Thursday, August 19, 2010

Amul Model to Diamon Industry

Amul model drives 1,500 diamantaires to form giant co to buy roughs


Surat: The Amul model of cooperatives has worked wonders for the country’s milk industry. Now, the same model promises to take the Indian diamond industry to the next level.
    Faced with shortage of roughs and growing competition from China, Indian diamantaires are coming together to form a company to source raw material. After brainstorming over the last weekend, it has been decided that
about 1,500 small, medium and large diamond merchants will float a company called Surat Diamond Sourcing (India) Ltd (SDSL) which will directly source roughs from mining companies across the globe and sell it to its members — all equal stakeholders — through a tender system.
    Already, about 60 to 70% of the rough diamonds mined across the world come to Surat. The move could raise the market share and also eliminate brokers, thus reducing costs.

To be formed under Companies Act by September-end, SDSL will
set up liaison offices in key mining countries like Australia, Canada, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to facilitate direct sourcing of roughs.
    The company will have an initial capital of Rs 1,000 crore. For membership, large manufacturers and rough dealers will contribute Rs 1.08 crore each. Over 1,000 small and medium manufacturers will contribute Rs 54 lakh each.
    Though SDSL can sell diamonds to any company in the world, registered members in Surat and other parts of India will get preference. While 200 diamond
manufacturers have already become members, the process of raising money from another 1,300 members will be completed over the next few weeks.
    “The new company will follow the ‘Amul’ pattern. We want to begin our operations with the direct sourcing of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe government has a stockpile of $2 billion worth of rough diamonds and we want to purchase it all,’’ said Ashit Mehta, founder member of SDSL and chairman of Blue Star,
a leading diamond company.
    “SDSL intends to compete with other players by becoming a sightholder or a client of big mining companies like De Beers, Alrosa, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. With a strength like this, we can buy any amount of rough put up for sale,’’ said Parag Shah, managing director of K Girdharlal.
    According to Chandrakant Sanghavi, chairman of Sanghavi Exports, almost all diamond trading company sightholders are keen to join SDSL.

SPARKLING MOVE Co to source roughs from Australia and Africa 60-70% roughs come to Surat 1,000 cr co’s initial capital 1.08 cr each big diamantaire’s contribution

