores of young men, some with their faces
masked, pelted stones and petrol bombs
at security forces deployed outside polling
Lost Challenge
THE HANDFUL OF AIADMK factions turn bypoll into a
desperate referendum on their legitimacy
VOTERS THAT DID
EMERGE WERE By Amarnath K. Menon
CHENNAI
AFRAID THEY WOULD
T
he Election Commission of India (EC)
BE RECOGNISED has been forced to put of the byelection in
Tamil Nadus Radhakrishnan (RK) Nagar
assembly constituency, necessitated by J. Jayalalithaas demise.
stations. J&Ks chief electoral officer (CEO) The ECs action on April 9 came amid allegations of an unprecedented
Shantamanu listed 200 incidents of vio- bid to purchase votes by rival factions of the late chief ministers party,
lence including a polling booth set on fire, the AIADMK.
polling officials thrashed and vehicles ferry- Denied the AIADMKs familiar two-leaves poll symbol, RK Nagar
ing security personnel and EC staff torched. has become a desperate, make-or-break battle for both factions, the
The handful of voters that did emerge from ruling AIADMK (Amma) faction owing allegiance to the incarcerated
their homes were fearful of being recog- V.K. Sasikala, and the breakaway AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma)
nised. Many had their faces covered. headed by former CM O. Panneerselvam (OPS).
It wasnt unlike the spontaneous It was an equally perplexing time for RK Nagars 250,000 voters,
protests through 2016 summer, or more confronted with new faces and poll symbolsT.T.V. Dhinakaran of the
recently the crowds of youth pelting stones ruling faction with a hat as his poll symbol, and a lamp post for the
at army and police personnel battling mili- OPS camp rival, E. Madhusudanan.
tants in encounters.
With the RK Nagar result promising to be the clincher on the true
Back in December 2016, amid relative
claimant to Jayalalithaas legacy, both factions had pulled out all the
peace in the Valley, Chief Minister Mehboo-
stops. Cash and other allurements were reportedly ofered both within
ba Mufti had candidly admitted that it was
the constituency as well as through conduits from contiguous areas.
a fragile calm. She had also spoken about
Income tax oicials pointed to withdrawals worth Rs 100 crore
building bridges and mending fences.
But given the ferocity of the response to the from bank accounts associated with state health minister C. Vijaya-
byelections, it would appear that, between baskar, allegedly for distribution to voters in RK Nagar. The rival OPS
Srinagar and Delhi, the opportunity to of- faction similarly faces allegations of having tried to buy voters through
fer remedies during the winter hiatus may their functionaries. Apart from all this, the OPS faction created more
have been lost. n drama, bringing in mock coins of Jayalalithaa to fuel rumours that
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY

STATES
she did not die of natural causes. M A D H YA P R A D E S H

And perhaps to avoid possibly ad-
verse consequences, the ruling fac-
tion carefully avoided any mention
of their general secretary Sasikalas
name throughout the campaign.
Palace Intrigues
Competing rivals in RK Nagar
How the Scindias keep it all in the family BHOPAL
have managed to completely

frustrate the ECs comprehensive
measures to check the cash-for-votes
menace. Poll oicials say new modes
of bribing voters have made it an
even greater challenge to restore
electoral integrity. The commission
has declared that no election will
be held in the constituency until the
vitiating efect is cleared.
Former civil servant and conve-
nor of the Forum for Electoral Integ-
rity, M.G. Devasahayam, compli-
mented the EC for rescinding this
farce of an election, but cautioned
THE RIVAL PARTIES

Graphic by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY
FRUSTRATED THE
By Rahul Noronha
ECs MEASURES TO
CHECK THE CASH-FOR-
C
ampaigning for the Ater royals who have managed to stay pol-
assembly bypolls on April itically relevant after Independence,
VOTE MENACE 9, Chief Minister Shivraj members of the Scindia clan have
Singh Chouhan made some won most of the elections they have
scathing references to the Scindia contested. In MP, besides Yashod-
against letting it become a repeti- rulers purported collusion with the hara, her maternal aunt Maya Singh
British in committing atrocities on too is a minister. Her husband, Vi-
tion of Thanjavur and Aravaku-
the people of Bhind in 1857. It was jayarajes brother Dhyanendra Singh,
richi. During the assembly polls in
ostensibly to target Jyotiraditya is an ex-minister. Then theres also
May 2016, the EC cancelled pollsa
Scindia, whos expected to be the Jyotiraditya and the royal lineage in
irst in Indias electoral historyin
Congresss face in the 2018 assem- the Congress.
both constituencies, following
bly polls. But its stirred more than But more than the listing of royals
reports of distribution of cash and the usual summer storm within the in rival camps, CM Chouhans state-
gifts to voters by candidates and Bharatiya Janata Party. ment has put the focus on a rather
political parties. After it was put Now Chouhan must have been unique kind of politics at play in
of twice and cancelled, the bypolls aware that there are more Scindia what used to be the princely state of
were held in November 2016 when royals within the BJP than in the Gwalior. Politics where the divisions
the same candidates contested. The Congress. On cue, Yashodhara Raje, arent so much along party lines, but
Election Commission had not dis- the youngest daughter of the late Vi- more about being for or against the
qualiied the corrupt contestants. jayaraje Scindia and a minister in the mahal (palace as the Gwalior royals
Meanwhile, the impasse in RK Chouhan cabinet, retorted that the are commonly referred to).
Nagar is particularly worrisome BJP in MP had been built with her The BJPs anti-mahal group is
for both AIADMK factions in their mothers hard work and financial a powerful coterie including known
mutual quest for legitimacy. The support. To press her point, she also Scindia baiter and higher education
post-Jayalalithaa churn is clearly far stayed away from the Ater campaign. minister Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya,
from over. n Among the handful of erstwhile Union minister Narendra Singh

STATES
Tomar, state minister Narot-
INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / GETT Y IMAGES

tam Mishra and Morena MP
Anup Mishra (former PM A.B.
Vajpayees nephew). Party insid-
ers say the group has a common
agendacut the Scindias down
to size in the state. And they
share this with Congressmen
like MLA Govind Singh and
former ministers Bhagwan
Singh Yadav and Aidal Singh
Kansana. NO MORE
Evidence of the blurring Mumbai journalists protest
par ty lines was recently visible M AH AR ASHTR A attacks on their colleagues in Delhi
in Gwalior when pro-mahal
Congress leaders held forth
on Vijayarajes contributions
to the Jan Sangh and BJP, to
counter the CM. Predictably,
Pen Claims One
THE SCINDIAS against Sword
CLOSE RANKS The state inally brings a law to protect
WHEN IT journalists against violent attacks MUMBAI
COMES TO THE By Kiran D. Tare

INTERESTS OF
I
THE PALACE ts an ignoble record for a state. The Rane, whose committee had initially
year 2016 saw as many as 82 attacks questioned the need for such a law, ac-
on mediapersons, one almost every quiesced quietly. He was clearly unwill-
though, anti-mahal leaders four days. In 2017, there have already ing to upset journalist associations that
in both parties were quick to been 14 instances of such assaults till have been demanding legal protection
point out that irrespective April. Indeed, in the past decade, mobs for over a decade now.
of their personal or political have vandalised the premises of 54 The new law makes assaulting a jou-
equations, the Scindias close media houses. A detailed compilation rnalist a non-bailable offence with three
ranks when it comes to safe- of attacks on the press, by the Patrakar years of jail for the guilty. Conversely, it
guarding the mahals interests. Halla Virodhi Kruti Samiti (PHVKS), prescribes similar penalties for journal-
Former Congress MLA an umbrella body of journalist unions, ists found guilty of misusing the law.
Veerendra Raghuvanshi, who prompted the Devendra Fadnavis gov- PHVKS convenor S.M. Deshmukh
lost the assembly polls in Shiv- ernment to act. believes it will discourage future attacks
puri in 2013 to Yashodhara, On April 7, the state legislature (both on reporters and cameramen. Most
alleges that Congress workers assembly and council) unanimously en- attackers belong to political organisa-
were told not to work for me as dorsed the Maharashtra Mediapersons tions. They will now think twice before
my victory would weaken the and Media Institutions assaulting a journalist, he
Scindias in the region. Raghu- (Prevention of Violence and says admitting that loopholes
82
vanshi quit the Congress and Damage or Loss to Prop- still remain. For example, a
is now firmly with the BJPs erty) Act, 2017, making Deputy SP rank police officer
formidable anti-mahal faction. Maharashtra the first state needs to certify the victim as
CM Chouhan would do well in the country to offer legal a journalist before an FIR
to choose his battles wisely if protection to journalists. ATTACKS invoking provisions of the
Jyotiraditya is indeed the chief Notably, during the on mediapersons in new law can be registered.
ministerial face of the Congress passage of the legislation in Maharashtra in 2016; That being the case, he still
in 2018, given the retinue of the legislative council, even 14 incidents so far in 17 wants the legislation to be
royals in his own party. n Congress leader Narayan adopted as federal law. n


LEAD ESSAY
HIGHER
ORDER
Power for the greater good. Power that embraces risk. Power
that tells a story. The India Today Power List 2017 celebrates
those who have the courage to channel change
BY KAVEREE BAMZAI
T
hese are not deinitions you will ind in the dic- and studying alternative forms of energy.
tionary. Power is possibility. The possibility that The rise of the sharing economy sees the entry into the
allows a petrochemical giant like Reliance to bet list of country heads of giants who are looking at the India
big on technology that will control the way we market with great interestAmazon and Uber.
communicate with each other and entertain ourselves. The assertion of civic evangelism means that everyone
Power is the courage to take risks. The risk that allows knows they have a larger responsibility to humanity. From
another head of a conglomerate like the Aditya Birla Group choosing the right causes to give money to like Shiv Nadar
to acquire a mobile giant and hunker down for a battle for to devoting time to the right campaigns like Amitabh Bach-
the hearts and minds of the New Indian. chan, they want to make a diference.
Power is in big ideas. The idea of Aadhaar, of skill devel- Power is also about relevance, about staying ahead of
opment, of transparency in public life that has made private the game. Which explains why Ratan Tata can continue in
citizens such as Nandan Nilekani, Manish Sabharwal and the list, having engineered the inelegant exit of Cyrus Mistry,
Vinod Rai such an integral part of public policy. and why Subramanian Swamy, slayer of reputations, instils
Power is in telling a good story. The story that makes fear in the hearts of his opponents. Neither could do anything
Priyanka Chopra not only a huge television star in America without building social networks. Power is knowledge, and
but also an advocate for girl children for United Nations; that if Mukesh Ambani reads late into the night, its not only
makes Deepika Padukone a global beauty and a spokesper- because of the pleasure he derives from it. And if Shah Rukh
son for mental health; and that ensures that Aamir Khan is Khan can quote Paulo Coelho as easily as Douglas Adams,
not just one of Indias most bankable stars but also a cham- its because his mind is always open to wonder.
pion of good causes ranging from water conservation to Power in the 21st century is not how Niccolo Machiavelli
female empowerment. envisaged itruthless, reliant on force, instinctively manipu-
But, above all, power is the ability to make a diference lative. Power, as UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner
to the world. To inluence what we eat, how we live, how we says, is softer, more relational, predicated on reputation
amuse ourselves, how we relate to one another. rather than force, measured by ones ability to afect the lives
The High and Mighty List of 2017 is in keeping with the of others positively and shift the course of the world, however
dynamic times we live in where reputations are made and slightly, toward the common good.
unmade in a lash, when unicorns become unicorpses, when So power is given, not grabbed. It is for the greater good,
the state wields policy like stealth missiles, and where power not for individual enhancement. It is shared, not monopo-
can poison as much as it can aid progress. lised. Todays corporate titan, cultural icon, tech czar and
It is also in keeping with the broad trends sweeping public intellectual knows this: power is nothing if it is not
through the world. The fourth industrial revolution is see- used to build alliances, networks and collaborations, because
ing a convergence of various technologies, blurring the lines the problems of the world are so immense right now that no
between the physical, digital and biological spheres. The one individual, community or even nation can resolve them.
people who inhabit this list are aware of it and are embracing And that inally is the greatest lesson of all: power is
it, investing in R&D for the future, becoming digitally ready nothing in itself. n
Illustration by ANIRBAN GHOSH A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY

50 POWER PEOPLE
MUKESH AMBANI
59 Industrialist MASTER OF THE
UNIVERSE MOMENT
When 77 million of Jios
100 million subscribers
MR BIG signed up for Jio Prime, the

paid service, after the end
of the free ofer period
BUSINESS
WINDING DOWN
Reads late into the night,
sometimes till 2 am.
Devours spiritual as well
as science and technology
books. Orders them online
ART OF GIVING
Because with the audacious capture of 12 per cent Was third on the India
of Indias mobile telephony market in less than six months philanthropy list with
donations of Rs 303
through Reliance Jio, the owner of Indias largest private
crore in 2016, according to
sector company and the 24th richest man in the world, with the March 2017 Hurun India
a net worth of $29.7 billion (Rs 1.93 lakh crore), has started Philanthropy List
another revolution, this time in telecommunications FAVOURITE FOOD
Idli-sambar from
the Mysore Cafe in
Because with revenues of $44.7 Because he pumped Matunga, Mumbai. Also
billion (nearly Rs 3 lakh crore) in in huge investments relishes street food
2015-16 and a net proit of Rs 27, 630 into his various busi-
crore, its highest ever, the Reliance nesses in 2016, tak- GENERATION NEXT
Industries behemoth encompasses ing the total invest- Akash, 25, a graduate of
the worlds largest petroleum reinery ments announced in Brown University, US, is
processing capacity, retail chain Reli- 2015-16 to Rs 1.12 chief of strategy at Jio, and
ance Fresh, with 3,300 stores, and lakh crore, the high- is on the boards of both
the worlds largest integrated produc- est ever by a corpo- Reliance Jio and Reliance
tion facility of polyester ibre rate in India Retail. His twin Isha, is a
Yale University graduate,
and is also on the boards
of both Reliance Jio and
Because he is a visionary. After becoming the czar of petrochemicals, he Reliance Retail. Anant, 22,
now aspires to be emperor of data with his humongous investment studies at Brown University
Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY

50 POWER PEOPLE
REX FEATURES / AP
RATAN TATA
79 Industrialist
RETURN OF
THE JEDI
Because as chairman of Tata Trusts, which holds FAN CLUB

Though not a frequent
over 60 per cent stake in group holding company Tata tweeter, has 6.7 million
Sons, he came out of retirement to efect a coup in followers on Twitter
September 2016, dramatically ousting then chairman
FRIEND TO FOE
Cyrus Mistry, irst from the groups helm and later from Nusli Wadia, chairman
group companies on charges of non-performance of Bombay Dyeing and
one-time friend, turned
foe after he supported
Mistry on the boards of
Because he has weathered all at the helm of Tata Sons, two group companies
allegations levelled by Mistry which controls the $103
and continues to be Indias most billion Tata business empire OLD BUDDY
admired industrialist, advising R. Venkataramanan,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Because he has been a managing trustee of Sir
as a member on his Council champion of innovation, Dorabji Tata Trust
on Trade and Industry, and investing in 29 start-ups in
top MNCs such as Mitsubishi less than two years after re- FAVOURITE CAR
Corporation, JP Morgan Chase, tirement, in areas as diverse His red Ferrari
Rolls Royce and Temasek as retail, transportation, California. Also has a
Holdings as a member on their inance and baby products, Land Rover Freelander,
international advisory boards and is in talks with US- Maserati Quattroporte,
based Falcon Edge Capital to Cadillac XLR, Mercedes
Because his trusted lieuten- together put in Rs 650 crore Benz 500 SL and
ant N. Chandrasekaran is now into taxi aggregator Ola Chrysler Sebring

