Malvinder Singh, Ranbaxy Labs

Malvinder Singh

CEO, Ranbaxy Labs

RANK: No. 28 on Forbes' list of richest Indians (with brother Shivinder)

GOAL: To grow Ranbaxy to a $5 billion dollar company by 2012

For Malvinder Singh, age 35, Ranbaxy was never just a business. It's family. "My grandfather started the company in the early '60s," he explains. "My father was a PhD in pharmacy, and the two of them built the company together. From my childhood, they were living and breathing Ranbaxy. I would visit doctors, learn things, meet people."

Malvinder Singh

In 1994, his father took him on as a management trainee, starting him at the bottom of the ladder, and paying him less than other trainees to ensure he got no favoritism. Singh left briefly to pursue his MBA at Duke, but returned in 1998.

"My father was diagnosed with cancer," he says. "I could have had a job as an investment banker, but it was important for me to be with India with him. It was time to come back and join the company."

Today, as CEO, Singh is carrying on his father's goals of making Ranbaxy a truly global pharma company, extending the firm's customer base, making significant acquisitions, and forging high- profile deals with Big Pharma. "Big Pharma is in trouble," says Singh. "I see very substantial alliance partnerships with Big Pharma in the areas of biotech and supply chain and R&D, where we can partner and add value."