Vedanta Group Anil Agarawal Sterilite Fortune



Wheels of fortune: Patna boy rides high on ‘Cairn-do’ spirit
Mumbai: A section of analysts may have conveyed their discontent on the latest catch by Vedanta Resources—Cairn India—but its founder chairman, Anil Agarwal, was never known to take business decisions to please analysts.
    Investors may have a nose for picking on the wrong moves by corporates, but for the Patna-born matriculate, business acumen is not something you acquire in B-schools.
    Trace back to where Agarwal began 30 years ago as an electric cable maker. While another businessman in Agarwal’s place would have continued to focus on making cables, Agarwal decided to get into copper smelting. This was to mainly to meet his requirement of copper which was the most expensive input for making cables. These instances during the late ’70s sum up his uncommon business sense.
    Copper was the starting point in his climb as a first generation entrepreneur. Agarwal was keen on making it big in a country dominated by a few large corporates and he proved skeptics wrong after he went in for a slew of acquisitions to expand his empire. It all started with public sector aluminium maker Balco, in which he acquired the government’s stake to enter aluminium, and later bought another government-owned company, Hindustan Zinc. It was then that the industry really took note of Agarwal’s growing appetite for acquisitions. By quickly turning around these loss-making PSUs, Agarwal also came to be known for his project implementation capabilities.
    Despite not having either the initial sofistication to match the industry’s leading corporate leaders, or the pedigree, Agarwal, a son of a small time businessman who made aluminium conductors, developed a keen eye for assets that proved to be value accretive for his business. His inorganic growth spree earned Agarwal his current status, with perhaps the only thing organic about him being his business acumen.
    Cut to August 2010, the market capitalisation of Vedanta Resources is $9.6 billion. His business has come a long way, from a turnover of Rs 3 crore in 1986 to about Rs 3,29,000 crore ($70 billion) in
    just under 25 years.
“At the end of the day, Anil Agarwal is a business man. He knows how to walk the talk. When he first talked about listing Vedanta Resources on the London Stock Exchange, he was benchmarking his group against the likes of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, and not Hindalco. Now, when he is taking the first step into the oil & gas sector, he would be looking at the league of Exxon Mobil and BP,’’ said an industry expert.
    Agarwal has shown interest in strong assets, which may or may not fit into stubborn management definitions of ‘core competence’ or ‘related business’. At one time, Sterlite Industries was eyeing the g ove r n - ment’s stake in Shipping Corporation of India in 2003, and a few years later, the flagship company of Vedanta had teamed up with Morgan to bid for a strategic stake in the oldest financial institution, IFCI. It is another thing that neither of the deals materialised. What mattered was the resolve of the man who was pursuing these assets — with the zeal of a takeover tycoon.
    To gain industry leadership in iron ore in India, it acquired Dempo’s assets through Sesa Goa for Rs 1,750 crore last year. In May this year, Vedanta Resources acquired the zinc assets of Anglo American for $1,338 million, becoming the world’s largest integrated zinc manufacturer. Last year, Sterlite gave a strong fight for acquiring the operating assets of the beleaguered Asarco. However, this did not go in the company’s favour.
    Agarwal doesn’t believe in fretting over deals gone sour. When Asarco slipped out of Sterlite’s hands, an insider had commented, “sometimes things happen for the better,’’ as if echoing the promoter’s thinking.
    Now, with some of his mining activities coming in conflict with environment groups for alleged flouting of norms, the task ahead may seem uphill. The idea to spread the risk and expand the business portfolio may therefore stand him in good stead in the future. His penchant for diversification from non-ferrous metals to mining iron ore (when he acquired Sesa Goa) to power to the latest big move into oil and gas, stand out as he yearns to be the natural resource champion of the country.
    “When Agarwal listed Vedanta Resources, he never claimed that he would restrict his company to metals alone. The word ‘Resources’ in the company’s name means he would look at every resource that makes business sense for the group to foray into,’’ said an analyst.
    Who knows, the unassuming Agarwal may already be strategizing his next move to expand the resources basket. Except that it would be another milestone in his journey from being a scrap dealer to a metals & mining magnate, with his net worth in excess of $6 billion.

R A M E S H C H AU H A N C H A I R M A N , B I S L E R I I N T E R N AT I O N A L

CO R N E R O F F I C E

Thums Up to man who builds brands

At the outset, a little confession would do a great deal: Ramesh Chauhan is a journalist’s delight. Every second sentence from this MIT-trained chemical engineer is a quotable quote. For a journalist interviewing him, it is a treat.
    We met Chauhan (70) at Mumbai’s Cricket Club of India — his second home — on a rain-soaked evening just after he wrapped up a game of tennis with his buddies. Chauhan told us that he had been following this ritual since 1993, when, after selling off Thums Up, Limca and Gold Spot to Coca-Cola for Rs 400 crore, he was practically “unemployed’’. He took a while to get back to doing what he does best: Building brands.