50 POWER PEOPLE
KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA

49 Industrialist
IDEA
NO. 1 MENTORING THE FUTURE
Was named chairman of
the Indian Institute
of Management,
Ahmedabad
Because by leading the merger of Idea, his in October 2016
telecom business, with Vodafone India in a $23.2
billion (Rs 1.5 lakh crore) deal, he has created In- NEVER A DULL DAY
Comes to oice on most
dias largest mobile telephony company with over Sundays to complete
395 million subscribers, 35 per cent market share, pending work
and 41 per cent slice of revenue
CAPTAIN COOL
Calm demeanour in oice,
says has lost temper just
Because in the 22 years at Because he paid $2.4 bil- three times at work
the top, he has transformed lion (Rs 15,600 crore) for
the Aditya Birla Group into a the acquisition of Jaypee BEST HOLIDAY SPOT
formidable global conglomerate, Groups cement units in London, where the family
with revenues of $41 billion (Rs 2016, taking Aditya Birla travels together
2.66 lakh crore) and a leading Groups cement business
GENERATION NEXT
presence in aluminium, cement, UltraTech closer to its target
Ananya, 22, an Oxford
viscose staple ibre, textiles, of 100 MT capacity, the University alumna, founded
inancial services and telecom largest in India Svatantra Microinance,
which provides microinance
to rural women; Aryaman
Because he merged Aditya Birla Nuvo with the cash-rich Vikram, 19, an avid cricketer
Grasim Industries to create an entity with Rs 60,000 crore in and painter, donates money
revenues, mixing conventional and new-age businesses collected from his exhibitions
cement, chemicals and viscose staple ibre on the one hand and to charity; Advaitesha, 13,
telecom, textiles and fertilisers on the other is in school
Photograph by RACHIT GOSWAMI A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY

50 POWER PEOPLE
SHAILESH RAVAL
GAUTAM ADANI
54 Industrialist
Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH
PORT OF CALL
Because he is one of Indias most astute
businessmen with an appetite for big risks.
His latest, an audacious push in the global
markets when companies are turning more
conservative, is expanding one of the worlds
largest coal mines in Australia at $21.7 billion
(Rs 1.4 lakh crore), and building a greenield
multi-purpose port near Kuala Lumpur
Because hes still bullish on India when many

private entrepreneurs are shying away, pledg-
ing Rs 49,000 crore investments in Gujarat in
January 2017
RAGS TO RICHES
BABA RAMDEV
College dropout, was diamond sorter in 51 Yoga guru
Mumbai before starting own brokerage
GREEN PUSH
POWER
Indias largest power producer with over
11,000 MW capacity, plans to add 10,000
MW of renewable power, with solar projects
YOGI
in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan
GENERATION NEXT
Karan, 29, is CEO of Adani Port & SEZ; Jeet,
19, is studying at University of Pennsylvania

BLACK MONEY WARRIOR

Because he presides over the fastest-growing An early demonetisation
FMCG empire in the country, with revenues expected to advocate, the PM granted his
wish in November 2016
spike from Rs 5,000 crore in 2015-2016. Over a thou-
sand Patanjali products now reach millions of Indian OLD FAVOURITE
households through 47,000 stores nationwide Still has the Bajaj scooter he
had as an Ayurveda products
salesman
Because he is one of Indias land for his factories, re- FIGHTING FIT
top advertisers in the TV/ search labs and educational Beat Beijing Olympic silver
digital media space. In 2016, institutes medallist Andrey Stadnik 12-0
Patanjali ads averaged close to in a show bout, played football
20 hours of ad time every day Because in 2016, despite at an MPs vs actors match,
opposition from the bureau- exhibited yoga skills on TV show
Because his proximity to cracy and Opposition parties,
Prime Minister Narendra the Maharashtra government GENERATION NEXT
Modi and the BJP has helped allotted land to Baba Ram- At our acharyakulams, we
his Patanjali empire grow, with devs food park at 75 per cent are creating hundreds of
party chief ministers allotting discount Ramdevs, he says

ANAND MAHINDRA
61 Industrialist
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Because Indias most non-controversial ROLE MODEL
US inancial media irm Benzinga put him in
and articulate businessman with 4.47 mil- top 10 global CEOs to follow on Twitter
lion Twitter followers overcame the Supreme
Court ban on diesel vehicles in Delhi and ierce CROWNING GLORY
Appointed Knight of the National Order of
competition from MNCs in the SUV segment
the French Legion of Honour in March 2016
to launch 14 models in 2016
TURNAROUND MOMENT
Because his Rs 1.15 In 2016, SsangYong Motor, a 100 per
Because the maker
cent subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra,
lakh crore Mahindra of the Reva electric
reported its irst annual net proit in a
Group has signed up with car plans to develop decade of 58.1 billion Korean won
Frances Segnere to make up to four afordable (Rs 329 crore)
airframes, will launch e-vehicles in India,
its eCitySmart car, the an e-SUV and even
e2oPlus, and has invested GENERATION NEXT
e-buses by 2018 in line
BANDEEP SINGH
in agriculture start-up Aalika, 34, is a freelance writer;

with the governments
MeraKisan Divya, 30, is the creative director of
alternative energy push
Verve magazine
DILIP SHANGHVI
61 Industrialist
RIGHT
PRESCRIPTION
Because his aggressive overseas acquisitions
continue even as cross-border M&As are drying up,
acquiring skin cancer drug Odomzo from Swiss
MANDAR DEODHAR
giant Novartis for $175 million (nearly Rs 1,200
crore) in December 2016
Because he is the second-richest Indian after

Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth of $14.7 billion
(Rs 95,550 crore), according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index March 2017, and his Sun Pha-
UDAY KOTAK rma is the worlds ifth-largest generics company
58 Industrialist
Because his perspectives on macroeconomic
fundamentals are much sought after by the
government and media alike
SAFE DEPOSIT
Because he picked up a 19.9 per cent stake in EXPANDING THE HORIZON
Airtel M-Commerce in February 2016, grew his His Sun Oil and Natural Gas bought 33.3 per
companys life insurance business over 50 per cent stake in the Hazira oil and gas ield
cent compared to a year ago, and has assets under from Canadas Niko Resources
management to over Rs 1 lakh
REVERSE GEAR
Because he made Kotak Mahindra the fourth Withdrew plans to launch a payments bank in
largest private sector bank by acquiring ING Vysya May 2016, despite getting in-principle approval
in 2014, with revenues of Rs 9,513 crore in 2015-16
GENERATION NEXT
Son Aalok, 31, is a molecular biology graduate
from the University of Michigan and heads the
PROFITABLE MOVE emerging markets division of the Sun-Ranbaxy
Sold 1.5 per cent of his 30.3 per cent stake in his combine; Daughter Vidhi, a Wharton graduate,
bank to two Canadian pension funds for around works at Sun Pharma in the marketing division
Rs 3,355 crore to comply with an RBI directive
KUNI TAKAHASHI / GETT Y IMAGES
FAMILY MATTER
Was raised in a Gujarati Lohana joint family
with 60 people sharing one kitchencapitalism
at work and socialism at home, as hed call it
SOUND OF MUSIC
Loved playing the sitar until work robbed
him of the time to do so
GENERATION NEXT
Jay, 27, is pursuing an MBA at Harvard
University; Dhawal, 24, works on the mid-day
meal programme at Kotak Education Foundation

50 POWER PEOPLE
AZIM PREMJI
71 Industrialist
A MIGHTY HEART
Because Indias eighth richest Indian, with a net worth of $13.8
billion (Rs 89,700 crore), was at his most generous in 2016,
donating Rs 27,514 crore through Azim Premji Philanthropic
Initiatives and the Azim Premji Trust
Because under him Wipro had a busy 2016, acquiring Florida tech
insurance irm HealthPlan Services for $460 million (Rs 2,990
crore) and Brazilian irm InfoServer for $8.7 million (Rs 56 crore)
MENTOR-IN-CHIEF
Funds irms through Premji Invest; infused
Rs 162 crore into Bengaluru venture ID
Fresh Foods in January 2017
SMART SAVER
Flies economy. Traded his modest Toyota for
HEMANT MISHRA / GET T Y IMAGES

a second-hand Mercedes Benz from an employee
SWEATING IT OUT
Jogs daily, plays golf occasionally
GENERATION NEXT
Rishad, 40, is Wipros Chief Strategy Oicer
and member of the board; younger son Tariq
is also at Wipro
VIVAN MEHRA
THE CHOSEN ONE

N. CHANDRASEKARAN / NEW Because this Tata Because his seven years
veteran with a 30-year- as chief executive of TCS
53 Chairman, Tata Sons long stint was anointed took the company to its
seventh Chairman of the number one position, with
$103 billion (over Rs 7 a market capitalisation
lakh crore) Tata Group (value of the companys
after Cyrus Mistrys traded shares) of over $70
ouster, making him billion (Rs 4.5 lakh crore)
the irst professional in March 2016, more
executive as well as the than half the m-cap of
irst non-Parsi to head the the 29 publicly listed Tata
conglomerate companies put together
FIRST OFF THE BLOCK CHILDHOOD LESSONS FAST TRACK

Reached settlement Born in Namakkal, Tamil Took up running in mid-
with NTT Docomo Nadu, used to walk 40s due to history of
for enforcement of $1.17 three kilometres to diabetes in family; is now
42 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 billion arbitration award school every day an avid marathoner
VIRAT KOHLI
ROHIT CHAWLA
28 Indian Cricket
Captain
WARRIOR PRINCE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE MOVE

Rs 110 crore endorsement deal with
Puma. Endorsement fee Rs 5 crore a
day is highest among Indian celebrities
Because his ability Because he is the only
to assess situations and Indian captain to win six FIRST CRUSH
win matches for India, consecutive Test series, Karisma Kapoor; he is dating actor
almost at will, makes the irst batsman to slam Anushka Sharma
him the most valuable four double hundreds in
player of the team. In successive series. Between
THINK INK
2016, Kohli averaged August 2015 and February He sports seven tattoos: a
more than any other 2017, Kohli was without monastery, Lord Shiva in meditation,
Indian batsman75 in a defeat in 19 Tests, the Test cap number 269, ODI cap number
Tests, 92 in ODIs and a longest streak for any 175, parents name in Hindi, a Samurai
phenomenal 106 in T20s Indian captain and the zodiac sign of Scorpio

50 POWER PEOPLE
NANDAN NILEKANI / NEW
61 Former chairman,
UIDAI
CHANGE AGENT
Because the government has made his
brainchild, the Aadhaar card, mandatory for PAN
cards and iling of income tax returns
HEMANT MISHRA / GETTY IMAGES

Because the Narendra Modi government has
made him a special invitee in the 13-member com-
mittee set up to promote digital payment systems
Because he is one of Indias most proliic

angel investors, giving over $50 million to a dozen
start-ups in just one year and committing to invest
$25 million more
DID YOU KNOW?

When Infosys went public in 1993, no one
AMIT AGARWAL / NEW
picked up the stock. Among the irst people 42 Country Manager,
Nilekani tried to sell the Infy stock to was his IIT Amazon India
Bombay senior Jairam Ramesh
GENERATION NEXT
Daughter Jahnavi, 27, is a trustee of Arghyam,
a foundation providing grants with a focus on SHOPPING
groundwater and sanitation, and a PhD student
in public policy at Harvard University; son
Nihar, 26, is a Yale University graduate
MASTER
Because he adopted a policy of lower costs,
higher sales and fewer defects at Amazon
India, selling through his platform 26 per
cent of the $10.2 billion (over Rs 65,000 crore)
worth of goods sold across all online platforms
in India by May 2016
Because he was promoted to global senior

vice-president just a year after being included
in the senior leadership at Amazon
TWIST OF FATE
Wanted to become a primary school
teacher and start his own school
HIGH POINT
Mountaineering, one reason he chose to join
NILOTPAL BARUAH
Amazon in Seattle in 1999
LOW POINT
Had to apologise to Sushma Swaraj for
Indian lag doormats being on sale on the portal

50 POWER PEOPLE
AMITABH BACHCHAN
74 Actor
THE GOLD
RUBEN SPRICH / REUTERS

STANDARD
Because he continues to com-
mand the screens for his talent, with
SUNIL MITTAL scripts written around him. After his
59 Founder-Chairman, National Award-winning performance
Bharti Enterprises
in Piku, Bachchan followed it up with
another power-packed show in Pink
STILL IN THE RING Because at 74, he is still courted by

advertisers and trusted by audiences and is the
Because he is the telecom czar of India, the face of over 10 brands
chairman of what was till recently Indias larg-
est mobile operator with a subscriber base Because with 26.1 million followers on
of 270 million Twitter, second only to PM Modi, he cuts across
as a positive igure who uses the platform to
Because he clearly wants to lead the big reminisce, congratulate and recommend rather
data revolution in India and give Reliance Jio than lament and create controversy
stif competition. A series of strategic acquisi-
tions, such as Tikona Digital Networks, Telenor Because he has the governments seal of
and Augere Wireless, have made Airtel the approval. Whether it is promoting the Swachh
second company after Reliance Jio to have pan- Bharat Abhiyaan, family planning, polio
India presence in the 2,300 Mhz band, which vaccination or a tuberculosis-free India, he is
has the second-largest ecosystem of 4G devices the go-to face for the Centres welfare schemes,
which he does pro bono
Because not only does he head the worlds
third-largest telephony company but is also
the irst Indian to be elected the chairman of COMING SOON
GSMA, which represents the interests of Working with Aamir Khan for the irst
mobile operators worldwide time in Thugs of Hindostan
GENERATION NEXT
NUMBERS GAME Grand-daughter Navya Naveli
All his cars have the same number plate, Nanda, 19, is a social media star in her
0023, after his date of birth, October 23 own right for her busy Instagram feed;
Agastya Nanda, 16, is studying in
GENERATION NEXT London; Aaradhya Bachchan, 5,
Eiesha, 33, runs a fashion investment the youngest of the Bachchans, is
BANDEEP SINGH
fund; Kavin, 29, is founder and CEO of Hike a student at the Dhirubhai Ambani
Messenger, the worlds sixth largest mobile International School
messaging application; twin Shravin
works on an independent business venture

VEL ARCH

RAHUL BHATIA
61 Group MD,
Interglobe
Enterprises
AIR KING
Because a net worth of $3.65 billion
makes him the 38th richest in India.
His airline, Indigo, completed a decade
in 2016 and at a valuation of Rs 35,000
crore is the largest and most proitable
airline in India
Because Indigo notched a 40 per cent

market share and a 28 per cent year-on-
year growth in passenger volumes, and
will get a new aircraft every nine
days till 2027
Because he was the irst to tell Indian

SHIV NADAR liers that he respected their time
and made on-time performance a key
71 Founder-chairman, HCL metric at Indigo
& Shiv Nadar Foundation
DID YOU KNOW?
Travel wasnt his irst career choice.
He wanted to set up a telecom
THE BENEFACTOR venture with Nortel in the 1980s
Because with total donations of Rs 630 crore in 2016, WORK MANTRA

Delegate authority and work
the Hurun Research Institute named him the most
philanthropic Indian for 2016. Nadar, worth Rs 73,000
GENERATION NEXT
crore, gave away 27 per cent of his wealth, and was at
Madhav, 18, and Sumita, 15, both
number 5 in generosity in 2015
students
Because HCL, the countrys fourth largest software

services irm, has grown beyond an IT company and
represents excellence in education, nurtures artists and is a
key driver for skilling and job creation at the grassroots
Because he has begun the reinvention of the struggling

IT services sector and is creating high quality jobs for youth
through an agreement with Andhra PradeshHCL will
invest Rs 500 crore in the project
QUICK LEARNER
Picked up English watching English films
SHEKHAR GHOSH
GENERATION NEXT
Daughter Roshni, 35, is executive director and
CEO of HCL Enterprise

50 POWER PEOPLE
ARUNDHATI
BHATTACHARYA / NEW
61 Chairman, State
Bank of India
SHEKHAR GHOSH
VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA

43 Founder-CEO, Paytm
PAY AND PLAY

Because he is the pioneer of an idea that was once
audacious but is today one of the deining pillars of the India
growth story. The biggest beneiciary of Prime Minister
Narendra Modis surprise demonetisation, his company
name is almost a verb now, synonymous with digital
payments. With over 200 million users, Paytm has the
deepest penetration in India
Because he was quick to spot a vacuum in his business

and ix it. Even as money added to Paytm accounts grew at
over 1,000 per cent, he realised the untapped opportunity in
oline payments and increased their share to nearly
40 per cent from 1 per cent in the past one year
Because he isnt capping his ambition at India alone.

