The successes of Non Resident Indians around the world have catapulted India on the global map. Be it politics, business, science, medicine or Information technology, they have made their presence felt in almost all the domains. And the kudos for their extraordinary success certainly goes to their hard work, enterprising nature and risk-taking abilities. Extremely industrious and vibrant, they have emerged as one of the most prosperous immigrant communities in countries like the USA and Britain. It's not surprising; many of them have carved a place in the Forbes richest list. And at the top is Lakshmi Mittal, who with his £25 billion is the richest man in Britain and the third richest in the world. Anil Agarwal, whose fortune leapt in 2004 from £540m to over £615m and Lord Swraj Paul whose wealth touched past £270m are the other prominent names. And there have been other fast climber like Dr Kartar Lalwani, owner of Vitabiotics, from 77th to 40th place with £60m.

The Hinduja brothers are the only other billionaires apart from Mittal to reach at the top positions of any global rich list. And when it comes to Silicon Valley, everyone knows it's synonymous with the successes of Indo-Americans. Sabir Bhatia of Hotmail may be an oft-repeated name who is now being replaced by fresh breed of enterprising NRIs. There are achievers like Abhishek Jain, CEO, Washington Technology Partners who is successfully operating a world-class venture capital firm that focuses on middle and early-stage technology and business process outsourcing investments. Then there is Jay Chaudhry, executive chairman and founder, Airdefense, who has carved a niche for himself as a trendsetter in the security industry. Sujal Patel, Founder and CTO, Isilon Systems, who at the age of 26 founded Isilon Systems, a premier provider of intelligent clustered storage systems for digital content. Rahul Roy, CEO, Mirrorplus Technologies, whose net income for the first quarter of 2005 rose to $35.6 million. No small achievement for these NRIs whose lives are inspiring tale of rages to riches. And the list of such successful NRIs could go on and on. But the fact not to be missed is they are the individuals who took maximum amount of risk, first by charting out in a new land and then by venturing out into unconventional businesses and professions. A real salt of earth, they have not only made India proud but have written a golden chapter in the history of Indian Diaspora.