Ashok Khade
Chief executive of Das Offshore Engineering, Mumbai
Annual turnover: 5.5 billion rupees (Dh448 million)
Ashok Khade's father made a modest living as a cobbler in Ped, a village in the western state of Maharashtra. He worked on the docks by day and studied for a diploma in mechanical engineering by night. For prolonged periods, he slept under staircases because his family could not afford to pay rent. Today, he presides over a flourishing company that does construction work on offshore rigs and builds pedestrian bridges.
Devjibhai Makwana
Chief executive of Suraj Filaments, Bhavnagar
Annual turnover: 3bn rupees
Two decades ago, few people knew of Devjibhai Makwana. He struggled to get a bank loan to set up a manufacturing unit for multi-filament yarn used in fishing nets. But since the business took off in 1997, the company has captured a sizeable share of the domestic market and has become an exporter. Now bankers are lining up to lend him money, he says.
Dr Sushant Meshram
Multi-speciality hospital in Nagpur
Annual turnover: 400m rupees
Sushant Meshram was born into a poor Dalit family living in a segregated part of Nagpur town in northern Maharashtra. His father was an ordinary worker in an ordnance factory. At school, he could not participate in drama, music and sports because he was Dalit. But through hard work he went on to become a specialist in chest medicine. He became a fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US. He is currently building a multi-speciality state-of-the-art hospital in Nagpur - which will not deny treatment to Dalits.
Milind Kamble
Chairman and managing director of Fortune Construction, Pune
Annual turnover: 1.01bn rupees
Milind Kamble is the eldest son of a schoolteacher from Shirur Tajband, a small village in the state of Maharashtra. He set up Fortune Construction more than 25 years ago. Mr Kamble aims one day to appear on Fortune magazine's list of dollar billionaires.
Source: Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Outlook, a newsweekly in India
* compiled by Anuj Chopra