He is 56. He is probably a Sanjay. And more than likely he is a Bania.
That’s the most common profile of the typical Indian CEO or MD – says a report by Rukmini S. of The Hindu. The names, ages and social background details of the CEOs and MDs of the 1475 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange, were compiled, giving The Hindu an interesting cloud of information.
Besides Sanjay being the most common name for an Indian CEO or MD type, the other common names of Indians in the top most position are Sunil, Ashok, Anil, Rajesh, Dinesh and Ajay.
The median age of these CEO’s and MD’s is 56.
Agarwal, Gupta, Jain, Patel and Shah are the most frequent surnames that make for the top most management crowd.
Out of these, Agarwal, Shah and Gupta are part of the Vaish community, while the surname Patel represents mainly the Marwari community.
The Vaish Community, commonly referred to as Banias, take pride in their focus on wealth creation. They say in their official website, “While the fortunes of the other castes have fluctuated with politics and invasions, the Vaishyas alone have preserved their social and financial stability down the ages, and then evolved into modern India’s leading industrialists.”
It’s a claim you cant argue with - in the list of Forbes billionaires, eight in the top 10 of India’s richest, are banias.
The richest Indian anywhere in the world is a Bania - Lakshmi Mittal, $31.1 billion
The second richest Indian is a Bania - Mukesh Ambani, $27 billion
India’s fourth richest are Banias - Shashi and Ravi Ruia, $15.8 billion
India’s fifth richest person is a Bania - Savitri Jindal, $13.2 billion
India’s sixth richest man is a Bania - Gautam Adani, $10 billion
India’s seventh richest man is a Bania - Kumar Mangalam Birla, $9.2 billion
India’s eighth richest man is a Bania - Anil Ambani, $8.8 billion
And, India’s ninth richest man is a also Bania - Sunil Mittal, $8.3 billion
All this, while the Bania community actually represents just 1% of India’a population.
Bit curious though - none of them is a Sanjay!
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