Washington, Oct 15 (IANS) Indian-American billionaire Bharat Dasai has been featured in Forbes annual list of America’s 200 Best Small Companies among “eight self-made stars who have built tidy empires in an array of industries”.
“Small companies can yield big fortunes, especially if you run the show,” said the US business magazine Thursday.

“One of the self-made members on our list, billionaire Bharat Dasai, is the 212th richest American, by Forbes estimates.”

His wealth vehicle: Syntel, the information-technology services provider that Dasai founded with wife Neerja Sethi, in Troy, Michigan, in 1980. The company went public in 1997 as the tech boom raged.

Kenya-born Dasai started Syntel (No. 27 on Forbes Best Small Companies list) while doing his MBA from the University of Michigan.

Last February, Dasai stepped down as chief executive, but as chairman of the board, he maintains a 43 percent stake in his company. “That’s a good thing when your company just cleared $101 million on $405 million in revenue in the last 12 months,” commented Forbes asking: ” What recession?”

“He has strategic chops to spare: He played for India in the 1994 bridge world championship.”

Forbes annual list of America’s 200 Best Small Companies features outfits that have annual revenue between $5 million and $750 million, have been publicly traded for at least a year and have a stock price no lower than $5.

“In most cases, the original founders have moved on, sold out or no longer play a key role in the operations. But a handful of these high fliers are still controlled by the savvy entrepreneurs who birthed them,” Forbes noted, listing the eight stars.