News: 'I expect 20 desi firms in Fortune 100 list in 10 yrs' - Ambani

(PTI 31/10/2006) Bangalore - Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani today said he expects 20 Indian firms to make it to the list of global Fortune 100 companies in the next one decade.

Speaking at the Foundation Day at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), of which he is the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Ambani said India has one of the largest and best talent pool of managers in the world.

"There has been an increasing emergence of Indians at the help of major global businesses", he said.

"This trend is just a beginning. In the next one decade, I expect out of the Fortune 100 companies globally, we would have 20 per cent leadership. We have the opportunity and wherewithal to create so many global business leaders".

He said a key challenge that India would face in the 21st century is in the field of management. "Quality of management will make all the difference between achievement and mediocrity".

India is not short on ideas but execution remains the critial gap, he said, adding good management education can fill this gap and shape the ability to execute and excel.

"Management education needs to make quantum jump," Ambani said. "It should now look beyond creating managers by creating entrepreneurs. The true success of management education is in unleashing the spirit of entrepreneurship".

He expressed the view that leadership is not a fiction, or a position, or a rank. "It's a state of mind".