India`s richest man, our most flamboyant businessman, Bollywood`s biggest star, the son of the world`s biggest media mogul and some of the most beautiful damsels to emerge out of Bollywood - the roster of IPL owners is indeed hugely impressive.

In fact, as impressive as the teams they have splurged their millions on.

From Mukesh Ambani to Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta, we profile ‘em all.

Mukesh Ambani
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Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, India`s largest private sector company, Mukesh Ambani is the face of emerging India.

The richest Indian, Mukesh is also the only Indian CEO to be a Council Member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

He pipped the competition to win the bid for the most expensive franchise Mumbai Indians for $111.9 million.

His team is led by Aamchi Mumbai`s very own icon Sachin Tendulkar.

The explosive Sanath Jayasuriya, classy Shaun Pollock and wily Harbhajan Singh provide depth to the side.

In the second season of IPL auction, Mumbai Indians signed the much talked about South African all-rounder JP Duminy for $950,000. They have also swapped Robin Uthappa for star pacer Zaheer Khan.

With these additions, IPL`s most-watched team in 2008 will now be hoping to become its most successful in 2009.

Vijay Mallya
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Famous for his flamboyant lifestyle, Vijay Mallya, India’s most charismatic billionaire is the franchise owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers, the second most expensive team after Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai Indians.

Son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, he is the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from the United Breweries Group`s flagship beer brand, Kingfisher.

Mallya won this franchise in the IPL auction by parting with US $111.6 million.

The 2008 Royal Challengers Bangalore team included big names such as Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mark Boucher, Misbah-ul-Haq, and Dale Steyn. However, they had a miserable time in the inaugural year of IPL, finishing seventh among eight teams. This produced ructions in their camp.

Mallya has taken on the mantle of the Roman Abramovich of the IPL since, sacking his chief executive Charu Sharma, criticising Royal Challengers’ captain Rahul Dravid publicly and unleashing his mega-signing in Kevin Pietersen. Expect him to have a bigger say in IPL 2009.

Deccan Chronicle
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Deccan Chronicle Holdings (DCHL), the owner of the Deccan Chargers, bought the franchise from IPL for $107 million on January 24, 2008.

DHCL, owned by 50-year-old newspaper baron T Venkattram Reddy, is engaged in printing and publishing newspapers and periodicals. The company was incorporated on December 16, 2002.

Its flagship newspaper Deccan Chronicle sells over a million copies. It also publishes a Telugu daily, and weekly and monthly editions of Andhra Bhoomi.

Deccan Chargers boasts some of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket, including VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris and Herschelle Gibbs.

Unfortunately, the mighty names failed to fire as a team in 2008 as the Deccan Charges lost all their matches at home. They would be hoping for a huge turnaround come the 2009 season.


India Cements Ltd
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The India Cements Ltd, owner of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, was established in 1946. Since then it has grown in stature and now has seven plants spread across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The company paid US$91 million to acquire the rights to the franchise for the next 10 years.

India Cements Ltd is currently headed by Mr N Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, who also happens to be the BCCI secretary. The day-to-day affairs of the company are managed by Executive President Mr TS Raghupathy and other key personnel in each functional area.

Chennai Super Kings was one of the success stories in the debut year of the IPL as the team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni ended up as runners-up, losing a closely fought final to Rajasthan Royals by three wickets. With the inclusion of Andrew Flintoff, bought for a record $ 1.55 million, in their ranks, they would be hoping to go one better this time around.

GMR Group
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The Delhi Daredevils franchise is owned by the GMR Group, one of the fastest growing infrastructure groups in the country with interests in Airports, Energy, Highways and Urban Infrastructure (including SEZs). Employing the Public Private Partnership model, the Group has successfully implemented several infrastructure projects in India.

Delhi Daredevils have a mix of youngsters and experienced cricketers like Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Kartik, Farveez Maharoof, Gautam Gambhir, Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori in their ranks.

The team made it to the semi-finals last year, where they were thumped by 105 runs by the Rajasthan Royals.

GMR Group, in this year’s IPL auction, bought England’s Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood for $275,000 each.


Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia
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One of the surprising winners of last year`s IPL franchise bid was none other than Preity Zinta who along with beau Ness Wadia bagged the Mohali team for $76 million.

Zinta, the bubbly film diva, appeared pleased with the performance of her band of boys in the debut IPL season. Yuvraj Singh, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Kumar Sangakkara, S Sreesanth and Simon Katich were among the stars who played their part in taking the Mohali Kings to the semifinals.

Zinta, one of Bollywood`s most sought-after heroines, famously won the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 2003 for her performance in the movie Kal Ho Naa Ho. After first capturing the nation’s imagination as the Liril girl, she also featured in such blockbusters as Koi Mil Gaya, Dil Chahta Hai and Dil Se among others.

Ness Wadia, her beau, hails from the Bombay Dyeing family.

Red Chillies Entertainment
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Kolkata Knight Riders was bought by Bollywood actor
Shahrukh Khan`s Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Juhi Chawla and her husband, Jai Mehta for $75.09 million.

The Kolkata Knight Riders may not have made it to even the semi-finals in the inaugural IPL season, but the market grapevine has it that they are, perhaps, the only franchise to make a substantial profit, thanks to the presence of Shah Rukh Khan, inarguably the biggest star in Indian filmdom.

Though Shah Rukh appeared visibly disappointed with his team’s performance, particularly in the latter half of the league, the market sources insist that his team had broken even before the half-way stage itself, thanks to vigorous merchandising.

Emerging Media
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Emerging Media, which includes media baron Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan, successfully bid for the IPL Jaipur team since named the Rajasthan Royals for the next 10 years.

Emerging Media is in the media-property development business with a focus on developing programmes specifically suited for the Indian sub-continent.

They recently sold a 12 per cent stake in Rajasthan Royals to London-based entrepreneur Raj Kundra and his partner, Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.

Rajasthan Royals were the biggest surprise of IPL 2008. The cheapest team, in terms of money spent on players, they consistently outperformed their more illustrious and wealthier rivals to win last year’s IPL trophy.

This after Rajasthan, at $67 million also the lowest-priced franchise, had drawn the ire of Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, for under-spending on players in the first auction.

They are hoping to retain their title this year under the coaching and captaincy of the talismanic Shane Warne.