Ratan N. Tata, chairman, the Tata Group of companies, India’s leading business conglomerate, has been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2003. Mr Tata received this coveted award at a glittering award banquet here on Wednesday night from L.K.Advani, deputy prime minister, who was the chief guest at the ceremony.

Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Law & Justice and Commerce & Industry, was the guest of honour at the event. The World Entrepreneur of the Year, N.R.Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, Paul J. Ostling, chief operating officer of Ernst & Young Global, Gregory K. Ericksen, Ernst & Young’s global director of the Entrepreneur of the Year Programme, and a large number of the country’s top industrialists, professionals and senior bureaucrats were present.

Since he took over the reins of the Tata Group in 1991, Mr Tata has achieved a makeover of far reaching dimensions. From a relatively unwieldy conglomerate, Tata has now changed the complexion of the Group to make it more nimble-footed and cohesive. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to become the world’s largest provider of end-to-end technology solutions; Tata Tea’s acquisition of the Tetley brand in UK makes it the world’s second largest tea marketer; Tata Steel is one of the world’s lowest cost steel makers and Tata Motors, traditionally a truck-maker, is today delivering the best selling passenger cars like the Sumo and Indica.

Mr Tata will now represent India at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award ceremony in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June 2004. 

Apart from the individual who is named the Entrepreneur of the Year, winners are also selected in several award categories based on  attributes like entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, strategic direction, global impact, innovation and personal integrity and influence. 

The legendary founder of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, Dr Verghese Kurien, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for making the milk cooperative movement a reality that has changed the lives of millions of farmers in India, boosting their livelihoods and offering a steady income. Kurien’s Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited) model has now been replicated in several states. 

Ajay Piramal, chairman, Nicholas Piramal, won the award in the Healthcare and Life Sciences category, while the award for manufacturing was given to Ashwin Dani, who has successfully made Asian Paints the country’s top paint-maker, way ahead of its global rivals. 

The husband-wife team of Radhika and Prannoy Roy of New Delhi Television (NDTV) were named the winners in the Information, Communications and Entertainment category, scoring over the traditional technology ventures.

Mumbai’s financial star, Uday S. Kotak won the award in the services category for Kotak Mahindra Bank, while Maruti Udyog’s Jagdish Khattar bagged the manager entrepreneur award. The start-up entrepreneur was Bangalore-based heart surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya, a novel hospital project to provide affordable healthcare to the masses. 

The awards were decided by a distinguished jury, chaired by the icon of Indian entrepreneurship, Mr Narayana Murthy. Other jury members included Ms Kalpana Morparia, executive director - ICICI Bank, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman - Aditya Birla group, Mr A.K.Purwar, chairman, State Bank of India, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group managing director- Bharti Enterprises, Dr Omkar Goswami, chief economist - Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Mr T.N.Ninan, editor and publisher- Business Standard.

Congratulating the winners, Mr Kashi Memani, chairman, Ernst & Young India said, “ Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of this country and the winners of our awards for this year are exceptional. As we look back over the award’s past five years in India, it gives us great pride and satisfaction that the nominations have been of such a consistently high quality. It is surely an indicator that the award programme has fired the imagination of Indian entrepreneurs.” 

Mr V.V.Ranganathan, national director for the EOY Program said, “This is not simply an award programme. It is a phenomenal moment in about forty countries around the world to foster the community of entrepreneurs. We receive more than 9,000 nominations worldwide on which some 300 or more judges spend thousands of dedicated hours studying the various nuances of entrepreneurship. This is truly the world’s business with absolutely no parallel because the process of nomination and selection is indeed very robust and perfected over a 17-year period across nations.”

About the Entrepreneur of the Year Programme 
The EOY Programme was first established in the United States, in 1986, to celebrate the achievements of outstanding individuals who head growing, dynamic businesses and are making a significant contribution to their respective economies. The Programme is now conducted in more than 40 countries. Some past winners of the EOY awards include Brijmohan Lal Munjal of the Hero Group, N.R.Narayana Murthy of Infosys, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Petroleum, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee, Jerry Yang of Yahoo and Scott Kriens of Juniper Networks. 

Note: CNBC will air the highlights of E&Y awards programme on  November 15, 2003 at 18.30 - 19.30hrs. The programme will be telecast again on November 16, 2003 at 1900 - 2000hrs.