Paytm took its global leap this year with services in Canada
STRIKING A CHORD
Wants to set up a Sanskrit rock band, is a big
RACHIT GOSWAMI
fan of Coldplay
FAVOURITE QUOTE
Someday you are the pigeon and someday
you are the statue

CREDIT CZARINA
Because as head of Because she oversaw the merger of ive BIGGEST CHALLENGE
of SBIs subsidiaries and the Bharatiya Fighting bad loans worth
the countrys largest bank, Mahila Bank with itself, taking the bank Rs 1.08 lakh crore till
with a 22 per cent market to the global league of Top 50 with a December 2016
share, she led the State balance-sheet size of Rs 41 lakh crore,
500 million customers, more than HELPING HAND
Bank of India through 22,500 branches and 58,000 ATMs Husband Pritimoy Bhatta-
the tumultuous charya manages home to aid
the busy banker
demonetisation Because she is positioning SBI as the
banker to digital India by focusing on
exercise, beginning TOP HONOUR
technology to improve the outreach of
November 8 last year Among 50 greatest
the 211-year-old bank
leaders in the world in
Fortune magazine, March 2017

50 POWER PEOPLE
SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
77 Politician
MASTER
BLASTER
Because his Rajya Sabha nomination in
April 2016, despite the opposition of several
senior party leaders, signalled his strong
Sangh connect. With 4 million Twitter
followers, he sets the social media agenda
for the right wing
Because his irepower is as unpredictable

as it is deadly. Opposes the party line and
targets BJP leaders, including Arun Jaitley,
with the same intensity as the Congresss
P. Chidambaram. Was the irst to oppose a
second term for Raghuram Rajan as
RBI governor
SWAMYS TARGETS 2016-17 AND

HIS NICKNAMES FOR THEM
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan (R3)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (Shakuni)
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (Shri 420)
STUNNING U-TURN
AIADMK chief V.K. Sasikala was jailed
on February 14 this year based on a
disproportionate assets case he had iled
in 1996. But he supported her bid for
chief minister after J. Jayalalithaas death
GENERATION NEXT
Daughter Gitanjali Swamy, 46, is an
IT professional; Suhasini Haidar, 44,
is a journalist
BANDEEP SINGH

UDAY SHANKAR
RAJWANT RAWAT 59 Journalist
HOT SHOT
Because hes chairman and CEO of Indias
largest entertainment network, Star India, which
had a turnover of Rs 10,800 crore in 2015-16
Because Hotstar is the market leader among

digital streaming platforms, with an estimated
200 million downloads of the app, and Star
Sports, with its 10-channel bouquet, is the desti-
nation for the nations sporting needs
TECH CREDENTIALS
Hotstar is one of the irst to embrace virtual
reality (VR), with the Kabaddi World Cup
games streamed in 360-degree perspective
VINOD RAI / NEW PAST LIFE
68 Enforcer Took time of to travel in eastern UP during
the recent polls to gauge the mood of the people
FUTURE PERFECT
PRIME COUNSEL Nayi Soch, the new advertising campaign

by Star India to usher in gender sensitivity,
has Indian cricketers wearing their mothers
Because hes the one-stop expert for both the
names on their jerseys and Aamir Khan as a
political class and judiciary to enforce reforms. The shopkeeper who breaks gender stereotypes
Modi government made him chief of the Banks
Board Bureau; the Supreme Court has him running
the all-powerful cricket body, the BCCI, and the
Indian Railways has made him member of its
Kayakalp Council to recommend improvements
Because when the ex-CAG writes to the PM (in

March) on the lack of action by banks on bad loans,
even the inance ministry takes note of it
AT THE CREASE
The present BCCI chief was captain of his
school cricket team
OLD SCHOOL
Former PM Manmohan Singh was one of his
teachers at the Delhi School of Economics
MANDAR DEODHAR
FAMILY VALUES
After his wife died in 1990, he married the
widow of a colleague. Rai has a son and
two daughters. Son-in-law Rachit Raj is a
Gujarat cadre IAS oicer

50 POWER PEOPLE
VINEET JAIN
49 Media Tycoon
TIME OF HIS LIFE

Because notwithstanding the snub from the prime minister who
pulled out of their global business summit, he heads the Times
Group, Indias largest media house with the top-selling English
daily, pink paper, the highest-rated English news channel, the
biggest radio network and the most expansive digital network
Because despite losing their top anchor, news channel Times

Now continues to be the leader in English news. They have also
launched a second news channel, Mirror Now
Because he is the de facto boss of the Times Group, with brother

Samir having mostly withdrawn from day-to-day activities
CRICKET WATCH
Times Internet has in-match digital video clip
rights to all ICC events till 2019 for US, Canada
NON-CONFORMIST
Lives up to his proile, tweeting on controversial
topics like demonetisation and the liquor ban
MILLENNIAL MOVE
MANDAR DEODHAR
Entered into a partnership with Vice Media, the edgy
US-Canadian company with a focus on youth content
OUT ON THE TOWN

Likes to dine at Papaya, a pan-Asian restaurant
in Mumbai; movie of the year: Lion
ADITYA PURI 66 Banker / NEW
CURRENT ACCOUNT
Because this vocal Because he has Because HDFC Bank
commentator on inancial headed HDFC Bank was adjudged Indias
matters runs Indias lar- since 1994, overseen it Most Valuable Brand
gest private sector bank, reaching a nationwide for the third consecutive
with income of Rs 41,589 distribution network of year in 2016 by WPP
crore in the nine months 4,555 branches in research agency
ended December 2016 2,597 cities/towns Millward Brown
FAVOURITE BREAK FIRST STOP FIRST ARRIVAL

Heads to his Lonavala Started as an executive Is the irst person to
farmhouse to unwind on assistant at Mahindra & reach oice, and also the
RACHIT GOSWAMI alternate weekends Mahindra irst to leave

BINNY BANSAL &
VALENTYN OGIRENKO / REUTERS
SACHIN BANSAL
35 Entrepreneurs
RIGHT CLICK
Because e-tail giant Flipkart posted a 56
per cent growth in sales in 2015-16 despite the
Amazon onslaught, at a time when other domestic
irms such as Snapdeal struggled with soaring
operational costs leading to massive layofs
Because they bought rival eBays Indian

operations as part of a Rs 9,000 crore deal that
includes funds infusion from investors led by
Chinas Tencent
Because investors in Flipkart and rival

Snapdeal are in talks for what could be the
ANIL AMBANI biggest merger in Indias $10 billion (Rs 65,000
crore) e-commerce sector
57 Industrialist
STEM THE BLEED
Curbing losses, which doubled to
WIDE SPECTRUM Rs 2,960 crore in 2015-16 is a

challenge
Because the merger of his Reliance Communi-

FIRST CAREER CHOICES
cations telecom business with rival Aircel will form
Sachin wanted to be a pro gamer;
the countrys fourth-largest mobile phone operator
Binny wanted to build computer games
Because he has buried the hatchet with brother

Mukesh and collaborated on the latters Jio telecom
FIRST INVESTMENT
venture by providing critical tower infrastructure
Invested Rs 4 lakh in business, of
which Rs 1 lakh was spent on buying
Because he is betting big on defenceReliance
computers
Defence and Engineering has tied up with Israels
Rafael Advanced Defence Systems to manufacture
air-to-air missiles. He is targeting a business of
Sachin, left, and Binny Bansal
Rs 2.85 lakh crore in the next 3-5 years
WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMME

Sold radio, TV businesses, power transmission
assets, cements business to cut debt by
Rs 7,000 crore
THINKING CAP
Inducted into advisory board of top global think-
tank, The Atlantic Council, in March 2017
NILOTPAL BARUAH
GENERATION NEXT
Son Jai Anmol, 25, who works in Reliance
Capital, is now on the company board. Jai
Anshul, 21, is studying in New York University
A PR I L 32 4 2 017 INDIA TODAY 57

50 POWER PEOPLE
SUBIR HALDER
SANJIV GOENKA / NEW

55 Industrialist
IN A
SWEET
SPOT
Because 2016 was a year of
turnarounds and expansion
for the Rs 17,000 crore RP-
Sanjiv Goenka group. Retail
business (Spencers) is in
the black and power utility
business CESC has expanded
from Kolkata to Bikaner,
Greater Noida, Kota and
Bharatpur
Because he is the bridge

between the government in
Delhi and West Bengal chief
minister Mamata Banerjee.
Always beside Banerjee at
state meetings, he played a
key role in her supporting the
GST Bill
PITCH PERFECT POCKET RITUAL GENERATION NEXT

Admires cricketer-friend The Lord Balaji picture in Avarna Jain, 30, runs the Au Bon
Virat Kohli for his ability to his front pocket which he Pain cafe chain; son Shashwat
reinvent himself constantly has had for 30 years Goenka, 27, runs Spencers Retail

NITA AMBANI
53 Entrepreneur
SPORTING
DIVA
Because she wields enormous
inluence in the Indian sports
arena as owner of an IPL cricket
team, as chairperson of the Indian
Super League football and as the
irst Indian woman to be elected
member of the International
Olympic Committee
Because she is the moving spirit

behind all philanthropic activities
of the Reliance Foundation
Because invitations to parties at

her plush Mumbai home Antilla
are considered proof of arrival in
Mumbai society and every Diwali,
recipients can grade their social
status according to the lavishness
of the gift given
SUPERWOMAN MOMENT
When over 205 million fans
watched Indian Super League
in its third season
RURAL CONNECT
Reliance Foundation Youth
Sports reached 2 million
children across 1,800
schools/ colleges in 2016
RACHIT GOSWAMI
BOARD MATTERS
Is on the board of Reliance
Industries and EIH Ltd,
the company behind the
Oberoi luxury hotel chain
50 POWER PEOPLE
SALMAN KHAN
51 Actor BIG BROTHER
COMING SOON
Because a Salman Khan release is now Bolly- Two releases, Kabir
woods most anticipated event. His sole release in 2016, Khans Tubelight and Ali A.
Sultan, was the years biggest hit with Rs 300.6 crore in Zafars Tiger Zinda Hai
collections until Aamir Khans Dangal (December 23
FAVOURITE MEAL
release) surpassed it in January 2017 Mixture, a home-cooked
dish that has rice, mutton,
some salad, sweet and
Because Khan paid Rs 44.5 Because he is everyones salty mango pickle all
crore in advance tax in 2016, the benefactor. His banner has blended together
highest by any Bollywood actor the rights to remake the Ko-
rean ilm Ode to My Father,
GENERATION NEXT
Because everybody wants is producing an internatio-
He doesnt have a child of his
a piece of him, literally, and nal ilm with Irrfan Khan own yet but his sisters one-
can now buy it, with the Being and is collaborating with year-old, Ahil Sharma, is
Human apparel range growing Karan Johar for a ilm with the apple of his uncles eye
to stores across 40 cities Akshay Kumar in the lead
JAISON G
S. GURUMURTHY
68 Chartered Accountant;
Co-convenor, Swadeshi
Jagran Manch
SOUTHERN IMPACT
Because he endeared himself Because the Chennai-based
to Prime Minister Narendra opinion-maker has taken charge
Modi by being the irst to of Thuglak as editor after Cho
welcome demonetisation unlike Ramaswamys death and is BJPs
others in the RSS and Sangh advisor on Tamil Nadu politics. It
parivar. BJP president Amit is he who recommended that the
Shah is in constant touch to tap party not interfere in the pro- and
his thoughts on enlarging the anti-Sasikala factional battle in
party base across South India the AIADMK
FAMILY MAN RIGHT-HAND DRIVE DIVIDE THE SPOILS

Lives as part of a joint Prefers to keep a low Has counselled many
family, seldom eats proile, and always uses a big business families in
outside home made in India car ownership tussles

BANDEEP SINGH / FORTUNE INDIA

50 POWER PEOPLE
SUBHASH CHANDRA
66 Media tycoon
SHOW STOPPER
Because the Essel Group chief is the richest media baron in
the country with a net worth of $2.7 billion (Rs 17,370 crore).
In 2016, he also became a Rajya Sabha MP, with his inluence
extending beyond business to policy-making
Because in 2016, he acquired Anil Ambanis radio and TV

business for Rs 1,900 crore and merged his Dish TV with
direct-to-home TV company Videocon d2h Ltd to create the
largest Indian listed media irm by revenue
GENERATION NEXT ANNOYING HABIT INTERESTING

Punit Goenka, 42, MD Keeps a hawk HABIT
and CEO, Zee Entertainment eye on his news Goes for
Enterprises Ltd; Amit Goenka, editors and often a 10-day
39, CEO, International Broadcast calls them at odd Vipassana
Business; daughter Pooja hours on story course
Dixit, 37, is a homemaker ideas and stands every year
CHANDRADEEP KUMAR
VISHAL SIKKA
49 Tech guru
THE DAREDEVIL
Because he brought IT major TOP DOLLAR
Infosys back on its high growth Indias highest paid IT
trajectory from a period of slow executives annual salary is
growth and high attrition, with $11 million or Rs 74 crore
revenues up 17 per cent to Rs
62,441 crore in 2015-16; proits DIARY WRITER
spiked to Rs 13,678 crore His proliic blog,
Timelessness, shares
Because he survived allega- his views on a diverse
tions of splurge and range of topics
erosion in values from powerful
FAVOURITE BOOK
co-founders such as
Hermann Hesses
N.R. Narayana Murthy, with
Siddhartha, as it had a big
the board supporting him. He
cultural impact in Germany,
has set a target of doubling
India and the USthe three
revenues to $20 billion (Rs 1.3 cultures that shaped
lakh crore) by 2020 who I am
!" INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

