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Letter from the Executive Editor: Generation Next

Liberalisation also created another kind of leader Indians have come to admire. Think Mukesh Ambani, Nandan Nilekani, and Sunil Mittal

Published: Jul 17, 2009 08:54:00 AM IST
Updated: Jul 17, 2009 09:20:26 AM IST

For various reasons, a few months ago, some of us at Forbes India concluded Nandan Nilekani would eventually take up public office — the outcome of an interesting question thrown at us by a friend: What pool will India extract her next set of political leaders from?

The context to the question was a fairly straightforward one. For decades, the first crop of leaders that ruled India owed their allegiance to the grassroots movements they came from. Over years, they worked assiduously at wooing electorates by tackling issues that mattered most to them until eventually they came to power. Think L.K. Advani, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh and Mayawati.

Around the time liberalisation took off, Indians opened up to the idea of another set of leaders — those who owed allegiance to their technical capabilities, but without a mass base of their own. That is perhaps the only reason why we have an accomplished economist as the prime minister; and other accomplished professionals who took to governance using the Rajya Sabha as a conduit.

Liberalisation also created another kind of leader Indians have come to admire. Think Mukesh Ambani, Nandan Nilekani and Sunil Mittal. Over the last 15-odd years, they created wealth not just for themselves, but for an ecosystem of a few million shareholders. But more importantly, they have an entourage of believers who again run into millions. For a political leader, it is the equivalent of having a loyal grassroots base that took the first generation of Indian leaders a few decades to build.

That they are technically accomplished is beyond doubt. And to boot, they are urbane, savvy and articulate. How else does Nandan write a book and hit the bestseller lists? What else explains the clamour to listen to Ambani or Mittal? And into this potent cocktail, add the fact that money isn’t their driver any more. To that extent, in the public eye, they are practically incorruptible.

Doesn’t it make sense then for them to seek public office; or for the country’s existing leadership to seek them out in much the same way that the PM sought Nilekani out? I’m not insinuating here that any of them will stand for political office. The limited point I’m trying to make here is that Nilekani is only the beginning.

That is why, while it was important for us to understand why Sunil Mittal needs MTN, it was equally important to know what he intends to do next. His answers make for interesting reading.

I hope you enjoy the issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together.


(This story appears in the 31 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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