Infosys chief is most admired business leader

Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy has emerged as the "Most Admired Business Leader" for the fifth consecutive year in the annual B-school study conducted by Brand-comm, a leading brand consulting and advertising firm.

As many as 545 students from 13 leading management institutes across the country, including three IIMs, participated in the survey.

"Murthy is admired for being a socially responsible individual. He is looked up to as a leader who is honest and passionate about his work. The clarity and consistency in Murthy's personal branding and positioning seem to have been highly effective," Brand-comm chief executive officer Ramanujam Sridhar told a news conference after revealing the findings of the survey here today.

The second position in the list belongs to Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. "Though Tata was in the second position last year as well, the margin between the first and second positions has widened this year. He is admired for being a visionary and for his commitment for the country's development," Sridhar added.

The Ambanis, including the late Dhirubhai Ambani, occupy the third position. Wipro chairman Azim Premji, UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya and Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumaramangalam Birla are jointly placed in the fourth position. Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw occupies the fifth position.

"The flamboyant Mallya, who was low in rankings last year, has climbed up to the fourth position. He is admired for contrasting set of qualities as compared to the top three. He is admired for his energy, dynamism, flair, foresight and capacity to innovate," Sridhar noted.

The other new names in the top 10 include Mindtree's Subroto Bagchi, ICICI's M V Kamath, Air Deccan's Capt Gopinath and Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani.

The survey also revealed that Infosys and Tata continue to be the two most attractive Indian companies to work for. While Wipro has moved up the rankings, FMCG major HLL has slipped to the fourth spot from last year's third.

Interestingly, the survey has thrown up some new admired companies like Mindtree Consulting. Oracle, Google, GE, Bharti and HSBC are the other companies that have entered the top 10 this year, Ramanujam explained.