New Challenges for India's Most Powerful

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As that episode demonstrated, Ratan Tata, one of the business leaders on this year's list, has had a bit of a bumpy ride of late. The head of the Tata Group orchestrated one of the most high-profile new product launches in Indian history: the Nano, at less than $2,500 the world's cheapest car. But before the Nano's launch last month, he had to cope with extensive protests from farmers and others in West Bengal angry about the way Tata Motors had acquired land for the factory to make the car. Also weighing down the company: the costs of its 2008 acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford (F), completed just months before the auto market sank.

Big Names in Bollywood

In the world of entertainment, 2008 was the year of Slumdog Millionaire, the Oscar winner filmed in India. A.R. Rahman, who won two Academy Awards for Slumdog's music, has long been a Bollywood power, composing the soundtracks to many of the country's most popular pictures. This year's list also features several behind-the-scenes players. At a time when everyone from Steven Spielberg and Julia Roberts to Will Smith and the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) are looking to tie up with producers from India, would-be movie moguls Anil Ambani and Ronnie Screwvala are playing an important role cementing ties between Bollywood and Hollywood.

Other business leaders include Dilip Shanghvi, who has turned Sun Pharmaceuticals (SUN.BO) into one of India's top makers of generic and branded drugs. Despite the global economic crisis, he is expanding onto the global stage and is now trying to acquire Israeli generics drugmaker Taro Pharmaceuticals (TAROF). In the world of information technology, the Satyam scandal hasn't slowed down other Indian companies such as Azim Premji's Wipro (WIT) and N.R. Narayana Murthy's Infosys (INFY), but the recession in the U.S. is hurting them. IT companies are also facing tough competition from foreign rivals such as IBM (IBM), though, and Shanker Annaswamy, IBM India's managing director, makes our list this year for his role turning Big Blue into a powerful player in India.

A returnee to the BusinessWeek list is cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, the superstar whom companies want to endorse their products. We also feature an inspiring newcomer. One of the brightest moments last year for Indian sports fans was the victory at the Beijing Olympic Games of Abhinav Bindra. Competing in the obscure event of 10-meter air rifle, he won a gold medal last August, becoming the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics. Before he became a hero in India, Bindra received valuable support from a foundation backed by another name on our list, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's Mittal Champions Trust.

Einhorn is Asia regional editor in BusinessWeek's Hong Kong bureau.