MUMBAI: When you deliberate on data analytics and disruption in the same breath as diversification and durability of legacies while judging corporate excellence, the conversation is bound to be engrossing. For the nine-member jury shortlisting the winners for the 2015 ET Awards last Friday evening, it was all about balancing the brashness of the unicorns with the more storied sagas of India Inc and picking the best.
“The interplay of ideas from old as well as new economy made the debate all the more interesting. In the end, it was not only about rewarding excellence but equally looking at the future sustainability of companies as well,” ace lawyer and jury member Cyril Shroff said after the meeting.
It was a structured discussion. The members first narrowed the candidates down to two in each category. It was deciding who would win between the top two and weighing their achievements against each other that took up most of the hour-and-a-half proceedings.
Co-chaired by Sunil Mittal of Bharti Enterprises and Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group — jury chair Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group CEO, took ill and was a last-minute dropout — the panel recognized stability and consistency along with the resilience of brands in the backdrop of a rural slowdown to award Hindustan Unilever as the Company of the Year. The other strong contenders were Lupin Pharma and Axis Bank.
Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman & MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank, and N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD of TCS, were close contenders for the coveted Business Leader of the Year category. The jury eventually plumped for Kotak after a lengthy discussion. “He is a first generation leader who has single-handedly built an institution of repute from scratch,” said Mittal. “Even though his theatre of operations is local, he speaks a global language. No wonder he is aport of call for many international business leaders visiting India,” he added.
SoftBank’s heir apparent Nikesh Arora was chosen as the Global Indian of the Year for the impact he has had at the Japanese conglomerate. With over a billion dollars already riding on Indian tech startups and a promise of a $10-billion investment over the next few years, Arora trumped Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Arora protege Kunal Bahl, co-founder & chief executive of Snapdeal, was the winner in the Entrepreneur category. “When I look at him, I see the next Sunil Mittal,” said Arora. At 32, Bahl has already rewritten the rules of consumer engagement with his virtual marketplace, the largest in the country.
“It’s encouraging that we are seeing the new breed of startups looking at products and not just services,” said inventor and venture capitalist guru Vinod Dham, another jury member.
Both Arora and Bahl recused themselves when their respective categories were being discussed.
For Eicher Motors, which bagged the Emerging Company of the Year award, it has been a fascinating ride, including coming back from the brink. As a jury member said, “it was more about re-emergence of the company” largely on the back of its Royal Enfield motorcycles. A trailblazer even on the bourses, the company’s stock has grown 15 fold in 4 years, ahead of its peers by miles.
Recognising the efforts of former TCS vice-chairman S Ramodorai, who after a stellar corporate career with the Tatas, is now spearheading the government’s flagship National Skill Development Corporation, the jury near unanimously selected him for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Piyush Goyal, minister of state with independent charge for power, coal, new and renewable energy, was given the Business Reformer’s prize for successfully carrying out the coal auctions and creating a transparent template for resource allocation in the country. The jury took all of two minutes to pick Amitabh Kant, secretary, DIPP, who was the choice for the Policy Change Agent for his efforts in steering the ‘Make in India’ campaign. Infosys was awarded the Corporate Citizen of the Year.
The ET Awards for Corporate Excellence 2015 is presented by Standard Chartered Bank.
