Name: Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi

After pursuing her graduation from Madras Christian College (MCC) in Chemistry, Physics and Math, she completed her Masters in Finance and Marketing from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta. However, her career profile was not satiating her wishes to do more in life and she persuaded her parents to let her study and went on to complete yet another Masters in Public and Private Management form Yale Management School in US.

The faculty members of IIM Calcutta say that she was a very mediocre student in the campus. However, Nooyi has surpassed everybody's imagination, when it was announced that she was going to replace the Steve Reinemund, CEO of PepsiCo. If she can achieve this insurmountable hierarchy thennothing is impossible for the determined and strong willed person, the only thing required is perseverance.

Azim Hasham Premji is the founder of Wipro Limited, India's biggest and most competitive IT company based in Bangalore. Premji was forced to leave his studies in computer science from Stanford University, California, USA at the age of 21 to take over the family business of vegetable oils when his father M.H. Premji, suddenly passed away in 1966. He had completed his degree in Electrical Engineering after a gap of over thirty years . Today he stands tall with his name placed in the Forbes Billionaire List 2000, in 41st position with a wealth of $ 6.4 billion.

Premji's story of success and prominence clearly shows how determination and perseverance, when coupled with knowledge, clear vision and proper planning, enable one to reach the peak of success and leadership. A straight forward person, he doesn't believe in resorting to bribery or corruption to get things done and associates quality with integrity. He is an absolute workaholic and according to him work is the only way to success and survival in a competitive environment.

The famous and versatile film actress, Shabana Azmi, is one of the icons of Indian Cinema. Daughter of a well-known theatre actress Shaukat and late Kaifi Azmi a well known Urdu poet and lyricist, she completed her degree in Psychology at St.Xavier's College, Mumbai and took a Diploma in Acting at the Film and Television Institute in Pune.

She was one of the few actresses in India, who could alternate with art films, as well as the commercial cinema with her natural and intensive acting. A perfectionist, she would go to great lengths to bring alive her characters on screen.She brings alive every mood and feeling with her intense portrayal. She has been acknowledged for her powerful performances with many awards. She is the winner of five National Awards for Best Actress .

Shabana Azmi is also a committed social and political activist. She has undertaken campaigns and made public statements over issues close to her heart, particularly social justice such as the rights of women, plight of slum dwellers etc. She is a leading advocate of AIDS awareness in India.

He received his initial education at Shantiniketan and then Presidency College, Calcutta. Amartya Sen joined Trinity College, Cambridge in 1953. He became the youngest chairman of the Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, at the age of 23. He was the Professor of Economics at various Universities in India and abroad.

Sen's contributions on welfare economics and definition of poverty in relation to development have offered a new philosophy and an alternative way to solid economic development. He was of the opinion that the World Bank system of ranking countries according to the GNP and saving rates was not enough and he helped to create the United Nations Human Development Index which has now become the most authoritative international source of welfare comparisons between countries. Some of his works include ' Choice of Techniques', ' Collective Choice and Social Welfare', ' Poverty and Famines', ' Development as Freedom' etc.

Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla is Chairman of the US$ 29.2 billion Aditya Birla Group and India's first truly multinational corporation. A chartered accountant, Mr. Birla earned an MBA from the London Business School.

When Kumar Mangalam Birla assumed the mantle at the Aditya Birla Group, Doubts were raised about his ability to handle a giant business house with interests spanning viscose, textiles and garments on the one hand and cement, aluminium and fertilisers on the other. But Kumar Mangalam proved his skeptics wrong. He brought in radical changes, changed business strategies, professionalized the entire group and replaced internal systems.

Born to A D Bhogle, a professor of French, and Shalini Bhogle, a professor of psychology, Harsh Bhogle is Indian cricket's first non player celebrity. He studied chemical engineering at Osmania University and later graduated from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.

Appointed as a Team advisor for the Mumbai Indians, he also has a book to his name.

Sabeer Bhatia, the pioneer in the field of first web based e-mail - Hotmail, was born in Chandigarh in the year 1969. He grew up in Bangalore and had his early education at Bishops Cotton School in Pune, then St. Joseph's College in Bangalore. For a short-time he was a student at the Birla Institute of Technology (BITS), Pilani and in 1988 he went to US on a Cal Tech Transfer scholarship to get a bachelor's degree at the California Institute of Technology. He earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Bhatia's success has earned him widespread acclaim. The venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson named him 'Entrepreneur of the Year 1997', MIT chose him as one of 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology and awarded 'TR100', San Jose Mercury News and POV magazine selected him as one of the ten most successful entrepreneurs of 1998 and Upside magazine's list of top trendsetters in the New Economy named him 'Elite 100'.

Son of PCS officer (civil service) and a lecturer in Political Science, Prasoon Joshi spent his childhood in Uttarakhand, India. After his schooling, he did his B.Sc. and Post Graduation in Physics. Thereafter he did his MBA from Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad. During his MBA education he decided to make his career in advertising.

Joshi, who is now responsible for all McCann creatives from the south-east Asian region, says, "fundamental human emotions are the same all over the world, only expressions are different" .