Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the $100 billion market cap Aditya Birla Group, which has interests in metals, cement, textiles and paints among others, won the coveted Business Leader of the Year award.
Mahindra & Mahindra, the automobile manufacturing major, was chosen Company of the Year for its spectacular business and stock market performance.
The power-packed jury headed by Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani voted unanimously for Ashwini Vaishnaw, union minister for railways, electronics & information technology, and information & broadcasting, as the Business Reformer of the Year considering his efforts in rooting a mobile and electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India.
The Lifetime Achievement award went to Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus, TVS Motor, for scripting a two-wheeler manufacturing success story among several other achievements, including an exceptional philanthropy record. The jury deliberated for nearly three hours, picking winners in nine categories, holding extensive discussions before making its selection.
The Businesswoman of the Year category saw Vishakha Mulye, CEO, Aditya Birla Capital, emerge as the winner among a strong list of nominees for repositioning the financial services entity and putting it on a high-growth path.Even before the formal process started, Ambani set the tone with his thoughts on the economy and business. Other jury members joined the discussion as well, with their views providing context to the awards. Members familiar with nominees usually kicked off the debate with their insights, helping the remaining members make up their minds. The jury rewarded companies that delivered solid performances while, in the individual categories, it went with those who made an impact-scaled up businesses, implemented new ideas, or beat back the odds.The other members of the jury were Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group; Uday Kotak, founder, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Lakshmi Venu, director, TAFE; Anish Shah, MD & CEO, Mahindra Group; Zia Mody, co-founder & managing partner, AZB & Partners; Preetha Reddy, executive vice chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; Salil Parekh, MD & CEO of Infosys; Rohit Jawa, MD & CEO, Hindustan Unilever; Sriharsha Majety, co-founder & CEO, Swiggy; Nicolas Berggruen, founder, Berggruen Holdings.
“We were looking at really awarding it on merit and making sure that they shine a light on what other entrepreneurs can do in the coming 20 years to make India an economic superpower to achieve its true potential,” Ambani said after the jury concluded its deliberations. The jury chose Fareed Zakaria as Global Indian of the Year in a consensus pick, moving away from global tech leaders who have dominated the list of past winners.
The jury followed a two-step process to identify the winners. It picked the top two contenders from nominations in each of the categories to narrow down the field. Subsequently, the panel extensively debated the selected nominees. A final secret vote was then held to pick a winner if there was no consensus during the deliberations.
Jury members with interests in any of the nominees recused themselves for the entire category. Birla sat out the debate on Businessman of the Year, where he was himself a nominee and eventually won, as well as the Businesswoman of the Year and Conscious Corporate categories.
Lakshmi Venu stepped out when the Lifetime Achievement was discussed as her father was a nominee. Similarly, Anish Shah recused himself from the Company of the Year deliberations.
Lenskart cofounder Peyush Bansal won the Entrepreneur of the Year award for successfully building a multi-nation omnichannel eyewear company. Underlining the manufacturing theme, Lenskart is building a $200 million global scale factory in Telangana, 10 times the size of its Rajasthan unit.
Food delivery and quick commerce company Zomato got the Emerging Company of the Year award, as the jury recognised its scorching pace of growth and turning profitable last year. Grasim, another manufacturing powerhouse, won the Conscious Corporate award, as the jury recognised the difficulty such companies face in meeting ESG standards.
“It was a thoughtful deliberation, befitting of the 25th year of the ET Awards. It set the context for the future, representing the diversity of the economy,” said Venu.
