Behind the Miracle: India's Mighty Movers

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With the IT industry no longer the sole face of a global India, this list draws special attention to rising industrialists such as B Muthuraman at Tata Steel and Kumar Mangalam at diversified Aditya Birla Group.

That's not to say that Infosys' N R Narayana Murthy, Wipro's Azim Premji, and Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) S Ramadorai are not interesting executives, but there's more to India than just outsourcing. Similarly, you won't find Arcelor Mittal's (MT) Lakshmi Mittal on the list, despite his fame in the global steel industry. He's a British citizen and has only recently started looking at investing in India.

Make no mistake: India has plenty of challenges ahead. Its vibrant outsourcing sector faces the twin challenges of rising wages and stiffer competition at home from the likes of IBM (IBM) and Accenture (ACN). For every enlightened politician, there are others who stand in the way of economic progress.

Yet the odds are good that India's economic and social dynamism (it is home to the youngest population in the world) will be worth watching closely in the years ahead. And the individuals that make up BusinessWeek's India's 50 Most Powerful People roster will be playing leading roles in this drama.

See BusinessWeek's slide show of India's 50 Most Powerful People.

Lakshman covers India business for BusinessWeek.