Baba N. Kalyani, the Chairman-cum- Managing Director of Bharat Forge (BF) is a CEO par excellence who sees 'life as a blank canvas waiting to be painted on'. Indeed, he has been instrumental in painting the success story for the Bharat Forge (BF). Kalyani's vision is clear: To join the bandwagon of the global players. Work has always been a passion for him, who spends about 10 hours at the Pune factory every day. He dares to dream big and the dream is to make "Made in India" a global brand in the automotive industry.

A CEO par excellence Kalyani N Baba has helped forging closer corporate ties between BF and the global partners. The Business Standard CEO of the year, Baba N Kalyani has transformed Bharat Forge into a globally competitive company. Today BF manufactures the world's lowest cost forgings. An MSc from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Mechanical Engineer, Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, Kalyani recently featured in top 20 BITSian CEOs. With a net worth of $2.1 billion, he also features in Forbes' 2007 list of World's Billionaires, at the 458th rank.

His risk bearing nature prompted him to embark on a forge modernization programme (FMD) in the '80s and '90s that involved setting up a 16,000 ton Weingarten press and an another 6,000 ton press at a cost around Rs 1bn, unthinkable to other corporate CEOs at that time. But Kalyani is a person who loves to take risk. Today, he believes, the kudos for the survival and prosperity of BFL goes to FMD. The second Weingarten press is also part of the expansion and modernization programme, and it comes at a time when the domestic and export markets for auto ancillaries has just started looking up.

He has also been engaged in various philanthropic activities such as promotion of primary education for underprivileged children through the India Education Initiative and Pratham Pune Education Foundation. Higher pricing power and remaining aggressive in pursuing customers are his two fundamental strengths. BFL has a healthy order book from both the domestic and global clients. Undoubtedly, Bharat Forge has emerged as a role model for the auto ancillary industry in the country. His has a robust business model -- well-diversified across products, markets, clients and geographies. Indeed, Kalyani is forging ahead with the big wigs of global CEOs!