RAJAT SHARMA
60 Media tycoon
FRIENDLY CONNECTIONS
FIT FAD
Because the chairman and editor-in-chief of pop- A fitness fanatic, he rarely
ular news channel India TV has direct access to Prime misses the gym, and doesnt eat
after 7 pm. Every year, he goes
Minister Narendra Modi and Union inance minister to an Austrian clinic to detox
Arun Jaitley, thanks to his long friendship with the two.
BJP president Amit Shah has him on speed dial RAGS TO RICHES
He used to live in a 100 square
foot room in Delhi with nine
Because his talk show, Aap Because from relatives. There was no
ki Adalat, running for 23 attending a electricity and he would study
years now, is still one of the reception hosted by at the Sabzi Mandi railway
most watched programmes on Queen Elizabeth station under the lamplight
Indian television II to launch the
UK-India Year of DID YOU KNOW?
Because he is on the road Culture 2017 to He became editor of the now-
to expansion with plans to speaking at Harvard defunct Onlooker magazine at
enter the general entertain- University and IIT the age of 28
ment genre. Negotiations are Kanpur, he has
BUDDY-BUDDY
on with equity irm New Silk emerged as an icon
Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley
Route, which owns 9X Media of inspiration
address him as Panditji
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY #$

50 POWER PEOPLE
RAJINIKANTH 66 Actor / NEW
LEADER IN
WAITING
Because the BJP wants to tap his phenom-
enal popularity and fan base that steadily
chants thalaiva, thalaiva (leader, leader)
every time he makes a public appearance and
project him as a potential chief minister in
Tamil Nadu post-Jayalalithaa
Because the prime minister requested that

he shoot his next ilm, 2.0, in India in keep-
ing with the Make in India campaign. The
Enthiran sequel will release later this year
Because even a humanitarian exercise of

him lagging of a housing scheme to reha-
bilitate Sri Lankan Tamils in Jafna became
political dynamite and had to be called of
GOLD STANDARD
This one-time Bengaluru
bus conductor has eaten
wafer-thin gold sheets with
his meals given his faith in the
Siddha system of medicine,
yoga and meditation
GENERATION NEXT
Elder daughter Aishwarya,
35, is married to actor
Dhanush; the younger,
Soundarya, 32, is a
director, producer and
graphic designer in Tamil ilms
%& INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

DR NARESH TREHAN
70 Surgeon & entrepreneur
YASIR IQBAL
THE GOOD DOCTOR

Because as one of the most inluential healthcare personalities,
GENERATION NEXT
he is everywhere: from the Union health ministrys Key Advisory
Daughters Sheyl and
Group to the National Skill Development Corporation; from the Shonan. Sheyl studied
Export Promotion Council to the Healthcare Skill Sector Council law at the Columbia
and the Delhi governments mohalla clinics Law School, US, and
is a registered
Because the serial institu- Because he has initiated the unique attorney; her
tion-builder is determined to One Heart Team concept at Medanta, husband Pankaj Sahni
is COO, Medanta-The
push high-end healthcare to a broad-based approach towards coro-
Medicity; Shonan
areas that lack such nary artery disease management, built
did a masters in
facilities; creating Rs 1,000 on consensusa irst in India
architecture from
crore hospitals along the lines
the Bartlett School of
of Medanta-The Medicity Because he is leading Medanta
Architecture, London,
in Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, towards public service: from Mission and is the founder
Noida and Patna, apart from TB Free Haryana to Mission Stop and principal
smaller facilities in Jharkhand Dengue, the latter with active partici- architect of the
and Indore pation of Gurugram school students firm, Labwerk
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY '(

50 POWER PEOPLE
AMIT JAIN / NEW
40 President, Uber
India & South Asia
UBER COOL
Because he leads growth for the worlds most
REUBEN SINGH / GETT Y IMAGES

valuable start-up in one of its most strategic
markets. India is in second place in the number
of trips worldwide, with over 3 million weekly
active riders and 200,000 weekly active drivers
in 29 cities in three years. Uber nearly doubled its
customer base in 2016
Because the $70 billion start-up chose Benga-

luru as one of the two areas for R&D, as well as
its irst engineering centre in Asia in March 2016.
Research on mapping and self-driving technolo-
P.V. SINDHU / NEW gies is being driven out of India. He is also making
21 Badminton a host of India-speciic solutions
player
TAXI, TAXI!
A BIG HIT Jain Ubers his way across town for meetings.
Has a car for his family
Because she has proved that her Olympic silver TOTAL CONTROL
at Rio was no lash in the pan. She has risen to No. Is obsessively organised and plays the santoor
2 in the World Badminton Federation rankings
COMRADE-IN-ARMS
Because she has emerged as the most rewarded Wife Priyanka, a PhD in social theory. His father,
sportswoman, bagging a Rs 50-crore, three-year the hardest working person he knows, is his
inspiration
deal with sports management irm Baseline
FAVOURITE QUOTE
Because the post-Olympic incentives she was of-
The heights by great men reached and kept were
fered include direct appointment to the state as an not attained in sudden light but, they while their
oicer in the government after her playing years companions slept, they were toiling upwards in the
nightHenry Wadsworth Longfellow
IN THE FAMILY
Parents P.V. Ramana and P. Vijaya
represented Andhra Pradesh in volleyball
BEYOND BADMINTON
Swimming is the only thing she likes, that too
at the Gopichand Academy
THREE-TIME LUCKY
She has won the Macau Open three times
in a row from 2013
VIVAN MEHRA
HER OWN TALISMAN

Unlike many successful sportspersons, she
does not believe in any talisman
)* INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

MAHENDRA
MOHAN, SANJAY &
SHAILESH GUPTA
75,53,45 Media owners
HINDI BARONS
Because as the owners of the largest-

selling daily in India, Dainik Jagran,
with a circulation of 4 million, they can
reach Indians across the country. Little
PRIYANKA CHOPRA wonder that Prime Minister Modi often
34 Actor quotes their newspaper in Mann ki Baat
Because their company, Jagran

Prakashan, registered operating
SERIAL WINNER revenues of Rs 2,106.5 crore in 2016, up

by 19 per cent from Rs 1,769.7 crore in
2015despite a stagnant market. Their
Because she is now a bona ide Hollywood star. From red music broadcast arm, under the Radio
carpet appearances to being cover girl of leading glossies; from City brand, also had a successful initial
hanging out with Meryl Streep backstage at the Golden Globes public ofering
to winning two Peoples Choice awards for Quantico, Chopra
has in just two years become the eighth highest-paid TV
actress in the world, with earnings of $11 million THE PATRIARCH
Kanpur-based Mahendra
Because from silencing her trolls with a picture of her arm- Mohan is no longer a member
pits on Twitter (16 million followers) to sharing pictures of her of the Rajya Sabha but he still
Quantico co-stars and celebrities like Mick Jagger on Insta- maintains a keen interest in
gram (16.1 million), she is a social media queen parliamentary afairs
THE NEPHEW
Sanjay, based in Delhi,
leads the editorial
TALK CENTRAL COMING SOON PRIZED POSSESSION

Beloved of US talk Hollywood debut as A healing charms THE SON
show hosts, shes a baddie Victoria Leeds necklace belonging Shailesh, based in Mumbai,
hit with Jimmy Fallon in summer release to her late father, is responsible for directing
and Ellen DeGeneres Baywatch Ashok Chopra the group to new businesses
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY +,

50 POWER PEOPLE
SHAH RUKH KHAN

51 Actor
MULTI STAR
Because he is the superstar who risks it all,
whether it is taking on a supporting role in
his home production Dear Zindagi, sharing
the spotlight with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in
Raees or exploring the complex fan-star rela-
tionship in the underappreciated drama Fan
Because he gives back to the movie indus-

try. Khans studio, Red Chillies Entertain-
ment, is one of the leading visual efects
providers in India, and is producing ilms
which go beyond formulaic farefrom Dear
Zindagi to the forthcoming Ittefaq
Because he is King Khan when it comes to

public speaking. Is sought after for his orato-
ry skillsthe latest being Oxford University
which wants him to deliver a speech ofering
his trademark mix of wise words and self-
deprecating humour and charm overload
Because he is the highest-earning star in

Bollywood. With $33 million (Rs 212 crore)
earnings in 2016, Khan was the eighth
highest-paid actor in the world
COMING SOON GENERATION NEXT

An avid reader, Khan landed himself a guest That Aryan, 19, is a future Bollywood actor is a foregone
appearance in sci-i drama Dirk Gentlys Holistic conclusion. Currently, Khans oldest child is studying ilmmaking
Detective Agency, based on the Douglas Adams at the University of Southern California; Suhana, 16, recently
novels; returns to the small screen to host TED Talks caught eyeballs for giving a ditzy, melodramatic twist to Cinderella
India: Nayi Soch, a new series on Star India; and in a school play; AbRam, 3, makes sure he keeps his fathers fans
next stars with Anushka Sharma in the Imtiaz Ali- entertained and awww-ed with his antics when he isnt giving his
directed globe-trotting romance father company at Mehboob Studios during promotions
RAJIV BAJAJ / NEW

50 Industrialist
TOP GEAR
Because he continues to give rivals Honda and
Hero MotoCorp a good ight by focusing on the
high-margin, premium two-wheeler segment with
new launches and features, clocking a proit of
Rs 3,930 crore on revenues of Rs 23,883 crore for
the year ended 2015-16
Because like his forthright father Rahul Bajaj,

M ZHAZO he likes to speak his mind, be it blaming demone-
tisation for afecting the sale of two-wheelers, say-
ing the Supreme Court ban on BS-III vehicles was a
blessing for the auto sector, or warning that Made
in India could turn Mad in India, going by the
hurdles in launching a quadricycle in India
RAJEEV
CHANDRASEKHAR / NEW
52 Entrepreneur HEALING TOUCH

Believes in homeopathy and is a
practitioner of Iyengar yoga, propagated
by B.K.S. Iyengar
ONE-MAN ARMY BEST BUDDIES

Chief technology oicer Abraham Joseph,
Because he is among a handful of MPs who head of engineering Pradeep Shrivastava
actively pursue causes to their conclusion, from and president, business development,
armed forces pensions to mobilising citizens S. Ravikumar
against Bengalurus steel lyover (now scrapped).
His 943 Rajya Sabha questions over 11 years are TSERING TOPGYAL / AP
twice the parliamentary average
Because the tie-up of his media irm Asianet

News with Arnab Goswamis forthcoming news
channel Republic News is the talk of Lutyens Delhi
Because his September 2016

appointment as vice-chairman of the NDAs
Kerala unit acknowledges his key role in the BJPs
2019 southern thrust
DEBT OF HONOUR
Bought and refurbished a vintage Douglas
DC3 Dakota in the UK. Plans to gift the
aircraft, the type his air force oicer father
once lew, to the IAFs vintage squadron
GENERATION NEXT
Son Ved, 18, and daughter Devika, 17
BANDEEP SINGH
HARISH SALVE
60 Lawyer
MASTER OF STRATEGY
Because, at Rs 30 lakh a day, he is not just the highest-
charging advocate in the country, but also among the top 10
most expensive lawyers in the world
Because with formidable expertise and experience in

a range of jurisprudenceconstitutional, commercial,
taxationand big-ticket arbitrations, he is the lead counsel
on most signiicant and polarising legal debates of the day,
be it Ratan Tata vs Cyrus Mistry, Centre vs NDTV, Daiichi
vs Ranbaxy, Prashant Bhushan vs Reliance Jio Infocomm or
interstate disputes on water or pollution
BANDEEP SINGH
Because he was part of the team that successfully argued
at the United Nations highest court against a bid by
the Marshall Islands to sue India for violating nuclear
disarmament obligations
AKSHAY KUMAR / NEW
49 Actor
CITIZEN STAR
Because he is the only actor after the three Khans to be a safe bet at
the box oice, and has also evolved as a spokesman
for all the right causes. It doesnt hurt that he has just received a
National Award for his lead act in courtroom drama Rustom
Because Mr Proliic had three Rs 100 crore-plus hits in 2016 and

is now placing his clout behind new ilmmakers, from Raja Krishna
Menon (Airlift) to Shree Narayan Singh (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha)
Because he is one half of a most interesting couple in Bollywood

wife Twinkle being a force in her own right with her columns/books
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR COMING SOON GENERATION NEXT

Stays in the same Southern debut, Aarav, 14, shares his
Juhu Beach-facing taking on Thalaivar fathers passion for
building as Hrithik in 2.0, and a role in martial arts, has a black
Roshan and Sajid Padman, wife Twinkles belt in Kudo; Nitara, 4,
MILIND SHELTE
Nadiadwala debut as producer has mums funnybones
-. INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

50 POWER PEOPLE
ACTOR
WITH A
MIND
Because unlike
most movie stars, hes
not afraid to speak his
mind, whether in favour
of jallikattu ahead of
Sankranti which culmi-
nated in the protests at
Marina Beach, or using
social mediawhere he
has a legion of followers
to rail against politicians,
especially after all the
upheaval following
J. Jayalalithaas death,
leading Rajinikanth to
call him the angriest
man Ive ever met
Because he has not allowed

disruptions in his personal life,
be it a multiple fracture and
then a split with his long-term
partner Gautami in the space of
a year, to deter him
Because his 58-year-long

association with the industry as
actor, screenwriter, director and
producer enables him today to
experiment and innovate with
remarkable ease
BANDEEP SINGH
KAMAL HAASAN / NEW NO GODS GENERATION NEXT

A Tamil Brahmin by Daughters Shruti, 31, and
62 Actor birth, he is a self- Akshara, 25, born to him and
declared atheist second wife Sarika. Both are actors
50 POWER PEOPLE
AAMIR KHAN
52 Actor
MASS APPEAL
Because Dangal beat both demonetisation and
#BoycottDangal on Twitter to emerge as Bollywoods
biggest ilm to date with a collection of Rs 386 crore,
breaking the record set by another Aamir starrer, PK
Because his not-for-proit initiative Paani Founda-

tion has been working with the Maharashtra govern-
ment to educate villagers on watershed management
NILOTPAL BARUAH Because everybody loves Aamir. Be it his birthday

bash or the success party for Dangal, the whos who
of Bollywood turns up to celebrate
ON BOARD
An avid collector of board games, his
MANISH SABHARWAL / NEW latest obsession is The Settlers of Catan
47 Chairman, Team PARTY ANIMAL

Lease Services Thank Kunal Kapoor for telling us about
Aamir having the drinking capacity of
a whale and throwing the longest parties
THE THINKER GENERATION NEXT

Junaid, 24, all set to follow papa into show
business; Ira, 19, working with an ad ilm
Because he is a member of the National Skill production house; and Azad, 5, studying at
Development Mission, the Central Advisory Dhirubhai Ambani International School
Board on Education and a state nominee on the
Reserve Bank of India board. He is the only
individual from the private sector whose article
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tweeted
Because TeamLease, a Fortune 500 company,

is on an acquisition spree, taking over irms such
as ASAP Info Systems, Keystone Business Solu-
tions and NichePro Technologies in the past year
Because the Centre consults him on labour

reforms. He was the brain behind Rajasthans
labour reforms under Vasundhara Raje
BOOK WORM
He reads a book every week and
organises a two-hour-long authors evening
at home every month
GENERATION NEXT
RACHIT GOSWAMI
Son Dhruv, 15, and daughter Noor,

12, both in school

PRADEEP GAUR / GETT Y IMAGES
PAWAN MUNJAL
61 CMD & CEO,
Hero MotoCorp
RIDING HIGH
Because Hero MotoCorp sold 600,000 units in
March alone, over double what its competitors sold.
It also added Argentina to its global footprint in 35
countries, even as its global manufacturing facility
in Colombia became operational in 2016
Because in the age of disruption, he has invested

heavily in the future of technology. A Rs 850 crore
state-of-the-art R&D centre in Jaipur employs
over 500 engineers from India and across the
PRATHAP world. He has also invested in e-mobility start-up
C. REDDY / NEW Ather Energy and is exploring the two-wheeler
84 Entrepreneur taxi market through a possible alliance with Uber
THE OTHER DRIVE

Makes it a point to play golf in the very early
DOCTOR YES hours, irrespective of where in the world he is.

