- An eminent 11-member jury, led by Mr. Adi Godrej, selected the finalists
- Dr. F. C. Kohli, Former Vice-Chairman, Tata Consultancy Services, honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award
EY, the global professional services organisation, today announced the
selection of 18 of the country’s most innovative business leaders as finalists
for the 17th Entrepreneur of the Year™ - India 2015. The finalists have been
selected from 250 outstanding nominations. They will be felicitated at a grand
celebratory banquet to be held on 11 February 2016 in Mumbai.
A distinguished 11-member jury led by Adi Godrej selected the finalists. Other jury members include Subodh Bhargava, Chairman, Tata Communications; Rahul Bhatia, Whole-time Director, InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd.; Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, State Bank of India; Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman, Info Edge (India) Limited; Bharat Doshi, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services; Kalpana Morparia, CEO, JP Morgan India; Rishad Premji, Chief Strategy Officer, Wipro; Renuka Ramnath, MD & CEO, Multiples Alternate Asset Management; Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharmaceuticals; and Shashank Singh, Partner and MD, Apax Partners India Advisers Private Limited.
Mr. Adi Godrej, Jury Chairman and Chairman, Godrej Group says, “For the 17th Entrepreneur of the Year™ awards, we have selected some extraordinary individuals who have contributed significantly to India’s progress. India needs entrepreneurs, people who do new things. Entrepreneurs will create a country, which to my mind will become the world’s largest economy by 2050. This is a great move by EY to help people do even better in their respective fields.”
Says Ms. Kalpana Morparia, CEO, JP Morgan, “The EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ awards put a unique focus on recognising outstanding talent across sectors. No other award puts the singular focus on entrepreneurs that have created great companies as much as EY does. I feel it is a privilege for me to have been a part of it over the last decade.”
Says Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, State Bank of India, “India is adding almost one million people to its work force every month. I think it is very important to encourage entrepreneurship since they will be creating these jobs. We not only look for great ideas, but also execution capabilities and the ability to stay the course, when funding an entrepreneur. There was a great line-up of nominations for the Awards this year.”
Mr. Sanjiv Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge (India) Ltd., said, “The selection process is an extremely rigorous one with all candidates being discussed in depth and detail. The resultant selection is very good. Being a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards is in itself a real endorsement of your efforts.”
The finalists for EY
Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2015 are:
- R. S. Agarwal, Executive Chairman and R.S. Goenka, Wholetime Director Emami Ltd.
- S. K. Arya, Chairman, JBM Group
- Dr. Anand Deshpande, CMD and CEO, Persistent Systems Ltd.
- Dr. Ramachandra N Galla, Chairman, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.
- Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, CMD, Bandhan Financial Services Ltd.
- Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Group Managing Director - South Asia, Bata India Ltd.
- Vinita Gupta, CEO and Nilesh Gupta, MD, Lupin Ltd.
- Sabu M Jacob, MD, Kitex Garments Ltd.
- Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO, Eicher Motors Ltd.
- Dr. Arvind Lal, CMD and Dr. Om Manchanda, Dr. Lal PathLabs Pvt. Ltd.
- Samir Mehta, Chairman, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd
- Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO and MD, Mindtree Ltd.
- Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO, CtrlS Datacenters Ltd.
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO, One97 Communications Ltd. (Paytm)
- Romesh Sobti, MD and CEO, IndusInd Bank Ltd.
Dr. F. C. Kohli, Former Vice-Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will
be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his invaluable contributions
to the inception and growth of the Indian IT and software exports industry. He
is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor,
for his contributions to the Indian industry.
The winners will be announced across several categories, while the national winner will represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year (WEOY) awards in Monte Carlo from 7 - 12 June 2016.
Rajiv Memani, Chairman, EY India, says, “Our entrepreneurial landscape is developing rapidly, signifying the spirit of confidence in India. An outstanding 11-member jury comprising some of India’s finest entrepreneurs and business leaders selected the finalists. The finalists this year represent a cross-section of industries from traditional to new-age businesses, but are all very customer-focused and innovative in approach. Many of them have also successfully turned around businesses.”
The jury considered a host of criterion, including the nominee’s entrepreneurial spirit, recent financial performance, strategic direction, product or service innovation, company leadership including personal integrity and risk-taking, values and key employee initiatives, and involvement with the community.
Says Farokh Balsara, Partner and EOY India Program Leader, “The EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ program recognizes individuals who have successfully transformed their ideas and vision into sustainable businesses. By enabling entrepreneurs, we are delivering on our purpose of building a better working world. This year’s awards have the theme of ‘Ideas. Innovation. Inspiration.’ Each of our finalists are exceptional achievers who epitomize the theme with their unique ideas and disruptive innovation, are fostering inclusive growth, and are a source of inspiration for many.”
Former award winners have included Uday Kotak (Kotak Mahindra Bank), Rahul Bhatia (IndiGo), N.R Narayana Murthy (Infosys), Ratan Tata (Tata Group), Adi Godrej (Godrej Group), Mukesh D Ambani (Reliance), Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Group), Kumar Mangalam Birla (Aditya Birla Group), Subhash Chandra (Zee Telefilms), Anil Agarwal (Vedanta), Tulsi Tanti (Suzlon), Anand Mahindra (M&M) and Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharmaceuticals).
About EY Entrepreneur Of
The Year™ Award
EY Entrepreneur of the Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for
entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it
encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes
the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and
achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, EY
Entrepreneur Of The Year™ celebrates those who are building and leading
successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional,
national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in 60 countries.
About EY
EY is a global leader in its Assurance, Tax, Transaction and Advisory services.
Our insights and the quality services we deliver help to build trust and
confidence in capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop
outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our
stakeholders. In doing so, we play a critical role in building a better working
world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.
EY refers to the global organization and may also denote one or more of the
member firms of EY Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. EY
Global Limited, a UK company, which is limited by guarantees, does not provide
services to clients. For more information on our organization, please visit
ey.com.
This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member firm of the global
EY organization. It also does not provide services to clients.
Courtesy by www.busniesswire.com
