Set up in 2008, VidyaGyan was a residential school for children in grades 6-12 from low-income rural families in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. It was the brainchild of Shiv Nadar and Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian, who recognized the enormous potential hidden in the poverty-stricken districts of this state. Nadar and his daughter Roshni hoped that the VidyaGyan effect would self-multiply; that students would inspire not just their family, but their street, their village, and their entire community - creating "spirals of inspiration" that would transform rural India. Regardless of their future career plans, the foundation had decided to fund the college education of any student who scored above 93% in their grade 12 exams and many students received offers from universities in the US and other countries. Having opened the door to the world, Nadar and Roshni wondered was it fair to ask the students to turn their backs on the opportunities in front of them and return home to the rural countryside?

In August 2021, the founders of upGrad, the latest unicorn in the Indian higher education online space, were deciding how to best use the funds to execute on their ambitious growth plans. Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli had envisioned upGrad as an online education platform to enable working professionals to access university degrees from around the world. The pandemic induced lockdowns that confined millions to their homes due to COVID-19, supercharged the growth of upGrad, and indeed all online higher education providers, leading to both growth and competition. The founders of upGrad were keen to ensure they would continue to be a winner in the evolving sector-but which route should they prioritize? Should upGrad continue to focus on offering academic credentials through university partnerships to working professionals, or strengthen their position in the college learners (aged 18 to 23) segment by offering job-oriented test prep and bachelor's degrees?

The CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), a $12.8 billion Indian Family business is faced with a risky choice between principles and profit. SII is the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world and Adar Poonawalla, the CEO and son of the founder has to decide how to temper his responsibility to meet the world's need for an affordable, efficacious and safe COVID-19 vaccine with his need to maintain profitability.

The experience of being an entrepreneur was a childhood dream for Falguni Nayar. The opportunity to build Nykaa.com, a woman centered business, with a multi brand retail format in the beauty and wellness space , and the fact that she was doing it with her daughter Adwaita ( HBS MBA 2013) made it both exciting and meaningful. Still, she was the founder and with that came control over the most important decisions. While she sought advice from many people, Nykaa, like Adwaita, was her baby. How should she structure the organization and the team to best deliver the results she wanted?

Founded in 1999, by Matthew Spacie to give poor children an opportunity to play, Magic Bus had evolved to a leading social enterprise engaged in sports for development, holistic childhood development, and livelihood training for youth between the ages of 6 to 18. By 2017, there were 400,000 children in its various programs. The organization had been through three phases of growth. The case poses the question what the fourth phase should look like.

Approximately 1.1 billion residents of India (99% of the population) had a unique biometric identity-Aadhaar-by 2017. In six years, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had achieved an unprecedented milestone in emerging and developed markets. The stated objective was to create a corruption-proof social security infrastructure that enables the disenfranchised to access benefits without any diversion to middlemen and unscrupulous elements. While initially voluntary, this scheme was made mandatory in 2017 by the GOI (Government of India). What are the positive and negative implications of this, specifically related to economic development of the majority and the privacy of the individual?

Rakesh Sarna, MD and CEO of the Indian Hotels Company ltd (IHCL) was faced with the challenge of leading and embedding changes in IHCL to turnaround its trajectory. IHCL and its subsidiaries, headquartered in India, were a venerable hotel chain, collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, and colloquially referred to as Taj Hotels. Taj Hotels, revered across India for their values and renowned for their hospitality, had been plagued with performance challenges since Dec'08. It was August 2016, nearly two years since Sarna had been recruited from the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, with a mandate to revive the flagging fortunes of Taj Hotels. Having introduced a number of changes, Sarna reflects on progress made and next steps required.

Nadir Godrej Chairman and B Yadav MD, Godrej Agrovet Ltd ( GAVL) grapple with the challenge of growing their cattle feed business - should they integrate vertically despite the challenges ofthe dairy industry, and risk the profitability of the current business ? The ban on cow slaughter in India adds to the dilemma.

In 2014, Khuram Mir, CEO of HN Agri Serve, an innovative apple orchard company in the Kashmir region of Northern India, wonders about the best growth strategy for his company.

