ENTREPRENEURS TO WATCH OUT IN 2013

By Ruma Dubey

2013 comes in with a lot of hope. More hope than what every New year ushers in. Coming on the back of two bad years, there is hope that this year will be much better than 2012. If RBI rings in the year with a rate cut, that, many say, will be like an omen of things to come – all good.

Just as there are many things to look forward to, many resolutions to make and break, India could also be defined by the some trailblazers, leaders who could change the course of history. Let us have a look at some of these leaders, business leaders, who could make or break, who are sure to create a furor and make their presence felt.

Cyrus Mistry: Undoubtedly, he will be the most watched man, taking over the reins from illustrious Ratan Tata. 2013 might be a year where he just gets comfortable, tries the fit of the shoe of his predecessor and only later, maybe in 2014, will be make attempts to make his own footprint.

Sanjay and Binny Bansal:  The man behind Flipkart, one of the fastest growing e-commerce company. He is just 29 years of age and in 2010-2011 had already clocked in a turnover of Rs.75 crore.  He is expecting to end this fiscal with a turnover of Rs.2500 crore! It already has over 4800 employees.

Phanindra Sama: CEO of redBus, a portal which sells bus tickets. The company was started when he got frustrated over inability to get tickets. Today his portal works with 700 bus operators in 15 states and sells around 6 lakh tickets daily. He sold his 10 millionth ticket in 2012.

Jang Bahadur Sangha: He is the uncrowned “Potato Prince” of India. Armed with a agriculture degree from Cornell, he has shown how the power of technology when used rightly, can transform lives. With over 6000 acres of land under potato cultivation, he has hit the big time.

Mukesh Bansal:  He is the founder of Myntra, a lifestyle e-commerce firm. His company recently raised $20 million  of funding from Tiger Global, IDG Ventures and Indo-US Venture Partners and over the next 4-5 years, hopes to become a billion dollar company.

Deep Kalra: Founder of makemytrip.com, from one small office in Delhi, he today has offices in 20 cities across India and 2 international offices in the USA. He got the stock listed on the Nasdaq in 2010.

Rishad Premji:  Wipro has a lot of things planned in 2013 and the listing of its demerged entity, Wipro Enterprises, will be the most awaited event. And the son of Azim Premji, Rishad Premji, 35, chief strategy officer of Wipro’s IT business, could be appointed on the board of the new entity to represent the family’s 80% shareholding.

These are just a few of the upcoming leaders who might come to become faces of India Inc in the near future. The future clearly is more about e-commerce and that is where the world is heading to. 2013 will also see the usual suspects – Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s youth president Anurag Thakur and Virat Kohli. It will be a year of consolidation, especially in the first half and we can expect great action from the second half.

Here is wishing the best to the upcoming entrepreneurs of India and hope this youth brigade chalks out a new path for India Inc.