    Chauhan joined the family business in 1962 and acquired Bisleri from Felice Bisleri, an Italian company, in 1969 — his first real brush with big business. In those days, asking somebody to pay for drinking water would have been looked upon with disbelief. So he chose to launch Bisleri as soda in glass bottles — bottled water could wait.
    The brand later changed gears and introduced Bisleri water in PVC packaging to make it more affordable. And then in the mid-’90s, this UStrained management brain got his act together: Launched Bisleri in smallsized packs, gave a strong marketing push and expanded its reach. Today, with a 60% market share, it’s the leader in the organised segment.
    As we started discussing how he single-handedly built the business, Chauhan, dressed in suspenders and donning his trademark cap, preferred to go beyond business to talk about water harvesting, a subject he is passionate about. The rain water being wasted on the CCI ground offered a good enough reason to broach the topic. He believes that the water scarcity the country faces is because of lack of planning. Looking at the rain outside, we couldn’t agree more. “As a country, India receives the highest amount of rainfall in the world. And we need to capture it. It is painful to watch all this rain water getting wasted,’’ he rued, while sipping on barley water, which he said was good for the bones.
    Having grown up in the western suburbs of Mumbai (Vile Parle), a stone’s throw from where his factory is located, Chauhan knows about the problems the city faces. But is there a solution? “It doesn’t need any research. Just the will to do it is enough. We just take a decision that everybody will be involved in water harvesting in our area,’’ he said.
    Statistics on this issue
    are clear. Almost 90% of
    the rain water is sent
    to the sea. “If you
    can make that 90%
    into 80%, you double
    the water resources. The potential is huge,’’ he tells us enthusiastically.
Trained in MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Chauhan has a simple solution to today’s water problem. “We get caught up with the question of how much it takes to do rain water harvesting in a building? Is it cost effective? But it doesn’t take much...say about Rs 60,000-80,000 per building,’’ he said. It was when Chauhan started to elaborate on the process — “first, one has to dig out the land and go as far as you can go. Then fill it up with large boulders, then smaller boulders, then even smaller boulders, then sand, then soil and then one grows grass...’’— that we realised his depth of knowledge on the subject.
    As we tried to veer away from water harvesting towards his business, once again, an adamant Chauhan brought us back to where we left. He was frustrated by the fact that not much was happening in a metropolis like Mumbai.
    We managed to steer him back to his business by mentioning how in a city like Mumbai, where water is a serious problem, a Bisleri truck on the road is common sight. “We are more in a transport business than water business,’’ the chairman of Bisleri International said jovially, while adding, “If we add more trucks to our fleet of 160, there is a good chance of a traffic jam in the city.’’ That’s Chauhan’s favourite line, which he doesn’t mind repeating each time he is prompted to do so. Besides, the fact that Bisleri International manages the logistics of India’s leading packaged water brand effectively, only goes on to prove that demand for drinking water in the country is growing rapidly. Chauhan feels it is a strength to own a network of trucks to service customers directly. This way, the company has completely done away with warehousing, carrying and forwarding agents (C&Fs) and depots, where FMCG products are generally stored.
    With so much behind-thescenes activity taking place at Bisleri on a day-to-day basis, we wonder how Chauhan sticks to his routine office hours of 10 am to 2 pm? “Efficiency,’’ he says, adding that he does not want to find out who’s not doing his job well. “If I find out, my blood pressure will go up for no reason,’’ he added. Chauhan to step down in two years
    When further questioned on how, unlike other owner CEOs, does he manage to wind up work in four hours, Chauhan once again gave us a glimpse of his humourous side by saying, “mismanaging is better,’’ with his characteristic smile in place. As we remind him that the business environment was becoming more competitive, and that there was a war-for-talent out there, Chauhan revealed his plans of putting in place a business development team to work on innovative ideas. The mission is to make Bisleri available everywhere and even deliver at night. Chauhan said Bisleri needed to learn how milk and newspapers are delivered everyday. 