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to acquire controlling stake in Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Satyam), a troubled Indian IT company managed since January 2009 by a six-member government-appointed caretaker board. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, saw the acquisition of Satyam as a strategic opportunity to move to the next level of growth. The acquisition would allow the Group to diversify across verticals, customers, and geographies, market a wide range of services to Satyam's strong customer base, and capitalize on common support systems in order to reduce operating costs and secure operational synergies. His brief to Vineet Nayyar-the vice chairman and managing director of Tech Mahindra and the vice chairman of Satyam-and C.P Gurnani-the CEO of Mahindra Satyam-was based on a set of clear principles: rectify the issues related to corporate governance; ensure an environment of trust where ethical conduct was valued; manage reputation risks by meeting customers and demonstrating the Mahindra Group's commitment; and restore faith within customers through newfound business models of delivery and engagements. As Nayyar reflected on Anand Mahindra's words, he wondered what series of business decisions he would have to make in order to retain the good elements, throw out the bad pieces, regain trust, and trigger change within the newly anointed Mahindra Satyam.

This case showcases the 30-year career of Naina Lal Kidwai, Chairman of HSBC India, a leading woman business leader globally. It demonstrates how Kidwai spent a lifetime overcoming barriers as a woman in a male-dominated profession and as an Indian in the global marketplace. Now, as opportunities to play a role in the environment are beginning to open up, she has to decide the next direction to take in her career.

The case focuses on the execution challenges facing Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman, and Ram Sevak Sharma, Director General and Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India. India had no nationally accepted way to prove identity and hence 42% of the population at the base of the pyramid had to resort to bribery to access entitlements, while a web of fake or multiple identities facilitated criminal diversion of government subsidies. UIDAI was tasked to deliver a unique identification number to every Indian resident. This involved the issue of a total of 1.2 billion unique IDs by 2020 and an interim goal of 600 million UIDs by 2014 - the largest data management program in the world. The case deals with the challenge of implementing a towering vision, of executing on an epic technology project, and of changing minds on an unprecedented scale. It examines the forces that both facilitate and derail change. It also examines the leadership style and motivation of Nilekani, and the transition in skills required to move from building a global organization to working within the Indian bureaucracy.

When terrorists attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, employees of the Taj Mumbai hotel displayed uncommon valor. They placed the safety of guests over their own well-being, thereby risking--and, in some cases, sacrificing--their lives. Deshpande, of Harvard Business School, and Raina, of the HBS India Research Center in Mumbai, demonstrate that this behavior was not merely a crisis response. It was instead a manifestation of the Taj Group's deeply rooted customer-centric culture that, the authors argue, other companies can emulate, both in extreme circumstances and during periods of normalcy. The key ingredients of this Taj-style customer centricity include: 1) a values-driven recruitment system that emphasizes integrity and duty over talent and skills; 2) training of customer ambassadors who serve the guest first and the company second; and 3) a recognition-as-reward system that values well-earned plaudits--from customers, colleagues, and immediate supervisors--over money and advancement. Each of the three elements has important features and nuances, which the authors explore in detail so that your company can take its cues.

This case focuses on the growth dilemmas facing Manish Sabharwal, Co-founder, TeamLease Services Pvt. Ltd. TeamLease is a Human Resource Outsourcing and Temp Staffing company located in India, which has grown rapidly over 2002 to 2009. Set in the context of the highly regulated Indian labour market, the case raises the questions of how entrepreneurial leadership and strategy formulation can leverage the opportunities represented by the gaps between what the law says and what the market needs. It provides an opportunity to examine the concepts of power and influence and how they can be created and wielded to catalyze change and build a new industry that is technically illegal.

The case focuses on how Pratham, a non-governmental organization, provided quality education to underprivileged children in India by collaborating with the government. It focuses on the problem Madhav Chavan, the founder, is trying to solve, the contributing factors that have caused this problem not to be solved till now, Madhav's theory of change, questions about whether these activities (inputs) will affect the outputs and have an impact, what will it take and how will we know if Pratham is successful, and recommendations about what Madhav should do next.