At a glittering ceremony in Mumbai's Taj Lands End hotel attended by a galaxy of business stars on Thursday evening, Union Minister of Communications, Information Technology and Divestment Arun Shourie presented the fourth Business Standard awards for excellence.

Apart from awards to individual wealth creators, they went to the best car, motorcycle and scooter of 2002.

Speaking at the function, Shourie said proof that the entrepreneurial spirit was alive and kicking was evident from the fact that the industries at the forefront of India's conquest of the global markets were virtually non-existent 20 years ago.

Lauding the achievements of successful Indian businessmen, Shourie was candid. "I believe the Indian private sector is truly the public sector as it is wholly accountable to consumers, to the markets and to its shareholders. We don't find that sort of accountability in the government, even though many of us would want it," he said.

The Entrepreneur of the Year award was bagged by Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries. Last year saw him acquire IPCL, launch the Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) Infocomm venture and strategise the path to make Reliance an integrated energy company when he merged Reliance Petroleum into it.

In the process, he catapulted Reliance Industries into the Fortune-500 ranks, with Reliance Industries being India's only private Fortune 500 company.

In his acceptance speech, Ambani said, "It is time to change Indian laws so as to make them work for the benefit of consumers and entrepreneurs." He said Reliance's next big move was bio-tech. It is an area which is going to affect each and every one's life and India has a tremendous potential.

Ranjana Kumar, chairperson of the Chennai-based Indian Bank, was presented the Business Standard Banker of the Year award by Vidya Chhabria, chairperson of Shaw Wallace.

Kumar said the award was a "tribute to the resilience of the organisation and its employees that years of adversity had not been able to dent its capacity to pull back together again." Kumar was particularly emphatic when she said "given a conducive environment, any organisation will be able to report wonders."

Prashant Jain, the former chief investment officer of Zurich India Mutual Fund (now acquired by HDFC Mutual), was presented the Business Standard Fund Manager of the Year award. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji was recognised as the richest Indian and the Business Standard Billionaire of the Year.

While the Scorpio from the Mahindra & Mahindra stable won the Business Standard car of the Year, the Yamaha Enticer received the Business Standard Bike of the Year award. The Kinetic Nova was honoured as the scooter of the year. The Toyota Camry won the Import Car of the Year award.

The star-studded event ended with a short but melodious recital by sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.