In the latest issue, Fortune India takes on the mammoth task of asking the quintessential - WHAT DEFINES A medium-sized company? We decided to answer this question through the first ever Fortune India Next 500 list. This extends the editorial rigour associated with the Fortune India 500 list into the mid-sized universe, and the exercise helped us uncover a number of hidden gems. Take for example Solar Industries, ranked 216 on our list (page 112). Founder Satyanarayan Nuwal started off as a small-time explosives trader. The company is today the country’s largest manufacturer of industrial explosives. Principal correspondent Anjali Kapoor Gaba asked the patriarch if his dream is to grow bigger. He replies that his job is “only to keep spotting the best opportunities”. Elsewhere, senior editor Kunal N. Talgeri tells the story of how Deep Kalra survived the great dotcom crash of 1999-2000 and kept MakeMyTrip relevant. Differentiation is key in the crazy, crowded online world. That’s on page 102. Finally, there’s the grand old man of the chemicals industry, Keki Gharda. Deputy editor T. Surendar spent hours with the fascinating chemist, trying to understand why India, with more than its fair share of good chemists, has never produced a truly global chemicals company. That’s on page 120. Senior editor Rajiv Bhuva, who put the Next 500 list together says the challenge for smaller companies to grow exponentially stems from their lack of bargaining power. These companies, he says, are mainly suppliers, and hence reliant on bigger companies to grow. That said, he’s convinced that more multibaggers are to be found in this set. There’s also a small selection of stories profiling companies that feature in the latest Fortune 500 list.