2020: The Challengers

Nothing tests the true mettle of leadership better than adversity. If the already slowing economy were not enough, the Covid pandemic and the lockdown further crippled businesses and left millions unemployed. GDP contracted 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal. It is in this light that we need to see India today’s annual Power List this year. The 50 personalities featured here have one trait in common: rising above the ordinary in extraordinary times. Corporate czars like Mukesh Ambani or K.M. Birla are thinking ahead at a time when new-age enterprises threaten traditional businesses. Others, like Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal or Byju Raveendran are using the crisis as an opportunity to grow their business. Superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan or corporates like the Tatas are doing their bit by donating funds, arranging meals for the needy or spreading awareness to tackle Covid. Voices like those of Rajiv Bajaj or Kiran Mazumdar Shaw or Prashant Bhushan are keeping our moral compass steady. The power these men and women wield furthers not just their own cause but also illuminates the lives of others. That has been the one bright silver lining to the dark clouds of Covid that have eclipsed a greater part of 2020.

NO.1 MUKESH AMBANI

63 Chairman & MD, Reliance Industries

The Ultimate Tycoon

Because he remains India’s wealthiest and most influential businessman, ranking No. 1 in the Forbes India rich list for the 13th consecutive year, with a $88.7 billion (Rs 6.5 lakh crore) net worth, his wealth growing 73 per cent in the past year

Because his game-changing Reliance Jio, launched in September 2016, is now India’s #1 mobile telecom operator by revenue and subscribers, who numbered 398.3 million as on June 30, 2020

Because even amid Covid, he stitched mega-deals with global investors like Google, Facebook and Intel, turning RIL into a nimble, futuristic enterprise via its digital arm Jio Platforms, raising over Rs 1.5 lakh crore since May this year

Because armed with Rs 1.75 lakh crore of cash as on March 31, 2020, he is expanding businesses, launching JioMart in May in 200 cities and acquiring the retail and wholesale business of Kishore Biyani’s Future Group for Rs 24,713 crore

BUSY BEE: Ambani added Rs 90 crore per hour to his wealth since the lockdown, as per the latest Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020

BOOKWORM: Devours books on technology and renewables, identifying green energy as a future thrust area for RIL

2. KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA

53 Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

ROCK SOLID