TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS:

Behind the Miracle: India's Mighty Movers: This elite group of business, political, and cultural leaders is helping transform India into a 21st century economic power in Asia and beyond (Nandini Lakshman, 8/13/07, Business Week)

By 2025, India is expected to emerge as the world's fifth-biggest consumer market as incomes and living standards improve, according to a study by the McKinsey Global Institute. Nearly 300 million Indians are expected to escape poverty, and the middle class will leapfrog by a factor of 10—from 50 million today to roughly 583 million 18 years from now.

Often less noticed are the individual figures—the politicians, business leaders, and cultural pathfinders—instrumental in India's remarkable rise on the world stage. Without the initiative, enlightened leadership, business smarts, and style of scores of notable Indian leaders, there would be no economic miracle.

So who are the movers and shakers refashioning contemporary India? That's what a team of BusinessWeek editors sought to discover by compiling a list of the country's 50 most powerful leading lights in politics, the economy, and society. To take a look at the names we came up with in this by-no-means exhaustive list, check out the slide show we have assembled.