Has appointed his goling hero, Tiger Woods, as
Heros Global Corporate Partner
Because the founding patriarch and
chairman of the four-decades-old GENERATION NEXT
Rs 6,000 crore Apollo Hospital Group Vasudha, 36, has built Indias premium
was whom everyone in Tamil Nadu chocolate brand, Choko-la; Supriya, 27, has
turned to as they prayed for the recovery her own fashion line; son Annuvrat, 22, is
of AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa studying in the US
Because he has made it clear that the YASIR IQBAL
entry of the third generation into the

family business will be based on merit
than by virtue of inheritance. In Febru-
ary 2017, he set up a family constitution
to avoid ambiguity on succession and
structure at the group
FOREIGN STINT
He spent a decade as a doctor in the US and
then another on his return in 1970 before
launching Apollo as a 150-bed hospital in
Chennai in 1983
GENERATION NEXT
The eldest, 59-year-old Preetha, will be the
next executive chairperson, as per the family
constitution, while she is currently, like the
remaining three daughters, Suneeta, 57,
Shobana, 55, and Sangita, 53, managing
distinct divisions and business entities
50 POWER PEOPLE
BANDEEP SINGH
DEEPIKA PADUKONE
31 Actor
LEADING LADY NO STRESS

While shooting her
Because she is now Because she is the most coveted face Hollywood debut in Toronto,
among movie-makers and advertis- she learned to do her own
a global celebrity, beating
ers, currently endorsing 18 brands. laundry, even made her own
contemporary Priyanka No wonder she was recognised as the scrambled eggs
Chopra by making her worlds 10th highest-paid actress of
2016 and paid the highest advance tax FAVOURITE FOOD
Hollywood debut early Benne masala dosa and
of Rs 10.25 crore among actresses
this year in xXx: The south Indian ilter cofee
Return of Xander Cage. Because with 18 million followers on
BEST HOLIDAY DESTINATION
With $346.3 million Twittermore than POTUSshe is
Her parents home in
currently the most followed woman in
worldwide collections, Bengaluru
India, ranking sixth overall, behind
the action thriller is so far only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LAST TV SERIES WATCHED
the ifth-highest grossing Amitabh Bachchan and the three The Crown
ilm of the year Khans of Bollywood on Netlix
M.G. Arun, Kaushik Deka, Suhani Singh, Shweta Punj, Sandeep Unnithan, Amarnath K. Menon,
Damayanti Datta, Anshuman Tiwari, Uday Mahurkar
/0 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

50 POWER PEOPLE
WATCHLIST
This year, a record 17 new names join the list of 50 most powerful individuals in the
country; two southern superstars assert their voices and a 21-year-old makes her debut
MUKESH AMBANI THE DILIP SHANGHVI

Chairman & MD,
Reliance Industries HIGHEST Founder & MD,
Sun Pharmaceuticals
2017 2016 SAME
JUMP 2017 2016 SAME
VIRAT KOHLI
from 29 in 2016
RATAN TATA to 11 this year AZIM PREMJI
Former chairman, Tata Group Chairman, Wipro
2017 2016 GAIN 2017 2016 GAIN
4 1
K.M. BIRLA N. CHANDRASEKARAN

Chairman, Aditya Birla Group Chairman, Tata Sons
2017 2016 GAIN 2017 2016 NEW
GAUTAM ADANI VIRAT KOHLI

Chairman, Adani Group Captain, Indian cricket team
2017 2016 LOSS 2017 2016 GAIN
2 18
BABA RAMDEV NANDAN NILEKANI

Yoga guru Former chairman, UIDAI
2017 2016 GAIN 2017 2016 NEW
ANAND MAHINDRA AMIT AGARWAL

Chairman & MD, Vice-president & Country
Mahindra Group Manager, Amazon India
2017 2016 GAIN

THE 2017 2016 NEW
1
STEEPEST
UDAY KOTAK FALL SUNIL MITTAL
Vice-chairman & MD, Chairman & Group CEO,
Kotak Mahindra Bank Bharti Enterprises
CYRUS MISTRY
2017 2016 GAIN from 3rd rank 2017 2016 LOSS
in 2016, he goes 3
6 out of the list
AMITABH BACHCHAN ADITYA PURI

Actor THE MD, HDFC Bank
2017 2016 SAME
YOUNGEST 2017 2016 NEW
ENTRANT
SHIV NADAR P.V. SINDHU ANIL AMBANI
Chairman, HCL Chairman, Reliance Group
At 21, the shuttler
2017 2016 SAME 2017 2016 LOSS
has already won
an Olympic silver 20
RAHUL BHATIA SACHIN & BINNY BANSAL

Group MD, Interglobe Enterprises Founders, Flipkart
2017 2016 SAME 2017 2016 LOSS
12
VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA SANJIV GOENKA

Founder & CEO, Paytm Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group
2017 2016 NEW
2017 2016 GAIN
ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA NITA AMBANI

Chairman, SBI Founder & Chairperson,
Reliance Foundation
2017 2016 NEW
2017 2016 LOSS
SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
BJP Rajya Sabha MP SALMAN KHAN
Actor
2017 2016 LOSS
2017 2016 LOSS
1
3
VINOD RAI
President, BCCI, S. GURUMURTHY
Chairman, Banks Board Bureau Swadeshi Jagran Manch
2017 2016 NEW 2017 2016 LOSS
UDAY SHANKAR
CEO, Star India
THE SUBHASH CHANDRA
Chairman, Essel Group
2017 2016 GAIN OLDEST 2017 2016 LOSS
1 MEMBER 13
VINEET JAIN PRATHAP C. VISHAL SIKKA

MD, Bennett, Coleman & Co REDDY CEO & MD, Infosys
2017 2016 LOSS
At 84, still the 2017 2016 GAIN
Apollo Hospitals
11 mascot 7
50 POWER PEOPLE
RAJAT SHARMA RAJIV BAJAJ

Chairman, India TV MEDIA MD, Bajaj Auto
2017 2016 LOSS
3
& 2017 2016 NEW
MOVIES
RAJINIKANTH HARISH SALVE
Actor 16 Lawyer, Supreme Court
Individuals from
2017 2016 NEW 2017 2016 LOSS
the two ields,
a record 2
NARESH TREHAN AKSHAY KUMAR

Chairman & MD, Medanta Actor
2017 2016 LOSS 2017 2016 NEW
P.V. SINDHU KAMAL HAASAN

Badminton player Actor
2017 2016 NEW 2017 2016 NEW
AMIT JAIN MANISH SABHARWAL

President, Uber India Chairman & Co-founder,
TeamLease Services
2017 2016 NEW
2017 2016 NEW
PRIYANKA CHOPRA
Actor AAMIR KHAN
Actor
2017 2016 LOSS
2017 2016 LOSS
3
2
MAHENDRA MOHAN, SAN-

JAY & SHAILESH GUPTA PRATHAP C. REDDY
Jagran Prakashan Chairman & Chairman, Apollo Hospitals
MD; CEO & Director; Director 2017 2016 NEW
2017 2016 LOSS
PAWAN MUNJAL
SHAH RUKH KHAN Chairman, MD & CEO,
Actor THE Hero MotoCorp
2017 2016 LOSS
2
SINGLES 2017 2016 LOSS
2
GAME
RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR DEEPIKA PADUKONE
Venture capitalist, Rajya Sabha MP
8 Actor
People arent
2017 2016 NEW 2017 2016 LOSS
married, four
are 50-plus 2
THE DISPLACED
People who did not make it to the power list* ANUPAM KHER
Actor
CYRUS MISTRY Y.C. DEVESHWAR SOLI SORABJEE

Former chairman, Tata Group Chairman, ITC Group Jurist & ex-Attorney General
PRASHANT KISHOR PIYUSH PANDEY RITESH AGARWAL

Election strategist Executive Chairman, O&M Founder & CEO, OYO Rooms
SAJJAN JINDAL PRASHANT BHUSHAN DEVI SHETTY

Chairman & MD, JSW Steel Lawyer, Supreme Court Chairman, Narayana Health
NARESH GUJRAL ARNAB GOSWAMI KANHAIYA KUMAR

SAD Rajya Sabha MP Journalist Student leader
SHAURYA DOVAL
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR CHANDA KOCHHAR Director, India Foundation;
Spiritual guru MD & CEO, ICICI Bank MD, Zeus Caps
*Rankings in 2016
THE PERMANENT RESIDENTS

Nine individuals who have always featured in the power list since 2003
NAMES 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017
Mukesh Ambani 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 3 1 1 1 1
Ratan Tata 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 6 6 2
Anil Ambani 1 1 9 6 6 3 3 3 10 7 13 8 5 25
Sunil Bharti Mittal 20 11 7 9 3 4 4 11 8 8 8 21 11 14
K.M. Birla 19 19 12 5 5 5 9 9 6 5 4 5 4 3
Subhash Chandra 12 8 8 11 10 20 22 22 36 35 35 27 18 31
Azim Premji 14 9 6 7 11 11 13 15 14 14 9 11 10 9
Amitabh Bachchan 5 6 3 4 4 16 19 19 17 19 21 17 15 15
Shah Rukh Khan 31 27 19 22 16 6 5 6 22 24 25 29 38 40
Highest Ranks Lowest Ranks
FIELDS OF POWER
The careers and industries that birth the powerful
INDUSTRY/
BUSINESS 26 MEDIA AND
ADVERTISING 6 SCIENCE/
HEALTHCARE 2 FORMER
BUREAUCRAT 1
ENTERTAINMENT 9 POLITICS 2 LAW 1 SPORT 1
SOCIAL SERVICE 1 BANKING 2 GURU 2
50 POWER PEOPLE
AGE AVERAGE GENDER*

BRACKET* AGE
58
57
20-30 2 56 56 MALE
5 55 55 55
31-40
41-50 8 54 48
51-60 17 54 54 54
FEMALE
61-70 14 53
71-80 6 51 5
81-90 1 2003 2017
*2017 list
ROOTS OF POWER
Power flows equally from big cities and tiny villages and, at times, from abroad
Aditya Puri Virat Kohli, Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Gurdaspur, Punjab Rajat Sharma, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Sunil Mittal, Pawan Munjal Shah Rukh Khan, Amit Agarwal BORN OUTSIDE INDIA
Ludhiana
Akshay Kumar Agra
Delhi Mukesh Ambani
Sachin and Binny Bansal Amitabh Bachchan Aden, Yemen
Chandigarh Allahabad Naresh Trehan
Manish Vinod Rai Karachi, Pakistan
Sabharwal Ghazipur Deepika Padukone
Srinagar, J&K
Baba Ramdev The Guptas Copenhagen, Denmark
Saidalipur, Haryana Kanpur
Subhash Chandra Uday Shankar
Hissar Patna, Bihar
Amit Jain
Tezpur, Assam
Priyanka Chopra
Ratan Tata Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
Surat, Gujarat
K.M. Birla,
Gautam Adani, Rahul Bhatia,
Rajeev Chandrasekhar Arundhati Bhattacharya,
Ahmedabad Vineet Jain,
Dilip Shanghvi Sanjiv Goenka
P.V. Sindhu Kolkata, West Bengal
Amreli
Hyderabad, Telangana
Prathap C. Reddy
Anand Mahindra, Aragonda, Andhra Pradesh
Uday Kotak,
Azim Premji,
Anil Ambani, S. Gurumurthy
Nita Ambani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Aamir Khan
Mumbai, Maharashtra Shiv Nadar
Moolaipozhi
Harish Salve Salman Khan Subramanian Swamy
Nagpur Indore, Madhya Pradesh Nandan Nilekani, Mylapore
Rajiv Bajaj Vishal Sikka Rajinikanth
Kamal Haasan
Pune Shajapur Bengaluru, Karnataka
Paramakudi
N. Chandrasekaran
Mohanur
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Bachchan came out in
defence of Kohli after the
Australian media dubbed DEEPIKA
KAMAL him the Donald Trump of PADUKONE
HAASAN PRIYANKA world sports
CHOPRA Compiled by Kaushik Deka
POLITICAL TOP 10
POWER PLAYERS
BY KAUSHIK DEKA
The limits of power are deined NARENDRA MODI

by the individuals who wield it. The
10 politicians in our list, recognised
66 Prime Minister of India
as the most powerful in the country,
certainly derive their authority from
FIRST AMONG EQUALS
the positions they holdbut that is
not the sole source of their power.
Because he is the unchallenged leader
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for
of India. With the Congress desperately
example, has mastered silence and
trying to remain relevant and regional
secrecy, craftily combining it with an
stalwarts restricted to their own turfs,
element of surprise to add an aura there is no political leader who can serve as a credible alternative
to his constitutional authority. From
the surgical strike to demonetisa- Because the victory in Uttar Pradesh has almost ensured that he
tion, disruption is the new language will have a second term, and silenced his detractors within the BJP
of power. And as he constructs his
vision of New India, his two major Because his soaring personal popularity ensures the government
force multipliersBJP president massive public support for diicult and dangerous decisionsfrom
Amit Shah and RSS sarsanghcha- the surgical strike in PoK to demonetisation
lak Mohan Bhagwathave been
redeining Indias electoral politics DID YOU KNOW? When he writes in Hindi or Gujarati, he usually doesnt have
and seeking to re-engineer its social to change or rewrite a single word for copy running up to 10 pages
discourse. At the same time, Modis
core agenda of development is served
by his cabinet colleagues Arun Jaitley
and Nitin Gadkari, who have been AMIT SHAH
oiling the wheels of administration to 54 BJP President
ensure growth in GDP, FDI and road
construction.
At the other end of this spectrum
are chief ministerslike Mamata
POLL POSITION
Banerjee and Nitish Kumarwho
Because he was behind the BJPs massive
challenge the Modi doctrine. But the
victory in Uttar Pradesh. This demolished
narrative of political power has been
the idea that elections in India are won only
rewritten this year by two unconven-
on caste- and religion-based platforms
tional politiciansUP chief minister
Yogi Adityanath and jailed AIADMK Because he is the prime ministers most trusted lieutenant. He
chief Sasikalawho were suddenly impressed upon Modi the importance of selecting Yogi Adityanath as
elevated from the fringe to the core. the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh
And then there is Rahul Gandhi, the
permanent understudy, who is yet to Because he was behind the BJPs opening up of new political fron-
deine his place in the political land- tiers in places it has traditionally been weakAssam and Manipur
scape. He could learn from the other
members in the listModi, Bhagwat, DID YOU KNOW? He is fond of Hindi movie thrillers, and goes to watch ilms
Mamata and Adityanath. with his wife, Sonal. He was also a successful trader at the stock market
THE DISPLACED *7 RAM MADHAV BJP National General Secretary *9 ARVIND KEJRIWAL Chief Minister, Delhi
*10 SMRITI IRANI Union Minister for Textiles *Last year's ranking
ARUN JAITLEY MAMATA

