Sunil Bharti Mittal

Hard-charging telecom tycoon, snatched the African unit of Kuwait's Zain for $9 billion. His flagship Bharti Airtel, now world's fifth largest telecom firm with 200 million customers in 19 countries. It paid a hefty $2.6 billion for a 3G mobile licence. His joint venture with WalMart runs cash-and-carry stores in North India. Other interests include food processing and insurance. He will be joining Unilever's board this May.Son Shravin joined Bharti's international unit in September, fuelling speculation about Mittal's succession plans.