BS Annual Awards: A high-powered jury selects India Inc's best seven

Seven leading decision-makers met virtually to pick the outstanding achievers in seven categories

A high-profile seven-member jury to select the winners of Business Standard Annual Awards for Corporate Excellence 2022 met virtually in February and picked the best of India Inc.

The jury selected Hindustan Unilever’s Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Mehta as “CEO of the Year” and Titan as “Company of the Year” for their outstanding performance during the period under review. Samsung India was declared “Star MNC of the Year”, while defence aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics was adjudged “Star PSU of the Year”.

Likewise, Fine Organic Industries was awarded “Star SME of the Year”, Zoho Corporation, a fast-growing software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, is the “New Age Company of the Year”. The category name was changed from “Start-up of the Year” to “New Age Company of the Year” to include the new technology companies that are making a mark not only in India but across the world.

The jury was unanimous in its choice of Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and non-executive chairman of Infosys, as the winner of the “Lifetime Achievement” award.

The high-profile seven-member jury was chaired by Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla group. Other leading decision-makers in the jury included Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Managing Partner Cyril Shroff; EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani; Multiples Alternate Asset Management founder and Managing Director Renuka Ramnath; McKinsey & Company Senior Partner Noshir Kaka; Sorin Investments founder and Chairman Sanjay Nayar; and Bain Capital Private Equity India Chairman Amit Chandra.

“The jury had very interesting and very incisive discussions, and lots of different points of view from different perspectives were discussed. I think the nominees represented a very diverse and promising set of operations professionals that really showcased the dynamism of the winners,” Birla said. “My heartiest congratulations to all the winners.”

“The Lifetime Achievement award is really for someone whose body of work has had a fair impact, which is truly outstanding. Our choice of the winner is someone who has created an impact far beyond his own company and even beyond his own sector,” Birla said about Nilekani, who was also the founding chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), with the rank of Cabinet minister, from 2009 to 2014.

In his capacity as jury chairman, Birla initiated the deliberations by requesting each jury member to shortlist two candidates in each award category. Candidates were identified on the basis of their financial performance in the year ended March 2022, compiled by the Business Standard Research Bureau.

Birla emphasised that, in addition to financial metrics, strong ethical principles, and a long-term business vision should also be considered, particularly in light of the exceptional challenges that emerged due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The jury discussions were focused on key themes such as environmental, social, and governance compliance, crisis management, and new foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country by multinationals.

The jury recognised how Mehta steered Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the largest fast-moving consumer goods company in the country, through some of its toughest times during the pandemic-induced lockdowns. In the year that witnessed the second Covid-19 wave, HUL’s consolidated revenue from operations grew 11.5 per cent to Rs 52,446 crore, as it raised prices in order to pass on to consumers the surge in raw material costs. Its profit after tax during the year grew 11.2 per cent to Rs 8,892 crore.

The two years of the pandemic made HUL even more responsive and resilient as a business. Despite weak rural demand, HUL managed to outperform the market in both volume and value terms, thus tilting the scales in Mehta’s favour.

Ramnath said that Mehta was chosen CEO of the Year owing to the company’s consistent performance despite difficult macroeconomic challenges. “Mehta has navigated HUL during challenging times, steered a large ship and held the company together to consistently deliver high-quality performance — in terms of the company’s financial performance, and all-round impact on the economy,” Ramnath said.

The jury was impressed by the consistent performance of Tata group-owned Titan Company, which started operations in 1984 as a watch company. Titan later went on to introduce jewellery and is now the country’s leading lifestyle retailer, with products across eyewear, accessories, perfumes, and ethnic wear. The company is the world’s fifth-largest integrated watch manufacturer.

C K Venkataraman is managing director of Titan, which has come to be known for transforming India’s watch and jewellery industry and for shaping the domestic retail market. Its jewellery brand Tanishq leads the organised segment, while Titan Eye+ is also India’s largest retailer of prescription eyewear. The company has also been very successful in creating new brands across its verticals.

“It was a fairly difficult choice among a group of very strong contenders. But in the end, the combination of business success, market capitalisation, and breakout performance prevailed. So, we are very proud of the choice of Titan,” Shroff said about the winner of the “Company of the Year” award.

On the choice of Samsung, the jury debated and discussed several global names which have invested heavily in India — especially as part of their China Plus One supply-chain strategy — apart from the shortlisted names. Samsung’s consistent financial performance, in spite of the Korean firm not being listed in India, went in its favour. JongBum Park, who is President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia, heads the India operations.

This was the first time the jury selected an unlisted company in the multinational corporation (MNC) category, recognising the vast investments made in the country by Samsung and also the contribution to FDI in the Indian economy by a foreign company.

“We broke away from tradition (of listed entities) and looked for multinationals that contributed to India. Samsung was an obvious choice for achieving scale in the country, the manufacturing they have built, and the dealer network and sales and services network they have set up, which is quite outstanding,” Nayar said. “For a big Korean company to put so much confidence in the country and build their supply chain is commendable. But very importantly, they made products here like mobiles, TVs, home appliances, which are attuned to the Indian market — in terms of both price points, as well as distribution spread. So, it’s a great message for inviting FDI into our country,” Nayar added.

On “Star PSU of the Year”, the jury felt the candidate should not only have shown outstanding financial metrics but also faced competition from its peers. After a discussion on several companies, the jury zeroed in on Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), which has been a consistent performer for several years.

“It is not only sales growth and generating profit, but the company has been rewarded externally by the market. It completed the last financial year with an order book which is almost three and a half times its base (annual revenue), and that’s important in an array that supports the nation’s defence mobility building,” Chandra said.

C B Ananthakrishnan is chairman and managing director of HAL, which clocked revenues of Rs 24,620 crore and a net profit of Rs 5,080 crore in 2021-22, compared with Rs 22,882 crore and Rs 3,246 crore in 2020-21.

On selecting Zoho as “New Age Company of the Year”, Kaka recalled how 2022 was a very difficult year for start-ups, and how, after seven boom years, the industry faced a funding crunch and a “bit of a winter”. “The jury selected Zoho, as it has been the pioneer for developing SaaS software from India for the world, and has been a torchbearer for many years.

It’s not just the financial results of the company and the profitability that have grown by leaps and bounds, but it has pushed into Tier-II and Tier-III towns in training people on how to develop great software, and combined it with its global reach and network. It has also provided affordable software for several next-generation companies,” Kaka said. Sridhar Vembu is the founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2021.

The jury had a good conversation on the “Star SME of the Year” and discussed several names among the emerging companies. “The jury finally converged on Fine Organic Industries due to its outstanding financial performance and also its focus on green chemicals.

From a proprietary technology that they have developed, the company is now able to create a great impact by exporting to 75 countries,” Memani said.

Mukesh M Shah is chairman and managing director of the Mumbai-based firm, which clocked revenues of Rs 1,876 crore and net profit of Rs 260 crore in 2021-22, an increase of 66 per cent and 116 per cent, respectively, over the preceding year.