BANERJEE / NEW
64 Union Minister
for Finance, Defence, 62 Chief Minister,
and Corporate West Bengal
Affairs
BIG SISTER
THE
POINTMAN Because despite
facing a grand alliance
MOHAN BHAGWAT Because he is the YOGI ADITYANATH / NEW of the Left and the
ultimate troubleshooter Congress, the EC
66 RSS for the government
44 Chief Minister, breathing down her
Sarsanghchalak from negotiating with
Uttar Pradesh neck, scams tumbling
J&K chief minister out of her party
THE Mehbooba Mufti to RAJ YOGI cupboard and a lyover
ORGANISER reaching out to the collapsing in the
late J. Jayalalithaa to middle of the election,
get the AIADMK on Because he has she won the 2016
Because he board with GST. It was been chosen to rule assembly polls with a
heads the RSS, the his negotiation skills Uttar Pradesh by the landslide victory
ideological guiding that helped the Modi most powerful people
force behind the BJP. government get the in the country Because though the
Its no coincidence GST Bill passed Prime Minister TMC is only the fourth
that several BJP chief Narendra Modi largest party in the Lok
ministers, including Because he is respon- and BJP president Sabha and the ifth
Devendra Fadnavis, sible for ensuring that Amit Shah. Thanks largest in the Rajya
M.L. Khattar, Shivraj the Indian economy to Adityanaths Sabha, its MPs have
Singh Chouhan and continues to grow. aggressive Hindutva emerged as the most
Sarbananda Sonowal India is projected to agenda, he also has the vocal opponents of the
maintain a hotline to grow at 7.2 per cent in blessings of the RSS, government in both
Bhagwat 2017 and 7.7 per cent though he has never houses, often eclipsing
in 2018. FDI lows into been a pracharak the principal opposi-
Because his opinion India touched an eight- tion party, the Congress
is asked for whenever year high (almost Rs 3 Because he has
the Union government lakh crore) in 2016 emerged as the stron-
DID YOU KNOW? She
takes a policy deci- gest Hindutva icon of has written 69 books,
sionappraisals of sev- recent times, eliciting and relaxes by painting,
DID YOU KNOW? From
eral key ministries are comparison even with singing, playing the
being a foodie, he has
regularly performed at Prime Minister Modis synthesiser and cooking.
become a disciplined
RSS headquarters in eater, with small meals initial years as chief She walks around 5 km
Nagpur. An instance: every two hours minister of Gujarat. every day on a treadmill
while framing the new There are projections
education policy, the in party circles that he
HRD ministry took se- could even rise to be the
rious note of the RSSs heir apparent to Modi
swadeshi philosophy
on education DID YOU KNOW? He owns
a revolver worth Rs 1
DID YOU KNOW? His lakh, and a rile worth
favourite song in his Rs 80,000. He is the only
college days was Mere CM to have been booked
saamne wali khidki mein on an attempt-to-murder
from the ilm Padosan charge

NITIN GADKARI RAHUL GANDHI

59 Union 46 Congress
Minister for Vice-president
Roads, Transport
and Highways FAILURE
TO LAUNCH
THE
Because despite the
PERFORMER party losing successive
elections since 2014,
NITISH KUMAR Because he is one V.K. SASIKALA / NEW
there is no threat to his
66 Chief of the key ministers 60 Interim General position and authority.
Minister, Bihar in Prime Minister Secretary, AIADMK After every defeat, the
Modis cabinet. His clamour within the
ministry claims to have party is for his elevation
POWER constructed 8,144 km REMOTE to the top post rather
PARTNER
of roads in 2016-17, at CONTROL than for his demotion
23 km per day. He says
he wants to raise that to Because as the de-fac-
Because she
Because he is the 40 km per day to chief of the grand old
successfully made the
most acceptable transition from being a party, he is a possible
leader of any probable Because the heads of pivot around which a
close aide of the former
coalition against the several Indian banks grand alliance against
AIADMK supremo to
BJP juggernaut. The look at him with the ruling BJP could
becoming the oicial
Congress accepted his gratitude for bringing form. The Congress is
inheritor of her legacy.
leadership in Bihar, down the quantum of the only party accept-
Not only did she have
with even his bte NPAs (soured loans) on able to almost all other
a chief minister of her
noire Lalu Prasad their books. Gadkari partiesfrom the TMC
choice installed, but
Yadav joining hands managed to get a series to the Left, SP to the
her control over the
with him. He can also of stalled road projects, BSP, JD-U to the RJD
party also remains
count on the support of that banks had issued
unchallenged despite
Mamata Banerjee and loans for, of the ground
her imprisonment DID YOU KNOW? He got
Naveen Patnaik the 2012 Delhi gang
DID YOU KNOW? When Because she remote- rape victim Nirbhayas
Because he takes Gadkari was in the US, ly controls the levers younger brother to train
his own decisions and travelling from San of administration and at the Indira Gandhi
stands by his convic- Francisco to Los Angeles, power in Chennais Rashtriya Uran Akademi
tions. He did not suc- he had the idea of having Fort St George from in Raebarelihe is now
cumb to pressure over a new Mumbai-Goa Bengalurus Parap- a pilot with a reputed
the liquor ban in Bihar, highway constructed airline. He also helped
pana Agrahara Central
and refused to join along the coast. Work has the elder brother in his
Prison, her home until
the Opposition chorus already begun engineering studies
February 2021
against Prime Minister
Modis demonetisation
DID YOU KNOW? Sasikala
move, even publicly
prayed regularly at the
applauding it Vazhakarutheeswarar
temple, dedicated
DID YOU KNOW? He often to Lord Shiva, near
carries a CD on Yoga Kancheepuram, as she
Nidra. He loves rasgullas believed the deity had
from a shop in Lajpat powers to get favourable
Nagar, New Delhi. Fav- judgments in civil and
ourite food: masala dosa criminal cases

OFFICIAL TOP 10
THE GAME CHANGERS

BY SANDEEP UNNITHAN
As Prime Minister Narendra AJIT DOVAL

Modis government completes three
years in oice in May, so also does a 74 National Security
highly centralised style of function-
Advisor
ing that he brought in. Bureaucrats
are vetted, handpicked and appoint- SUPER ADVISOR
ed by a few key aides whose redeem-
ing quality has been to stay in the Because he remains Prime Minister
shadows and quietly implement his Narendra Modis single-window cle-
decisions. The contours of this bu- arance on all security issues, from
reaucracy-run system were revealed military to nuclear to cyber. Despite
in 2014, but this arrangement is now being the superboss of all three intelligence agenciesthe Research
the new normal. Information low and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau and National Technical
is strictly regulated and served on a Research Organisationhe operates more like a venture capitalist:
need-to-know basis. The number of easily approachable and quick to seize and fund innovative ideas
government oicials kept in the loop
on Modis November 2016 demon- Because his ofensive-defence strategy against Pakistan reached
etisation move, for instance, could its logical conclusion in the surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied
easily be counted on the ingers Kashmir on September 29 last year
of one hand. And predictably, they
were all bureaucrats. MOVING OFFICE The irst NSA to operate out of the National Security
Is this system the brainchild Councils headquarters in New Delhi in addition to his South Block oice
of the irst Indian prime minister
to vault into Delhi directly from
a state? Not quite. It is actually a NRIPENDRA MISRA
throwback to the administrative
style that was the norm during 71 Principal Secretary
the days of powerful PMOs run by to the PM
Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gan-
dhiboth strong, charismatic prime THE TASKMASTER
ministers who melded political
power with administrative acumen. Because he drives the Modi
They worked through compe- government from the PMO, translating
tent bureaucrats who seemed to the prime ministers vision into reality
wield more power than even cabinet by laying the detailed roadmap before
ministers. Where they are forever bureaucrats and keeping them on their toes
fated to remain behind the scenes
and where the only reward for good Because he is a stickler for perfection and enjoys the image of a
work could be more worka tenure result-oriented bureaucrat who delivers on time
extension. Such are the features of Because he keeps track of all the programmes the PM has an-
this present system where a handful nounced and cracks the whip on non-performing oicials
of oicials wield enormous power,
which is likely to stay through the DID YOU KNOW? He can be found working in South Block even on a
tenure of this government. Sunday, clearing iles and giving instructions to junior bureaucrats
THE DISPLACED *1 RAGHURAM RAJAN, Former RBI governor *6 T.S. THAKUR, Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court *8 MUKUL ROHATGI, Attorney General of
India *10 ANIL SWARUP, Former Coal Secretary *Last year's ranking
OFFICIAL TOP 10 https://t.me/SaS_Books
PRADEEP S. JAISHANKAR
KUMAR SINHA / NEW
62 Foreign
61 Cabinet Secretary
Secretary
GLOBAL
THE STRONGEST FACE
LINK
Because he is one
Because he enjoys of the MEAs most
P.K. MISHRA the conidence of SHAKTIKANTA DAS / NEW experienced foreign
a powerful PMO, policy hands, with long
69 Additional thanks to his ability 60 Economic stints in Washington,
Principal Secretary to comprehend its Affairs Secretary Beijing and Moscow,
to the PM vision and demand three of the P5 capitals
implementation by the
bureaucracy
NUMBER
THE CRUNCHER Because as a practi-
TRANSFORMER tioner of realpolitik, he
Because he was is one of the important
instrumental in for- Because he is one of
movers behind the Modi
Because as in charge mulating the GST law, the few bureaucrats
government's increas-
of top bureaucratic working with inance to have been given
ingly assertive policy
and non-bureaucratic oicials and the PMO the authority to
on China based on the
appointments in the as well as sensitising articulate Indias
principle of equal rela-
PMO and in PSUs, he state government oi- position on domestic
tionshipapparent, for
has dismantled Delhis cials about its dynamics and global platforms.
instance, in India con-
notorious transfers- Represented India at
veying strong disapp-
postings raj Because as chair- the SAARC inance
roval of Beijings UNSC
man of the committee ministers conference
Because he sent
vetoes against declaring
to ind a replacement in Pakistan in August
shock waves through Masood Azhar a global
for RBI governor 2016 and emerged
Indias bureaucracy re- terrorist
Raghuram Rajan, he as the governments
cently by changing em- played a key role in ireighter after Because his year-long
panelment norms with successor Urjit Patels demonetisation extension on January 28
a modern HR selection appointment was a vindication of his
process that rewards Because he has
indispensability to the
eiciency and integrity, steered some of the
LONG INNINGS Theres government
eliminates corruption governments dein-
talk that the UP cadre
and lethargy ing economic policies,
IAS oicer could get ALL IN A DAYS WORK Can
an extension in July to from iscal discipline to often be found sleeping on
Because since he simplifying FDI rules
oversee a governance his couch while working
joined then Gujarat and abolishing the late hours in oice
turnaround in the state
chief minister Modi Foreign Investment
as principal secretary Promotion Board
in 2001, he has been
one of his most trusted Because he ensures
bureaucrats that budget numbers
add up; remains hawk-
NO-NONSENSE MAN While eyed on borrowings
in the Gujarat Electricity and spending targets
Board, he took on the
Reliance Group in the FAVOURITE PASTIME
1990s over undue power Unwinds with Hindustani
concessions classical music
8: INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

HASMUKH ADHIA BHASKAR KHULBE / NEW

59 Revenue 58 Secretary
Secretary to the PM
POLICY THE
PLAYER GATEKEEPER
Because as one of Because with his
the longest-standing wide knowledge about
AMITABH KANT members of PM JAGDISH SINGH the quality of oicers,
Narendra Modis KHEHAR / NEW he has emerged as
61 CEO, inner circle, he was
NITI Aayog a pillar of judicious
among the handful 64 Chief appointments to a
who were privy to the Justice of India PMO that believes in
demonetisation move delivering by selecting
PASSIONATE
transparent and
CATALYST Because as one of TOUGH honest oicers
Modis most trusted JUSTICE
Because he is one of lieutenants in the Because despite
Indias most celebrated inance ministry, he Because his being in an
bureaucrats who has has been spearheading verdicts are usually overworked PMO,
constantly reinvented some of the deining far-reaching. He the 1983 batch West
himself. Efortlessly tax provisionsfrom struck down the Bengal cadre oicer,
segues between the taxing provident fund governments National who belongs to
PMO and Lutyens withdrawals (later Judicial Appointments Uttarakhand, always
Delhi social dos dropped) to levying Commission before keeps his door open
excise duty on jewellery taking over as CJI, for junior oicers
Because he was shocked states with
the irst to be given Because he is at the the March 31 order Because he is an
charge of propelling helm of overhauling upholding an earlier asset to the PMO
the digital payments taxationfrom reduc- judgment disallowing given his long
movement post-de- ing interface with the liquor shops within 500 experience of serving
monetisation. Kants tax department to use metres of highways, in the Department
team drove the initial of big data to track and has ofered to of Personnel and
ad campaigns for the down ofenders mediate an out-of-court Training and
Uniied Payments settlement of the Ram handling selection for
Interface, BHIM. The Janmabhoomi dispute
DIFFERENT STROKES higher positions
NITI Aayog organised
A yoga enthusiast, he
over 80 Digi Dhan Me- authored two books Because he leads by
las to build awareness SWEET TOOTH Is fond
on human resource example when it comes
on digital payments of sweetmeats. Loves
management to pendency of cases. As
jalebi-dahi from Nainital
Supreme Court judge,
Because under him, he heard cases during
the NITI Aayog is vacation. As CJI, he has
playing a signiicant set up three constitu-
role in institutional tion benches for the
reforms, such as dis- forthcoming summer
solving the Medical vacation of the Court
Council of India
NOT IN VEIN Donates
IN STYLE Has a penchant blood every three months.
for pocket squares, Has been a donor for
Nehru jackets nearly 40 years
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY ;<

20 GLOBAL INDIANS
From Silicon Valley to the
THE boardrooms of Wall Street and Canary Wharf,

overseas Indians have long walked the corri-
dors of global corporate power. Now they are
WORLDS also making a mark in world politics, cinema

and art. When immigrants around the world
are feeling under siege, the Indian diaspora
THEIR
is coming of age and defying stereotypes.
In the US, the daughter of Sikh immigrants
from Amritsar is the unlikely face of President
Donald Trumps foreign policy at the UN, while
STAGE the daughter of a Chennai doctor, elected

the countrys irst Indian-origin senator, is
emerging among Trumps iercest opponents.
In the UK, another daughter of India, born
to Gujarati immigrants who led persecu-
BY ANANTH KRISHNAN
tion in Uganda, became one of the most
THE FUTURIST
Because he became the highest-paid CEO in the US last
year and is worth close to $1 billion
Because he has taken forward Googles transformation into

the worlds most advanced player in Artiicial Intelligence and
machine learning
Because he took a public stand against US President Donald

