Any whichway you look at it, 2001 belonged to Indians in America, notwithstanding 9/11 or the recession in the economy. Justifying the results of Census 2001, that discovered that the Indian diaspora comprises a substantial part of the highest percentile of income earners, it remained on top. It was a challenge the Indian executives took head on and emerged winners.

ON A PEDESTAL: Prahalad addresses a gathering

Sanjay Kumar of Computer Associates International made it to the Fortune listing when he made it to the Top 40 richest businessmen under 40 years of age. With an estimated wealth of $270 million, Fortune ranks him 18th this year-a step ahead of Tom Cruise. In 1999, the last time he made it to the rich rankings, he was the 32nd. Originally from southern India, Kumar's family immigrated to Sri Lanka. The tycoon's family immigrated, when he was 14, this time to the US. He joined Computer Associates as a software writer. But things changed dramatically when Charles Wang, the then chairman and CEO, took him under his tutelage in 1987. Five years later, Kumar took over as president and was finally made the CEO of the company in 2000. The millionaire businessman retains his roots in India and sponsors the education of 25,000 students studying in regional colleges all over India.

Also joining this league, for the first time, are brothers Sudhakar and Sreekanth Ravi, co-founders of Sonic Wall. Ranked 25th and 26th, with a net worth of $219 million each, the duo hails from Andhra Pradesh. They grew up in the Midwest and their company grew from a modest beginning of manufacturing ethernet cards for Macintosh computers. The breakthrough came after they started low- priced firewalls for small businesses.

SUPERSTAR: Deshpande of Sycamore Networks

Featuring prominently in the biz buzz is Gururaj Desh Deshpande, co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks Inc. The firm, which focused on creating the next generation optical networking technology, was named one of the top 25 Hot Start Ups, Hot 100 Private Companies and Top 10 picks for 2000 Fortune magazine. Deshpande acquired the superstar hue when he turned Cascade Communications from a one-person start-up to a $500 million-turnover company and a 900-strong staff.

While the top Indian software stars held their own in an extremely challenging year, management gurus also came of age. Ram Charan, formerly in the B-school faculties of Harvard and Northwestern, has co-authored a top read, The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company, that adapts the Walt Mahler model to smaller businesses with flatter hierarchies.

Also in demand is C.K. Prahalad. Companies continue to turn to the Harvey C. Fruehauf professor of business administration and professor of corporate strategy and international business, for help to tide over the bad times. Many multinationals are grabbing his unconventional advice: the 4.3 billion global poor will be the next market for multinational companies. "The poor," he says, "will transform the MNCs like the Internet."

WINNERS ALL: Sanjay Kumar and Charles Wang of Computer Associates; Rajat Gupta of McKinsey (below)

Then there is Rajat Gupta, who earned the distinction of being the first Indian reach the top of the US corporate world when, at 45 years, he became McKinsey's managing director after a 21-year-long stint. Gupta was earlier turned down by McKinsey because of lack of adequate work experience. And that too by Ron Daniel, the then managing director who, later as the chairman of the selection committee, was to nominate Gupta to the helm of the consultancy firm.

More recently, Gupta, in the company is another Indian corporate czar, Victor Menezes, has set up the American Indian Foundation to fund social empowerment projects in India. Menezes, president of Citibank NA, was described by the Wall Street Journal as the rarest of breeds-a Citicorp survivor. He joined Citicorp in 1972 and is still with them. The secret of the 29-year veteran of Citibank lies in mixing a low-key, workaholic manner with wide experience across the complicated organisation.

Also hogging the limelight, but in a different field, is Pradeep Sindhu, founder and chief technology officer of Juniper Networks Inc. Included among the 25 most influential people in electronic business by Fortune, Sindhu believes that the dotcom setback is not a moment to slow down investments. He should know. His firm has given Cisco a run for its money-within five years of its inception in 1996, the company has cornered 30 per cent of the high-end router market. The Sindhu philosophy as spelt out to Fortune: "The Internet is a weapon that cannot be beaten."

The story of the year is Indra Nooyi's rise to the position of president and CFO at PepsiCo Inc. She was made president after her successful negotiation of Pepsi's $14 billion-deal for Quaker Oats. Now she is CEO, Steve Reinemund's partner in running the $25 billion snack and drink giant. Nooyi has also climbed the rankings with Fortune and is now the 10th most powerful woman in global business.

For the wunderkid of Silicon Valley, Vinod Khosla, the sky continues to be the limit. Co-founder of Sun Micro Systems, Khosla is now the hottest venture capitalist in the country. In the past few years, he has turned roughly $50 million in early investments into $15 billion-a Midas touch this, overshadowing some of the flops that he had to tide over.

The Indian corporate entities only represent one element of the 1.7 million-strong diaspora. While the experiences differ, the challenge is the same. How to manage life at this delicate moment, when the US measures up to an enemy within and outside its borders.