EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
India today’s ‘High & Mighty’ list is a yearly tradition that serves a purpose larger than just being a catalogue of influential individuals. At its core, it encapsulates the ever-evolving narrative of power, resilience and influence, reflecting the zeitgeist of the times we are navigating. Over the years, this compilation has chronicled those whose impacts echo across our personal and professional lives— not merely through their wealth or positions but via their ability to influence domains outside their immediate purview. It captures the pulse of a nation through the prism of its most potent change-makers.
The inception of this list 20 years ago was driven by the need to recognise and understand the drivers of our society and economy. Over the years, the parameters and the composition have seen significant shifts, reflective of the changing landscape of the world. It is not a static reflection of India’s power dynamic but a vibrant and adaptive index that acknowledges the flux of our society and economy.
That power is both resilient and constantly evolving is evident from india today’s annual listing of the High & Mighty, which marks its
20th edition this year.
Two decades ago, the Ambani brothers together were at the top of our inaugural rankings. This year, one brother remains on the top for the sixth year in a row while the other has declared bankruptcy in the UK.
Kumar Mangalam Birla is back in second place, with the year gone by seeing him not only consolidate and reinvigorate his mighty empire, but also go beyond his traditional businesses to expand into high fashion and extend his international footprint even further.
Gautam Adani comes down a few notches, though, a result of the embattled phase he went through after the damaging Hindenburg report.
An author, a film director, a politician or a new-age guru, on the other hand, exert their power in vastly different ways. A blade of grass can break through rock. What matters is how people inflect the course of events in such a way that it is formative of the whole atmosphere. What we are mapping, ultimately, is the evolution of India through a different metric.
The list this year has 14 new names, and some of the old ones have moved a few places. Among the new entrants is S.S. Rajamouli. His RRR travelled well beyond its linguistic confines in the country, all the way to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards. What it achieved was not mere success but a shift in the centre of gravity in Indian cinema and entertainment away from Bollywood. Which is not to say that Bollywood can be ignored. How else do you explain the presence of Shah Rukh Khan and Aditya Chopra? The reason is self-evident: a movie called Pathaan. Our intention here is not to judge the film on its merits or weigh in kilos the amount of money it made. It is merely to see how a Bollywood spy caper can become the cause celebre of a national debate that defined the year gone by.
Solid zones of resilience have been a hallmark of our political, official and global Indian lists too. But persistence is not a factor of merely staying put. It’s about staying mentally agile, whatever the crisis. Narendra Modi tops the political list by owning that trait: he leveraged India’s equity in the world, and his own, to claim a unique exceptionalism post-Ukraine. He has fashioned India’s strategic security partnership with the US in such a way that it allows India to continue its old relationship with Russia while also steering global discussions as the chair of G20. Back home, Modi remains an indefatigable colossus who dominates the political landscape with his grit and savvy.
The BJP rules the political list, an index of its sway across the country as Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath lord it over their fiefs. The Opposition ticks four boxes. One is Rahul Gandhi, who conquered defeatism with his Bharat Jodo Yatra revitalising the Congress and helping his party to a kind of redemption with the win in Karnataka. A new name dignifies the official list: Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, keeper of the constitutional flame. Among global Indians, Rishi Sunak takes gold with his amazing vault to 10, Downing Street.
Barring a few lightly ruffled feathers and some new feathers in the cap, Powernama 2023 leans towards stability rather than disruption. This time next year, the question of continuity and change will, of course, be settled anew.