Trumps immigration ban when silence would have been a
much safer option as a prominent CEO, and raised $4 million
for refugees from Syria
Because he is betting big on Digital India, with Wi-Fi

enabled by Google now being used by millions in more than 110
railway stations
FEELING LUCKY
Returning to his alma mater IIT Kharagpur this year, he not only left
students inspired but also in splits over how he had to sneak into the
womens hostel as he courted fellow SUNDAR PICHAI
student Anjali, now his wife
44 CEO, Google Inc.
prominent campaigners for SATYA NADELLA GOPICHAND

P. HINDUJA
Brexit. Indians overseas 49 CEO,
are emerging among the Microsoft Corp. 77 Co-chairman,
most powerful advocates Hinduja Group
for tolerance and open-
CLOUD NINE
ness. From the CEOs of the ENVOY
worlds two biggest tech Because Microsoft AT LARGE
giants to actors and artists, stock is now trading at
they have spoken strongly the highest levels since NIKKI HALEY / NEW Because the Mum-
the year 2000, and bai-born British tycoon
as the movement of people
he has accomplished 45 US known as GP and
across borders comes what naysayers warned Ambassador to the brother Srichand P.
under increasing threat. three years ago was United Nations Hinduja remain UKs
The world listens when Mission Impossible richest Asian with a net
they speak. And at a time of reviving the sleeping worth of $24 billion
tech giant TRUMP CARD
growing global uncertainty, Because he is set
their voices are needed Because he has Because she is now to play a key role in
more than ever before. made Microsoft cool the face of the Trump Indias relations with
again after a lost administration to post-Brexit Britain
decade where it was the world and has the
left eating the dust of unenviable task of Because he has been
Apple, Facebook and reassuring 200-plus consistently bullish on
Google, with the com- countries that he wont Indias economic pros-
pany last year intro- be a disaster pects, now emerging as
ducing a well-received a brand ambassador for
new tablet and Xbox Because she has the Modi government
become for the worlds
diplomats a key con- Because he is pledg-
ALL IN THE FAMILY
duit to the still unpre- ing $10 billion to invest
Nadella has known his
dictable Trump White in distressed infra-
wife, Anupama, since
House and will play a structure, power proj-
childhood. Both Nadella
senior, B.N. Yugandhar,
major role in shaping ects and solar plants
and Anupamas father, Indias relations with for 1 GW in India
K.R. Venugopal, served Trumps America
as secretaries to P.V. PIECE OF HISTORY
Narasimha Rao Because the former
The group clinched a
South Carolina gover-
350 million deal in 2016
nor was conirmed in to acquire the War Oice
WORDSMITH
her new post with 96 Building, once Winston
Nadellas book Hit
Refresh will be published
senators support and Churchills oice, for a
this autumn only four against luxury hotel project
IN HER FOOTSTEPS
Haley, born Nimrata
Randhawa, has said the
example of her mother
Raj Kaur Randhawa, who
SIMON DAWSON/ GETTY IMAGES
according to Haley could

have become Indias
irst female judge if not
disallowed by family, will
spur her on to ight for
womens rights
THE DISPLACED *4 NIKESH ARORA, Former COO, SoftBank Corp *7 IVAN MENEZES, CEO, Diageo *11 SANT CHATWAL,
New York Hotelier *15 JAGDISH N. BHAGWATI, Economist *16 MINDY KALING, Actress *18 NITIN NOHRIA, Dean, Harvard Business
School *19 RAJU NARISETTI, CEO, Gizmodo Media Group *20 SUNITA WILLIAMS, Astronaut *Last year's ranking
20 GLOBAL INDIANS https://t.me/SaS_Books
ANIL AGARWAL SHANTANU

63 Founder NARAYEN
and Chairman, 53 Chairman,
Vedanta Resources President & CEO,
Adobe Systems
GOLD MINE
DIGITAL DON
Because he has
steered the resources
Because he was
giant through
INDRA NOOYI turbulent times in
elected this year as
KAMALA HARRIS / NEW chairman of Adobe
61 Chairperson world commodity
Systems to add to
and CEO, PepsiCo markets, diversiied 52 US Senator
his titles of CEO and
the groups interests,
president, a strong
and is now reaping
the beneits as prices ONE vote of conidence on
FORTUNES his record of leading
rebound TO WATCH
FAVOURITE one of the worlds most
recognised digital
Because he has in
Because she was Because the companies
the past year expanded
appointed to Donald daughter of a doctor
the companys pres-
Trumps newly from Chennai became Because Adobe
ence in India, from
created strategic the irst Indian- reported record rev-
the countrys irst $10
policy forum that American to be elected enues of $5.85 billion
billion LCD manufac-
will set the economic to the US Senate, from last year
turing plant that will
agenda for the new California
come online next year
administration Because he has
to the long-planned
Because she lent a shepherded Adobes
mega merger with
Because she has bat- powerful voice to the transformation from
Cairn India
ted strongly for women millions who joined a software provider
in male-dominated the womens march on to one of the biggest
UNDER FIRE The company Washington the day global cloud comput-
corporate America
has been attempting an after Trumps inau- ing powerhouses
image makeover, from guration, pledging to
Because PepsiCo
clean energy projects to continue the ight on
stock rose 10 per sponsoring events such BEFORE INSTAGRAM
cent last year, earning issues such as abortion Narayen irst founded
as the Jaipur Lit Fest in
Nooyi a 15 per cent London, after criticism for Pictra, a digital photo-
hike in compensation Because Harris, an sharing company, before
reported environmental
to $29.8 million for her attorney, is becoming a joining Adobe in 1998
violations and displacing
leadership leading igure in reviv-
tribal people for its
Niyamgiri mining project
ing the Democratic
in Odisha Party as it searches for
IN LETTER AND SPIRIT
new leadership after
Nooyi writes more
Hillary Clintons defeat
than 400 letters to the
parents of PepsiCos
employees every year, QUICK START The irst bill
thanking them for the introduced by Harris was
contributions of their to guarantee legal access
children for those detained under
President Donald Trumps
travel ban
=> INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

FAREED ZAKARIA LAKSHMI

53 Journalist N. MITTAL / NEW
66 Chairman
& CEO,
WORLDS GPS ArcelorMittal
Because he re-
emerged last year as STEEL IN
among Americas most HIS SPINE
credible voices during
AJAY BANGA a turbulent election,
overcoming a storm YUSUF HAMIED Because he doubled
of controversy over his net worth last year,
56 President and 80 Chairman, Cipla to around $15.9 billion
CEO, MasterCard plagiarism allegations
Because his company

Because he remains THE
SMART CARD one of the worlds most CRUSADER
weathered the collapse
inluential journal- in the global steel
ists, shaping opinion industry. As steel
Because one of the
through his lagship Because Cipla is prices recovered,
worlds biggest digital ArcelorMittal recorded
foreign afairs show becoming even more
payments companies its biggest rise in
on CNN and his col- global, making inroads
grew under his earnings in seven years
umns in The Washing- into its inal frontier,
leadership last year,
ton Post the United States,
with its stock rising by Because his company
where it acquired two
a record 22 per cent will, in the coming
Because he is among pharma companies for
the most persuasive $550 million year, put its weight
Because the Delhi
advocates of globalisa- behind Make in India,
University and IIM completing a joint
tion and free trade at Because his four
graduate heads the venture with the Steel
a time when his decade tenure at Cipla
inluential US India Authority of India for
country is divided over has seen the company
Business Council, a Rs 5,000 crore plant
building walls emerge as the worlds
which will play a key for specialised steel
largest producer of an-
role in advising Donald products
TRUMPED UP The usually tiretrovirals, treating
Trumps Washington
sober anchor has millions in India and
on ties with India
surprised viewers with Africa at a fraction of FREE KICK Possessing a
colourful and forthright the market cost keen interest in sports,
Because he spoke
language he has used Mittal owns a stake in
out for immigrants
for Trump, describing Because at 80, the English football club
after Trumps Muslim
him several times as a crusader of Cipla is Queens Park Rangers
ban despite being part
bullsh*t artist and using still going strong in his
of the Presidents CEOs
the b-word no less than global push to make
Town Hall
four times on live TV drugs more afordable
HERO OF THE HUNGRY

HISTORY SEEKER Born
Under Banga,
to an Indian father and
MasterCard was
Lithuanian mother,
felicitated by the World
Hamied had a statue
Food Programme for
in Lithuania built for
enabling electronic
Hermann Kallenbach,
payments for more than
the Jewish Lithuanian
2 million Syrian refugees
architect who was
Mahatma Gandhis close
friend in South Africa
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY ??

AZIZ ANSARI SALMAN RUSHDIE

34 Actor and 69 Writer
Comedian
SULTAN OF
MASTER OF SURREAL
THE LAUGH
Because he remains
Because the Parks
one of the worlds most
and Recreation star inluential writers,
DEV PATEL / NEW underlined his status evidenced by the huge
PRITI PATEL / NEW interest in his soon-
as one of Hollywoods
26 Actor hottest comedic talents 44 UK Minister to-be-published novel,
with his critically for International The Golden House
THE CUB acclaimed Netlix Development, MP
Because he speaks
KING series Master of None
truth to power, from
earning him a Golden
Globe nomination for THE POSTER advocating against
Because the Slum Chinas imprisonment
dog Millionaire star best actor WOMAN
of writers and activists
has become the irst to lambasting Trump
Because of his elo-
stop for anyone casting Because she was and the fake news tide
an Indian man in a quent monologue that
a vocal advocate for
Hollywood movie delivered a stirring call
Britain leaving the EU Because he gives
for racial unity, when
and played a key role as good as he gets on
Because he has built
he was given the hon-
in last years Brexit social media, pulling
an impressive resume, our of becoming the
campaign no punches in tweets
working with Hol- irst Indian-origin host
of the widely watched to his 1.26 million fol-
lywoods best, from Because she is a lowers
Nicole Kidman in Lion show Saturday Night
leading igure for the
to Jef Daniels in the Live, the day after
1.5 million-strong
Trumps inauguration DELAYED REACTION The
critically acclaimed TV Indian community in
Swedish Academy, which
series The Newsroom Britain. An Indian selects the literature
SUBTEXT Ansari diaspora champion, Nobel, last year inally
Because of his co-authored a book she works to strengthen condemned Ayatollah
widely praised perfor- on dating, Modern the communitys links Khomeinis fatwa against
mance in Lion, which Romance, that studied with the government Rushdie for The Satanic
earned him the irst the (often poor) texting
Verses. The 27-year-late
BAFTA award, beating habits of millennials. His Because in her dual condemnation came
favourites Mahershala advice: Dont ever begin a
roles as minister and after Iranian state media
courtship with a generic
Ali, Hugh Grant and diaspora champion, outlets raised another
greeting (Heyyyy!) and
Jef Bridges, and a irst Patel is well placed to $600,000 to add to
avoid lazy spelling (Dat
Oscar nomination for play a key role in Indias Khomeinis bounty
wud b gud)
best supporting actor economic relations with
post-Brexit Britain
NET WORTHY Patels
ofscreen charm and NEO THATCHERITE Patel is
humility have added to part of a new breed of
his popularity. He set the politicians who, despite
web alight after taking their immigrant roots, are
his mother as his date staunchly right-wing and
to the Academy Awards Conservative
and for the adoring looks
he gave his young Lion
co-star Sunny Pawar
WARIS AHLUWALIA SHALABH

/ NEW
KUMAR / NEW
42 Designer
and Actor 68 Industrialist
MR MULTI- THE
CULTURAL CANDIDATES
CONFIDANT
Because the Sikh
actor and designer, Because the
DR SANJAY who always wears his ANISH KAPOOR Chicago businessman
GUPTA / NEW turban proudly, has was Trumps most
turned prejudice into a 62 Sculptor prominent Indian-
47 Neurosurgeon message for tolerance American supporter,
and Journalist from getting kicked of ARTIST AS claiming to have
an Aeromexico light ACTIVIST contributed $4 million
in 2016 and being to his campaign. His
TELLY called Osama bin Republican Hindu
DOCTOR Laden in New York to
Because his sculp-
Coalition hosted a
tures and installations
having the NYC mayor mega bash for him
Because the Emmy have become perhaps
declare October 19 as
Award-winning chief the most sought-after
Ahluwalia Day Because he enjoyed
medical correspondent landmarks for cities
the ear of Trump the
for CNN remains around the world, from
Because he has candidate, and will
among the worlds Chicagos Cloud Gate to
transitioned seam- certainly emerge as
most inluential the ArcelorMittal Orbit,
lessly from quirky and a key conduit to the
journalists Britains largest piece of
memorable roles in the White House for In-
public art
Wes Anderson ilms dian interests, even if
Because the globe- The Darjeeling Limited the actual extent of his
trotting journalist Because he has
and The Grand Buda- inluence on Trump the
continues to shine his championed the rights
pest Hotel to starting President remains, as
spotlight on global of refugees and become
his own designer label, per critics, overstated
health issues that often a regular visitor to refu-
House of Waris
struggle to ind space gee camps around the
world, at a time when BETTING RIGHT Before
in mainstream media
MESSAGE TO TRUMP many in Europe are Trump, Kumar was an
Amid a spike in racially championing building early backer of Modi,
Because his widely
motivated attacks, walls, not bridges arranging for three US
watched CNN show, Ahluwalia had a strong Congressmen to visit
Vital Signs, has rede- message for Trump at Gujarat in 2013, pushing
ined health reporting Because Kapoor,
the India Today Conclave an American rethink on
who is Jewish, last year
in March when he said the once-barred Modi in
became the fourth win-
MEDICAL DETECTIVE it was time to ind your the run-up to the 2014
humanity, ind your truth
ner of the prestigious $1
Gupta is reportedly in general elections in India
million Genesis Prize,
talks with US channel
ABC for a new medical
sometimes known as
drama, based on his the Jewish communi-
life, telling the story tys Nobel, and donated
of doctors working his earnings to the
for a news television cause of refugees
channel who travel the
country solving medical BLACK MAGIC Kapoors
mysteries studio owns exclusive
rights to Vantablack,
the blackest artiicial
substance ever made
@A INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