    The business development team would include mid-level managers who are expected to drive Bisleri International’s plan to accelerate the pace of growth from the current 18-20% growth per annum, to 40-50% per annum.
    So, is the company looking at new business avenues, too? “We are spoilt with water. It will be ‘water plus’ for us. Any additions to that and we are asking for trouble,’’ Chauhan said. He, however, dropped a hint that the company would look at entering the flavoured water sector in the future. In premium water, Bisleri has already made a move with Vedica to compete with Himalayan.
    Chauhan also wants to develop the bottled water market in Punjab and UP, “market leader Bisleri is not doing its job well. We have to put our act together,’’ he added.
    Aha! So that’s the reason behind setting up a special team to implement the plan of action and put Bisleri on a high-growth trajectory, we conclude. But such talk management jargon does not find favour with the entrepreneur. That comes out clearly in Chauhan’s unambiguous remark: “We need efficient managers, who are more hands-on and not bookish or theoretical. We don’t have huge corporations backing us. So we have to be light-footed and mobile.’’
    What’s more. Chauhan’s A-team is not likely to include stars and long-standing achievers from corporate India either. “That is because we will have to make them unlearn first. So it is better they get the experience from us,’’ said Chauhan, triggering another round of laughter.
    But we realised that one cannot be betrayed by Chauhan’s unconventional demeanour, behind which lies hidden his business acumen. For one, Chauhan’s eyes lit up while talking of the time when Coca-Cola had to leave India in the ‘70s. “It was a wonderful time for all of us (referring to all Indian cola makers). We had a windfall,’’ he said.
    Or when asked for the nth time why he sold off his carbonated drinks business to a multinational, Chauhan didn’t tire of explaining that there was no choice left and that the cola majors would have in any case bought out all his bottlers.
    Chauhan also does not depend on data from market research firms as much as he believes in his own gut feeling. The company still uses the metrics and ratios of the percentage of Thums Up that was sold in a particular city three decades back to tally if Bisleri was getting the ratios right now.
    Chauhan is equally comfortable to talk about his failures as he is with his successes. The company had delivered a string of failures like ‘Big Bite’, ‘Bisca’ noodles and ‘Sweet Choice’. Chauhan looks upon them for learnings like, “stick to your core competence and never overstate your brand’’.
    He has one grievance though: He was never employed in any company. Chauhan often tells his daughter Jayanti, who joined the family business over a year ago that she should gain some experience in other companies. While we don’t know if she would take that cue, but one wonders if this was the best thing that happened for Chauhan. Over the years, he has developed his own business sense which is not the run-of-the-mill kind. Not to forget that even before consumerism hit India’s shores, it was iconic brands created by him such as Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca that quenched the consumers’ thirst even in small towns. It speaks volumes about the brand’s strength that even today, multinational brands powered by high-decibel advertising have not been able to overthrow Thums Up from its pedestal.
    An interesting insight into one of Chauhan’s traits is his trust in people who have had a longstanding relation with him. A case is point being how he chose to move with the men who managed his finances at DSP Merrill Lynch, which is now under Bank of America. Or for that matter, his associations with ad men like Ashok Kurien and Arun Nanda.
    With Chauhan planning to hang his boots in two years when he turns 72 — since the number sounds good to him — we ask if Jayanti would take over. “I hope so,” came the reply.
    On whether he would take Bisleri public, Chauhan responded in negative. “Listing for what? We don’t need the money,’’ he says. When prodded further on other plans — be it an acquisition or another marketing gamble — he is cryptic in his response: “Don’t make too many plans. Haven’t I said enough?’’ We get the point and prepare to leave.
    It had stopped raining by the time we left the CCI premises — charmed by his frank talk, witty responses and showered with anecdotes. Our thoughts on the man we spent more than an hour interviewing were clearer than the skies above. We were reminded of a recent speech by Nitin Nohria, the dean of Harvard Business School, in Mumbai where he had said that “Studying ingenuity of real managers is essential to develop a sense of innovation among students.’’
    Nohria may not have had Chauhan in mind when he said that. But it is very likely that management students would gain immensely studying the ingenuity of the man who gave us Thums Up, Limca and Bisleri. Because when it comes to Ramesh Chauhan, you never know what’s the next killer idea.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Oil and Gas Industry

Oil and Gas/Petroleum Companies.

