Azim Premji, Wipro chairman
Position: 31 Last year: Not ranked
Why? The Bangalore tiger roars
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Azim Premji took over Wipro - a $2m hydrogenated cooking fat company - in 1966 at the tender age of 21.
Since then he has build the company into a $3bn IT and business process outsourcing giant that has given the major Western IT service providers something to worry about - and made Premji one of the richest men in India. He is worth $17bn according to Forbes.
Premji has previously predicted that there will be at least two Indian companies in the top 10 global services providers in the next five years - and it is already commonplace for companies to have an offshoring element to most major contracts.
Indian suppliers are also keen to move away from low-value work into high-end consultancy. They are also expanding outwards from their Indian base to build operations around the world - Wipro recently revealed plans to open a software development centre in Atlanta.
As one Agenda Setters panellist pointed out: "The Indian firms are incredibly impressive." But the trick for executives such as Premji will be to manage the fast growth of the Indian IT industry - and make sure it doesn't run out of fuel.
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