LEISURE
DELHIS DYING AADYAM
CINEMA HALLS THEATRE PREVIEW
PG 82
APPAREL BY DIPA KARMAKAR

BAAHUBALI ON HER IDOLS
H U M AY U N S T O M B
Restoration
Drama
R
atish Nanda grew up, like so
many others, on stories of the
Persian inluence on Mughal ar-
chitecture. Then, about a decade
M ZHAZO
ago, the conservation architect got the
chance to visit Iran. I travelled around
for a month, looking for structures that
inluenced Humayuns tomb, the irst
grand example of Mughal architecture.
I found nothing, says Nanda, whose
work led UNESCO to dramatically ex-
pand the area of Nizamuddin classiied
as a World Heritage Site in November.
The grand scale, the site plan, the
material used, the four-dome layoutit
was all unprecedented, he says. There
are some inluences from Central Asia
and Iran, but theres evidence of Mughal
inluence on Iran, too: Not too many A,
AND
places other than India have deposits of A TISH N ionist
R erva t n
red sandstone and marble in the same cons e Aga Kha d
h th hin
region. What we have is something wit ation, be f
d o
original, something of great value. Foun storation in
the re to b
m
What value? Several kinds, it turns yuns
Huma amuddin
out. For one, it can provide employment Niz
to women from the nearby Nizamuddin
basti. Under an urban renewal pro-
LEISURE CINEMA
gramme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which

Nanda leads, scores of women have been trained in mak-
Silver Screens
ing tourist souvenirs, there are cultural events like qawwali
evenings, there are food stalls. The basti, which gets overrun W ith the closure of Regal cinema in Connaught
Place, Delhi lost another of its original single-
screen movie theatres. Post-Independence, Delhi grew
by thousands of visitors during the annual fairs (urs), has a
sanitation problem. So the trust has built and maintained outwards from the core zones of Lutyens Delhi, the walled
toilets that hundreds of visitors and residents use. Municipal city of Shahjahanbad and the Paharganj, Sadar Bazaar
schools and utilities have been renewed. Old structures in the and Karol Bagh areas, which are still dotted with the
basti, including a stepwell, have been restored. oldest single-screen movie halls of the city. Of those that
These activities are linked to the restoration and conserva- still exist, some have shut shop and lie in various states of
tion of the tomb, which AKTC has undertaken along with the disrepair, while others are still active, mostly attracting
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Municipal Corpora- audiences from their immediate neighbourhoods.
Varun Shiv Kapur
tion of Delhi and the Central Public Works Department. Its
not merely about preserving buildings. Its about linking peo-
ple and their livelihoods with their heritage, says Nanda. The Minerva
seeds of this project lie in 1997, in a gift given on the 50th an- Excelsior
niversary of Indias independence. At the time, the Aga Khan, Moti
leader and 46th imam of all Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslims, Golcha
ofered to restore the gardens surrounding Humayuns tomb. Filmistan
The task was then handed over to the AKTC. First laid out in DELHI Westend
1571, the gardens had been ravaged by decades of neglect and Imperial
had been remodelled by the British. Dur- Sheila
ing the gardens restoration, completed Palace
ITS NOT ABOUT
in 2004, the trust struck a partnership Amba
PRESERVING
BUILDINGS. ITS with the ASI, to determine via historical Alpna
ABOUT LINKING sources how the garden had originally
PEOPLE AND been laid out. The logical next step was to
THEIR LIVELI- then work on the restoration of the tomb
HOODS WITH and the surrounding buildings. ASI and
THEIR HERITAGE
the trust have been able to prove that this
entire area is of historic and architectural
importance, says Nanda.
The 26-acre site had already been
declared a World Heritage Site in 1993. Last year, the ASI-
AKTC partnership earned that status for the entire complex of
about 63 acres, covering 11 additional monuments. Conserva-
tion is not an end in itself; it is a means to a larger end. This
collaboration has provided livelihoods to hundreds of master
craftsmen, whose skills do not ind patrons these days, says
the architect, standing atop the Lakkarwala Burj, at the edge
of a newly laid out garden inside the famed Sundar Nursery,
adjacent to the tomb. Along with the Purana Qila complex and
the Delhi zoo, this is a vital green belt for New Delhi. Nanda
believes it could one day be turned into something like Central
Park in New York, only with far greater history and heritage. Golcha, Daryaganj
The nursery, established about a century ago, is the Daryaganj is home to
Golcha cinema. Like
third end of this urban renewal project. The all-new garden, Hauz Qazi Chowk
designed by landscape architect Mohammed Shaheer, has and Chandni Chowk,
close to 300 kinds of trees, and up to 78 bird species have been Daryaganj is a busy
commercial area, which
sighted here. That includes the irst sighting of the ultrama-
is probably why this
rine lycatcher in Delhi, says Nanda, as a lock of rosy starlings movie hall continues to
dance overhead, swooping and diving in concert. The birds are ind enough of an audi-
on their way to their summer capitals in Afghanistan and Cen- ence to sustain itself
tral Asia. Nature connects in a way that even history cannot. n Sheila, Paharganj
South of Sadar Bazaar is
Sopan Joshi Paharganj, dominated by the
New Delhi railway station and
cheap hotels. In the midst of
all this, the psychedelic Sheila
movie hall still stands proud
BOOKS
Westend, Sadar
Thana Road
Immediately outside the
Conservation
walled city, the old neighbour-
hood of Sadar Bazaar has
Chronicle
Westend on Sadar Thana
Road. The name comes from
the fact that Sadar Bazaar
was once at the westernmost
F or the irst volume of a planned
ive-volume series titled Rethink-
ing Conservation, the Aga Khan Trust
edge of urban Delhi for Culture chronicles its eforts to
restore Humayuns tomb and the sur-
rounding Nizamuddin area.
While the high standards of the
restoration work and the innovations
of the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal
Excelsior, Initiative have generated a steady low
Hauz Qazi Chowk
Standing in the heart of of headlines since the project began in
Old Delhi, Excelsior is 2007, this informative and well-illus-
still functional. Today, trated book provides a comprehensive
its facade is almost
completely integrated road map of the programme. Released
with the surrounding in February this year, it also explains
streetscape the rationale behind the trusts urban
approach to conservationwhich
includes health and education pro-
grammes for area residents.
With Indias rich heritage every-
Amba, Kamala Nagar
As Delhi grew after where under threatand rarely sup-
Independence, new cin- ported by world-class curationthe
ema halls came up in the book provides a much-needed barom-
newly urbanised neigh- eter for other organisations. Sadly, the
bourhoods. Amba, near
Kamala Nagar, is decid- text does not rise above the standards
edly modern, built on a of an NGOs annual report. The qual-
large plot with a dedicat- ity of the printing does not match the
ed space for parking
quality of the restoration itself, and the
photography in this volume does not
do justice to the beauty of its subject.
Nevertheless, the detailed catalogue
will make this a useful resourceas
well as an unrivalled guide to the
UNESCO World Heritage Site. n
Jason Overdorf
Minerva, Lothian Road

Within Shahjahanbad are An architechtural
many old movie halls. drawing of
Minerva was a small the- the Nila Gumbad,
atre located of Lothian Nizamuddin
Road, which along with
the Ritz served the
Kashmiri Gate area. It is
now closed
Imperial, Paharganj
Close by Sheila theatre
stands Imperial, another
grizzled survivor of now-
faded times. Unfortunately,
it has not survived the
passage of time as well as
its companionit has now
fallen to showing special
matinee shows (read: racy
movies)
Photographs by CYRIL KUHN and A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY 101

VARUN SHIV KAPUR
AC T O R S
Girl, Rising
W
hen Rajshri Deshpande auditioned for the role of a maid
in Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), her resume had bare-
ly four lines worth of work experience. But it was enough
to convince ilmmaker Pan Nalin. That role changed her
life. Deshpande will next be seen in Sanal Kumar Sasidharans Sexy
Durga, the Malayalam ilm which recently won a prize at the Rot-
terdam Film Festival. It follows a frightful night in the life of a young
couple after they hitch a ride. Filming was anything but easy. It was
hectic, shooting 12-14 hours a day. Every day I had to go through the
harassment, says Deshpande. You know its just a ilm but you end
up feeling it. I would return home and cry every single night.
Born in Aurangabad, Deshpande is the youngest of three sisters.
She studied law in Pune and worked at an ad irm for six years, until
she decided there was more to life than money. Mumbai became
home in 2009. Since then she has dabbled in theatre (including
backstage work for Naseeruddin Shahs Motley) and spent time in
Kerala, where she began learning kathakali and kalaripayattu. It
was during one of those trips that she met Sasidharan.
Deshpande may not be a household name yet, but she is getting
there, one ilm at a time. She plays Ismat Chughtai in the Nandita
Das-directed biopic on Manto, is shooting her irst ilm in her moth-
er tongue, Marathi, and has another Hindi feature in the bag. n
Suhani Singh
FA S H I O N
EPIC
INSPIRATION
F
ilm merchandise has been big
business for decades. BollyWoo,
an e-commerce start-up that
sells wardrobe replicas, has taken
it to a new levelworking with large
production houses to sell the outits,
accessories and even the locations
featured in their ilms. For the
companys latest gig, six designers
VIJAY POWAR
developed ready-to-wear apparel

inspired by the costumes used
102 INDIA TODAY A PR

M A RC
I LH2 4,
2 0,2 017
2 017
LEISURE
T H E AT R E
CREATIVE PURSUIT
Aimed at producing quality performances, Aadyam aims to become Indias gateway to theatre
F
or the past two years, Indian As in the past two years, the pro-
theatre has been getting a gramme features new productions
much-needed inancial boost 65 shows in all, running from
with Aadyams theatre series. April to November. Purva Nareshs
Audiences know they are in for an Bandish 2020,000Hz revisits the
experience as soon as they reach the glorious past of a nautanki singer
venuefrom being welcomed with a and a baithak (classical) singer.
performance of jal tarang and dholak Akash Khurana adapts Srikanta,
(Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon) to enjoy- The programme Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyays
ing chorizo pao and coconut water features new pro- novel about a nomad in Under the
(Loretta) in the food court. ductions65 shows Gypsy Moon. Quasar Thakore
Now in its third season, Aadyam in all, running from Padamsee presents a biting satire
aims for a balancing act with work April to November in Mother Courage and her Children
that highlights how theatre can be and Nadir Khan of Rage Group
small and wondrous too. Of the directs Vivaan Shah in Anand Ex-
seven new plays, two are part of the press, a play that celebrates friend-
new Black Box formatstaged ship. Making its Aadyam debut is
at G5A, a smaller venue, with the ity of staging is still paramount. The the popular Motley group, which
walls painted blackHoshruba idea is still to encourage innovation will have Vivaans older brother and
Repertorys Guards at the Taj and in staging and storytelling, free from musician-actor Imaad Shah direct
Aasaktas Gajab Kahani. However, a poverty of the imagination. And Three Penny Opera, based on the
as artistic director Divya Bhatia says, build new audiences for theatre with legendary 1920s musical by Bertolt
The intent is not small. The qual- new, fresh and quality experiences. Brecht with music by Kurt Weil. n
A helmet from
the ilm (left);
Baahubali-inspired
apparel: a dress
in Baahubalijust in time for the by Anupama Dayal idea of launching
launch of the epic franchises (red); jacket and a ready-to-wear
second instalment, Baahubali 2: pants by Mrinalini collection inspired
Gupta (checks)
The Conclusion later this month. by the film, as this
I wanted to keep it would attract a very
adventurous. In a way it speaks diferent audience from the one
of my own trekking journeys, that would have gone to see the
says Delhi-based Mrinalini Gupta, ilm and also ensure popularity
who developed a line of jackets in the north, says BollyWoo
and loose pants with a rustic spokeswoman Tanmaya Vyas.
twist inspired by a scene in which Yogesh Chaudhary, another
Baahubali scales a mountain. designer who worked on the
Showcased at a fashion show in collection, says his work features
Mumbai on April 7, the designers motifs and prints of the shield
agreed to create more commercial used by the antagonist in the ilm.
collections than their usual work I liked the lion better than the
W AT
in keeping with the mass market horse, he says. The collection

T RA
appeal of the ilm. We wanted to was a challenge and I chose the

venture into southern cinema and other for my inspiration. n
WA N
approached Baahubali with the Chinki Sinha

RAJ
A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY BC

Shahrukh Khan, actor, up

close and personal
Jumping Gymnasts
Dipa Karmakar,
gymnast, on the greats, training,
and whats next for her
BANDEEP SINGH
Q: You recently met the great Nadia Q: One thing you cant do without while training?
Comaneci. Tell us about it. A: My coach, Bisweshwar Nandi. He is always
A: My body was shaking. I thought I was there by my side. I remember once, when he got
dreaming, sitting next to her and giving an dengue, he couldnt come to training for 10 days.
interview. It was a wonderful experience. I was practising alone, and felt that something
There wont be another like her. important was missing.
Q: Who is your favourite male Q: If you met Produnova, Q: If you werent a

gymnast? And who is your favourite what would you say? Do gymnast, what would you
sportsperson? you see a day when a vault be? Whats your next goal?
A: Kenzo Shirai. He has introduced so is named after you? A: I started [gymnastics]
many new elements at such a young A: Id ask her how she at the age of ive-and-a-
age. His moves are clean. When he landed it. Right now it is half years. I have loved it
fumbled on the loor exercise at Rio, important to perfect what ever since. Im currently
I felt really bad he didnt win a medal. I already know. It is very training for the World
I dont follow other sports much. By diicult to come up [with Championships in Montreal.
far the best is Usain Bolt. To win back- a new vault]. In the near After that, the 2018
to-back Olympic medals and be that future, I will think and do Commonwealth Games and
consistent is just amazing. something about it. Tokyo 2020 await.
with Suhani Singh
with Suhani Singh

Volume XLII Number 17; For the week April 18-24, 2017, published on every Friday Total number of pages 108 (including cover pages)

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POWER LIST 2017

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aroon Purie

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PAKISTANS SHOW TRIAL PALACE INTRIGUES IN

Cover by NILANJAN DAS

SPY: PAKISTANS POV: BANKING

THE TIBET CARD

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their comments, its definitely far more than we

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nor Arunachal was tra- worldthan a political PU LLQUOTE

All at Sea Farm Debt Trap

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Curtains on a Games Jogis party, the Chhattisgarh Janata

W est Bengal Governor

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The week in social media

SHOW TRIAL Dont Block Social Media

Banking on Bad Debt

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JA MMU & K ASHMIR

1 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY

she did not die of natural causes. M A D H YA P R A D E S H

have managed to completely

THE RIVAL PARTIES

 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

Tomar, state minister Narot-

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / GETT Y IMAGES

COMES TO THE By Kiran D. Tare

 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

24 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

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MR BIG signed up for Jio Prime, the

Photograph by BANDEEP SINGH A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY

Because as chairman of Tata Trusts, which holds FAN CLUB

2 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA

Photograph by RACHIT GOSWAMI A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY 

Because hes still bullish on India when many

24 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

BLACK MONEY WARRIOR

A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY 

in agriculture start-up Aalika, 34, is a freelance writer;

Because he is the second-richest Indian after

 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

HEMANT MISHRA / GET T Y IMAGES

THE CHOSEN ONE

FIRST OFF THE BLOCK CHILDHOOD LESSONS FAST TRACK

WARRIOR PRINCE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE MOVE

3 INDIA TODAY A PR I L 2 4, 2 017

HEMANT MISHRA / GETTY IMAGES

Because he is one of Indias most proliic

DID YOU KNOW?

Because he was promoted to global senior

Amazon in Seattle in 1999

A PR I L 2 4, 2 017 INDIA TODAY 

RUBEN SPRICH / REUTERS

STILL IN THE RING Because at 74, he is still courted by

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Because Indigo notched a 40 per cent

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