    * Alwarid Oil Services Company,alwaridoil.com,Libya
    * Aban Offshore Oil Company
    * Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), United Arab Emirates
    * Agip Petroli S.p.A
    * AinMine Petroleum
    * Aker Geo AS, Norway
    * Alon USA, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
    * Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, The Woodlands, Texas,
       United States of America; Independent
    * ANCAP, Uruguay
    * Apache Corporation, Houston, Texas, United States of America; Independent
    * Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), Libya
    * Arbusto Energy, dba: Spectrum 7, United States of America, Saudi Arabian,
        and possibly Swiss ownership. Bought out by Harken Oil & Gas in 1986
    * Assam Oil Company Ltd. (ACL), India
    * Atlantic Petroleum, Faroe Islands
    * Athlone Group, United Kingdom
    * Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, India
    * BG Group, United Kingdom
    * BHP Billiton, Australia
    * BreitBurn Energy, California, United States of America
    * Buzachi Petroleum Operating, Kazakhstan
    * British Petroleum (BP), United Kingdom
    * Cairn Energy, United Kingdom
    * Canadian Natural Resources, Canada
    * Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, California, United States of America
    * Chem-Energy Corporation, United States of America
    * Chestnut Petroleum, Inc., Richardson, Texas, United States of America
    * Chief Oil and Gas, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
    * Citgo, Venezuela
    * CNOOC Ltd., China
    * ConocoPhillips, United States of America
    * Cooper Energy, Australia
    * Cosmo Oil Company, Japan
    * Crown Central Petroleum, United States of America
    * Cupet, Cuba
    * Denbury Resources, Inc., United States of America
    * Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA, Norway
    * Devon Energy, United States of America
    * Dong, Denmark
    * Ecopetrol, Colombia
    * Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Italy
    * Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (ENAP), Chile
    * Enbridge, Canada
    * EnCana, Canada
    * Energopetrol, Bosnia
    * ENSCO International, United States of America
    * Eni, Italy
    * ENX, Switzerland
    * ENXRU, Russia
    * Essar oil ltd., India
    * Entreprise Tunisienne d'Activites Petroliere (ETAP), Tunisia
    * Eser Corporation, United States of America
    * ExxonMobil, United States of America
    * First Texas Energy Corporation, United States of America
    * Flying Jadooo (for sale), United States of America
    * Galp Energia, Portugal
    * Gazprom, Russia
    * Geoexploration india, IN, India
    * Global Energy Swiss AG, ZUG, Swizterland
    * Greka Energy, United States of America
    * Grupa LOTOS, Poland
    * Gujarat Gas Co. Ltd., India
    * Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, India
    * Gulf Oil, Luxembourg
    * Harken Energy Corporation, dba: HKN Southlake, Texas,
       United States of America of America
    * Hellenic Petroleum, Greece
    * Hess Corporation, United States of America
    * Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, India
    * Husky Energy, Canada
    * IB Daiwa, Japan
    * Imperial Oil, Canada
    * INA – Industrija Nafte, Croatia
    * Indian Oil Corporation, India
    * Inpex, Japan
    * Irving Oil, Canada
    * IQ Petroleum, USA
    * Japan Energy, Japan
    * Japan Petroleum Exploration Company Limited (JAPEX), Japan
    * Jay Oil, Iran
    * Kaz-Munay Gaz, Kazakhstan
    * Karazhanbas Munay, Kazakhstan
    * Korea National Oil Corporation(KNOC), South Korea
    * Koch Industries, United States of America
    * Kuwait German Petroleum Company, Canada
    * Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, Kuwait
    * Kuwait National Petroleum Company Kuwait.
    * Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait
    * Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kuwait
    * Leowit Group Ltd, Hong Kong
    * LUKoil, Russia
    * M3nergy Gamma SDN. BHD., Malaysia
    * Maersk, Denmark
    * Marathon Oil Corporation, United States of America
    * Maurel & Prom, France
    * Mari Gas Company Limited, Pakistan
    * Maxol Group, Republic of Ireland
    * MedcoEnergi, Indonesia
    * Misc, Malaysia
    * MOL Group, Hungary
    * Naftna Industrija Srbije, Serbia
    * Naftogas of Ukraine, Ukraine
    * National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Iran
    * National Oil Corporation, Libya
    * Neste Oil, Finland
    * Nexen, Canada
    * Nippon Oil, Japan
    * NNPC, Nigeria
    * Northern Resources[1], Canada
    * Northern Oil and Gas[2], United States of America
    * Oil Planet International Corporation OPIC
        united States of America www.oilplanetinternationcorp.com
    * Oil and Gas Development Company Limited[3], Pakistan
    * Occidental Petroleum, United States of America
    * Oil India Limited, India
    * Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India
    * OilandGasSuppliers.com [4], United States of America
    * Oman Oil Company (OOC), Oman
    * OMV, Austria
    * ONGC, India
    * PKN Orlen S.A., Poland
    * Pacific Rubiales Energy, Canada
    * PSO, Pakistan
    * Pasargad Oil, Iran
    * Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico
    * Pertamina, Indonesia
    * Petróleos de Venezuela, Venezuela
    * PetroAlam, Egypt
    * Petroleum Development Oman,(PDO)
    * Perenco, France, United Kingdom
    * Petro-Canada, Canada
    * Petrobras, Brazil
    * PetroChina, China
    * PetroKazakhstan, Kazakhstan
    * Petrom, Romania
    * Petron Corporation, Philippines
    * PETRONAS, Malaysia
    * Petronet LNG Limited, India
    * Petropars Ltd., Iran
    * PETROTRIN, Trinidad and Tobago
    * PetroVietnam, Vietnam
    * Polish Oil and Gas Company, Poland
    * Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP), United States of America
    * PTT Public Company Limited, Thailand
    * Qatar Petroleum, Qatar
    * Questar, United States of America
    * Reliance Industries Limited, India
    * Repsol YPF, Spain
    * Revus, Norway
    * Rompetrol Group N.V., Romania
    * Rosneft, Russia
    * Royal Dutch Shell, Netherlands, United Kingdom
    * RWE Dea AG, Germany
    * Sagiz Petroleum, Kazakhstan
    * Samir (Société Anonyme Marocaine de l'Industrie du Raffinage), Morocco
    * San-Ai Oil, Japan
    * Santos Limited, Australia
    * Sasol, South Africa
    * Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia (the largest in the world)
    * Schlumberger solutions France
    * Shell Canada, Canada (subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell)
    * Shell Oil Company, United States of America (subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell)
    * Sinclair Oil, United States of America
    * Sinopec, China
    * Snpc, Congo-Brazzaville
    * Sonangol, Angola
    * Sonatrach, Algeria
    * Sovereign Group, USA, Russia
    * Singapore Petroleum Company, Singapore
    * Statoil, Norway
    * State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR Azerbaijan
    * Somerset Refinery, United States of America
    * St. Mary Land & Exploration, United States of America
    * State Oil Company of Suriname, Suriname
    * Suncor Energy, Canada
    * Surgutneftegaz, Russia
    * Syncrude, Canada
    * Talisman Energy, Canada
    * Tesoro, United States of America
    * Texaco, United States of America
    * THUMS, United States of America
    * Todd Energy, New Zealand
    * Total, France
    * Tullow Oil, United Kingdom
    * Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO), Turkey
    * United Refining Company, United States of America
    * Ucimet Ltd, UK
    * Vaalco Energy Inc., United States of America
    * Valero Energy Corporation, United States of America
    * Vegas Oil and Gas (Kriti), Egypt
    * Venoco Inc., United States of America
    * Wintershall, Germany
    * Woodside Petroleum, Australia
    * XTO Energy, United States of America
    * YPF, Argentina
    * YPFB, Bolivia
    * Zorro Oil, Jember
    * Halliburton, United States of America

