18 in final round of E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Eighteen industrialists have made it to the final round of the coveted Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

An eight-member jury, chaired by M Damodaran, the former chairman of Sebi, IDBI and UTI, nominated the finalists who will be felicitated on February 7. The 12th Entrepreneur of the Year awards is back in the national capital after three years.

A record 312 nominations were received this year, underscoring the resilience of Indian entrepreneurs despite the recent global downturn. The lifetime achievement award will be conferred on Brijmohan Lall Munjal, chairman & whole time director, Hero Honda Motors.

The finalists are A M Arun, CMD, Vasan Health Care Pvt Ltd; Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubilant Foodworks Ltd; Deep Kalra, founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip Ltd; Dilip Shanghvi, CMD, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd; Mallika Srinivasan, chairman, Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd; N K Chaudhary, MD, Jaipur Rugs Company Pvt Ltd; Naveen Jindal, ex-vice chairman and MD, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd; R Sridhar, MD, Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd; R S Agarwal and R S Goenka, executive chairman and Director, respectively, Emami Ltd; Rahul Bhatia, MD, Interglobe Aviation Ltd; Rajesh Agarwal, MD, Micromax Informatics Ltd; Rajju Devidas Shroff, CMD, United Phosphorus Ltd; Rajiv Mittal, MD, VA Tech Wabag Ltd; Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto Ltd; Sameer Manchanda, chairman, DEN Networks Ltd; Shyam S Bhartia and Hari S Bhartia, CMD/Co-chairman & MD, Jubilant Lifesciences Ltd; Vivek Chaand Sehgal, vice-chairman; Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd.

While the jury considered various factors, including entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, strategic direction, innovation and personal integrity, it placed special emphasis on the global impact of nominees, who made a difference in India’s position in the emerging new global economic order.

According to Damodaran: “We received an excellent quality and number of nominations this year. The jury considered parameters which combined ambition with pragmatism; goal orientation with adaptability and growth with impact.”

Other jury members were P R S Oberoi (Oberoi Group), Naina Lal Kidwai (HSBC India), Dalip Pathak (Warburg Pincus), Sunil K Munjal (Hero Corporate Services), A Vellayan (Murugappa Group), Rajiv Lall (IDFC), and Sanjay Nayar (KKR India).

“Our list of finalists is both inspiring and exciting, representing a combination of individuals who have either created market leadership in their own segments; successfully transformed businesses in challenging times; made a mark on the global stage; or opened up new vistas of opportunities with path-breaking innovations,” says Rajiv Memani, country managing partner, Ernst & Young India.

The winners join the ranks of legendary business leaders and award recipients such as N R Narayana Murthy (Infosys), Ratan Tata (Tata Group), Mukesh Ambani (Reliance), Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Group), Kumar Mangalam Birla (Aditya Birla Group), Subhash Chandra (Zee Telefilms), Anil Agarwal (Vedanta), Tulsi Tanti (Suzlon) and Anand Mahindra (M&M).