Ratan N Tata is Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2003

Company press release, October 29, 2003

New Delhi

Mr Ratan N. Tata, chairman, the Tata Group of companies, India's leading business conglomerate, has been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2003. Mr Tata received this coveted award at a glittering award banquet here on Wednesday night from Shri L K Advani, Deputy Prime Minister who was the Chief Guest at this ceremony.

Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Law & Justice and Commerce & Industry, was the Guest of Honour at this event. The World Entrepreneur Of The Year Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, Mr Paul J. Ostling, Chief Operating Officer of Ernst & Young Global , Mr Gregory K. Ericksen, Ernst & Young's global director of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program, and a large number of the country's top industrialists, professionals and senior bureaucrats participated at this occassion.

Since he took over the reins of the Tata Group in 1991, Mr Tata has achieved a makeover of far reaching dimensions. From a relatively unwieldy conglomerate, Tata has now changed the complexion of the Group to make it more nimble-footed and cohesive. Tata companies are now making their mark on the world stage. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to become the world's largest provider of end to end technology solutions; Tata Tea's acquisition of the Tetley brand in U K makes it the world's second largest tea marketer; Tata Steel is one of the world's lowest cost steel makers and Tata Motors, traditionally a truck-maker, is today delivering best selling passenger cars like the Sumo and Indica.

Mr. Tata will now represent India at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award Ceremony in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June 2004.

Apart from the one individual who is named the Entrepreneur Of The Year, winners are also selected in several award categories based on such attributes as entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, strategic direction, global impact, innovation and personal integrity and influence.

The legendary founder of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, Dr Verghese Kurien, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for making the milk cooperative movement a reality which has changed the lives of millions of farmers in India, boosting their livelihoods and offering a steady income. Kurien's AMUL (Anand Milk Union Limited) model has now been replicated in several states.

Ajay Piramal, chairman, Nicholas Piramal, won the award in the Healthcare and Life Sciences category, while the award for Manufacturing was given to Ashwin Dani, who has successfully made Asian Paints the country's top paint-maker, way ahead of global rivals.

The husband and wife team of Radhika & Prannoy Roy of New Delhi Television (NDTV) were named as the winner in the Information, Communications and Entertainment category scoring over the traditional technology ventures.

Mumbai's financial star, Uday S. Kotak won the award in the services category for Kotak Mahindra Bank, while Maruti Udyog's Jagdish Khattar bagged the Manager entrepreneur award. The Start-Up Entrepreneur was Bangalore-based heart surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya, a novel hospital project to provide affordable healthcare to the masses.

The awards were decided by a distinguished jury chaired by the icon of Indian entrepreneurship Mr N R Narayana Murthy. Other jury members included Ms Kalpana Morparia, executive director - ICICI Bank, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman - Aditya Birla group, Mr A. K. Purwar, chairman, State Bank of India, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman & group managing director- Bharti Enterprises, Dr Omkar Goswami, chief economist - Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Mr T N Ninan, editor and publisher- Business Standard.

Congratulating the winners, Mr. Kashi Memani, Chairman, Ernst & Young India said,

" Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of this country and the winners of our awards for this year are exceptional. As we look back over the award's past five years in India, it gives us great pride and satisfaction that the nominations have been of such a consistently high quality. It is surely an indicator that the award program has fired the imagination of Indian entrepreneurs."

Mr. V.V. Ranganathan, National Director for the EOY Program said, "This is not simply an award program. It is a phenomenal moment in about forty countries around the world to foster the community of entrepreneurs. We receive more than 9, 000 nomination worldwide on which some 300 or more judges spend thousands of dedicated hours studying the various nuances of entrepreneurship. This is truly the world's business with absolutely no parallel because the process of nomination and selection is indeed very robust and perfected over a 17 year period across nations."

About the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program

The EOY Program was first established in the United States in 1986 to celebrate the achievements of outstanding individuals who head growing, dynamic businesses and are making a significant contribution to their respective economies. The Program is now conducted in more than 40 countries. Some past winners of the EOY awards include Brijmohan Lal Munjal of the Hero Group, N.R.Narayana Murthy of Infosys, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Petroleum, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee, Jerry Yang of Yahoo and Scott Kriens of Juniper Networks.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, operates with the highest levels of integrity, quality and professionalism to provide solutions for clients. Its 110,000 people in more than 130 countries around the globe are committed to restoring the publics trust in professional services firms and the quality of financial reporting by getting the right information, making the right judgements and taking the right actions - every time, on every engagement, everywhere in the world. Ernst & Young provides services based on financial, transaction and risk management knowledge in assurance, tax and corporate finance. The firm also provides legal services in those parts of the world where permitted.

For more information contact :

Namrata Datt

Ernst & Young

Ph: 98108 37909