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After his father's death in 1984, Mallya took over as Chairman of the United Breweries Group and immediately set to work streamlining operations. What was once an umbrella corporation of 20 businesses, Mallya took down to six, focusing on those areas he knew best. "I shrunk the spectrum of businesses tremendously," he said. He made the executive decision to gradually exit several industries, including the processed food business, petrochemicals and plastics, batteries, paints, pharmaceuticals and others, "beautifying" them before he sold them off.

He made those decisions based on where he saw his competitive advantage. For instance, when it came to the carbonated beverage business, Mallya says, "I saw Pepsi and Coke coming and I said, ‘I'm outta here.' I shut it down."

He also ventured into new industries that his father had previously avoided, such as fertilizer, because of India's strong agricultural industry.

"This concept of competitive advantage, I must give credit to my time in the U.S.," he says. "My first stint in the US really influenced my business life a lot. I looked at things in an American way, and not in an Indian way."

At the time he acquired the company, it was making $100 million in sales, largely thanks to its Kingfisher beer, which was the fourth best-selling beer in India. Today, UB makes billions in sales, and Kingfisher has 25 percent market share.

Mallya made several key decisions that helped the conglomerate expand at such a rapid rate. For instance, in 1995, he took over Millennium Breweries, which owned two premium beer brands, Sandpiper and Zingaro. In 2007, UB also acquired the scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for £595 million.

Today, UB is active in everything from alcohol to life science and engineering to IT and even aviation. In 2005, Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines, which flies to 32 different cities. He then bought Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline, and rebranded it as Kingfisher Red.

Mallya is also a big name in the car racing industry. He bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million Euros, and rebranded it as Force India F1. UB also sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football teams, and the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket premier league team.

Business not being enough for Mallya, he also decided to enter politics in 2000 as president of the Janata Party. Despite a strong campaign, the Party failed to win a single seat in the state legislative elections. Still, Mallya did not give up, and finally wound up being elected as an independent Member of Parliament.

Mallya continues to dabble in other businesses, including establishing Mallya Hospital in Bangalore, and funding the private Mallya Aditi International School also in Bangalore.

But outside of his business ventures, Mallya remains known as a lavish liver, with one of the world's largest collections of classic cars, paintings by Picasso and Renoir around his home, and he is even the owner of the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi (which he bought at a New York auction for $1.8 million against the wishes of the Indian government).

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