Corporate Leaders Concern- Talent Acquisition Jobs Vacancy Recruitment - HRM (Human Resource Management)

1.   Shri Anil Manibhai Naik L&T
2.   Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty
3.   Shri R.K. Krishna Kumar
4.   Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty
5.   Shri Arunmugam Sakthivel
6.   Dr A S Ganguly

7.   Dr.PrathapC. Reddy
8.   Col. Satya Pal Wahi
9.   Rustomji Homusji Modi
10. Suresh Shankar Nadkarni



Dr A S Ganguly 




Noted industry expert and former chairman of Hindustan Lever Ashok S. Ganguly was named one of the recipients of this year’s Padma Vibhushan awards.Ganguly, a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry, served as Hindustan Lever’s (now Hindustan Unilever) chairman during 1980-90. During his over 35 years’ professional career, he had also been member of several government committees.





Dr. Prathap C. Reddy 


 Is an Indian doctor and businessman who founded the first corporate chain of hospitals in India, the Apollo Hospitals Group in 1983. He is the Executive Chairman of the company. [1][2]

He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1991 by the Government of India. He also received the second highest accolade in the Indian civilian awards, the Padma Vibhushan in 2010 [3]. Though a trained allopathic doctor ,he affirmed his belief in Ayurveda by citing the recovery of his own brother from rheumatoid heart disease when the same could not be cured by Allopathy medicines, in an interview to a telugu news channel(translation of his statement:I dont agree that Allopathy is ultimate because of my own experience.When my elder brother was diagnosied with rheumatoid heart discease in 1953, Doctors have told that he will not live for more than few weeks.Then he was treated with ayurveda medicines in kotipalli.He has completely recovered in six weeks.Many disceases which are not curable by the current medicines can be cured with Ayurveda)

A trained cardiologist at Stanley Medical College, Chennai, Dr. Reddy worked at the Missouri State Chest Hospital, where he headed several research programs. The absence of world-class medical facilities in India spurred him to set up the first Apollo Hospital in Chennai in 1983, at a time when private healthcare institutions were virtually unknown in India.

Over the years, Dr. Reddy has been able to attract the best medical talent to India including doctors from hospitals in the US and UK. He has also been instrumental in bringing several regulatory changes that relate to licensing, ceasing of import restrictions, permission for organ transplants, etc. Dr. Reddy’s pioneering approach and tireless efforts have contributed significantly to the emergence of the private healthcare sector in India. For his contributions, Dr. Reddy was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1991.