"We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors." When liberalisation opened doors of opportunity, Tamil Nadu was one of the states to follow former US President Lyndon B. Johnson's advice. Almost 15 years later, as the state continues to scale new heights of prosperity, INDIA TODAY (Tamil), to commemorate its 15th anniversary, decided to honour the achievers in different fields through Sigaram-15. The second event in the series of Sigaram-15, held on June 16 in Chennai to salute success in the business sector, turned out to be a conglomeration of the conquerors.

PICTURE SPEAK

THE WINNING EDGE: Sigaram-15 awardees with Purie (third from left)

As INDIA TODAY Group Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla says, rating one above another among the galaxy of business barons, global challengers, service czars and retail pioneers is an onerous task. But then, there ought to be winners among winners. From the 45 short-listed, 16 emerged at the top in the four categories.

And the awards go to ...

Big Barons: A.C. Muthaiah (chairman, SPIC), Venu Srinivasan (chairman and managing director, TVS Motors), N. Shankar (chairman, Sanmar Group), Suresh Krishna (chairman and managing director, Sundaram Fasteners), M.A. Azhagappan and A. Vellaiyan (Murugappa Group), K. M. Mammen (chairman and managing director, MRF), Jayawardhana Velu (chairman and managing director, Lakshmi Machine Works).

Service Czars: Dr Pratap C. Reddy (chairman, Apollo Group), N. Ram (editor-in-chief, The Hindu Group), Kalanidhi Maran (chairman and managing director, Sun Network).

Global Challengers: Shiv Nadar (chairman, HCL Group), V. Chandrasekharan (chairman and CEO, Pentamedia Group), Arun Jain (chairman, Polaris Software Lab Ltd).

Retail Pioneers: R. Subramanyam (chairman, Subhiksha), Nalli Kuppusamy Chettiar (owner, Nalli Silks).

INDIA TODAY (Tamil) also saluted Mallika Srinivasan, director, TAFE, for her achievement as a woman entrepreneur.

Winners, nominees and just about everyone had reasons to celebrate. For Tamil Nadu stands among the top three economies in the country. As INDIA TODAY Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie said, "With about 92 per cent road connectivity, 42 per cent urbanisation and an astounding 78 per cent literacy, Tamil Nadu is well placed and is bagging investments."

The awardees attributed their success to teamwork. "The award is received by an individual, but the credit should go to each of my 5,000 colleagues who have been working hard for 25 years," said Srinivasan, the man at the helm of TVS Motors, India's No. 3 two-wheeler company. As the evening progressed beyond the award function and the giants mingled over dinner, it appeared as if Tamil Nadu Inc was holding an emergency general body meeting on how to emerge as the numero uno.

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