He has moved to No 4 this year, up a notch from last year. Hardly surprising given that this year he has overseen the listing of India's largest IT company, TCS, and also acquired Daewoo Motor's plant in Korea. Thirteen years back, when Tata took over the reins of the conglomerate, he was not only stepping into the shoes of legendary entrepreneurs like Jamsetji Tata and JRD Tata, but also had to steer a company which was dominated by individual fiefdoms and was about to face a liberalised economy.

Today, the 100-year-old group is larger and stronger than it was ever before. It took on the might of the multinational automobile manufacturers by launching the country's first indigenously-made car — it operates one of the lowest-cost steel factories in the world and the largest private sector power utility company in the country and owns the largest integrated tea operation in the world. The Tatas aren't just a household name in the country.

Over the last one year the group's cars have rolled out in the UK, and it has acquired a Singapore-based steel company and is going to operate one of the world's largest under-sea cable networks in the world all part of Ratan Tata's ambitious dream to emerge as a multinational entity. An architect by training, Tata is now obsessed with a recently bought electronic piano and is on the lookout for a suitable piano teacher.

At 67, there has been much speculation about Noel Tata being his possible successor, but Tata continues to remain mum on the subject. Somewhat shy and reclusive yet fiercely aggressive, Ratan Tata may have stepped down from an executive role as the chairman of the Tata Group in 2002, but he is no less a force in India Inc.