Shashi and Ravi Ruia

In a small town in India, Shashi and Ravi Ruia were born in 1944 and 1949 respectively to Nand Kishore Ruia. The family had been in business since the 1800s, and when their father passed away in 1969, the two sons took over the small family run business, Essar Group.

The family origins lay in Rajasthan, but the Ruia brothers' ancestors relocated to Mumbai during the 19th century and began with their business ventures.

The Essar company growth had already begun when the Ruias inherited the business, with contracts previously negotiated for the construction of various ports and jetties.

The year that the brothers began their reign over Essar was when the company really took off as a construction business. Essar grew rapidly and expanded into other commodity industries such as shipping, telecommunications, oil, gas and steel.

The building of this pioneering corporation has in turn helped to build the overall economy of India, and has brought the image of Indian business to new heights within the western world.

In the 1980s, there came a time when the Indian Government opened the shipping and drilling sector to private businesses. Of course the Essar leaders took advantage of this tremendous opportunity.

In the 90s the pair opened the very first iron sponge plant in their country, followed by a pellet plant and a steel plant later on. They pursued all business opportunities and left no stone unturned to ensure that they were missing out on nothing.

They were also responsible for setting up the first Indian mobile phone service, Essar Cellphone, in Delhi in 1994. They recently sold 67% of this arm of their empire to Vodafone, when the name changed to Vodafone-Essar which is now the leading provider in India.

Shashi is the Director of the Board at Essar Steel, and the Chairman of the Essar Group. He has many achievements under his belt, and was at one point a part of the Managing Committee for the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Shashi's thirst for business came from his father, who when Shashi was a child took his son with him on his business meetings and taught him information which proved to be invaluable in later life. He graduated in commerce after his university studies in his twenties.

Ravi, the younger of the two sons is Vice Chairman of Essar Group, is well known for his entrepreneurial spirit which has led Essar Group to an incredible strength. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from Anna University in Chennai, India.

Both siblings are married, and each have two children. Both have homes in Mumbai, India but live part of the year in London due to their regular business with UK companies.

Together these men are the 4th richest businessmen in India, and the 40th richest in the world according to Forbes, the renowned billionaires list creators, with a net worth of $15 billion in May 2010.