The Economic Times has been conducting awards across segments from the past few years. Be it the ET Young Leaders Award, ET B-School Leaders Awards or ET Corporate Excellence Awards, Economic Times has been celebrating achievements across all age groups.
Recently, ET concluded the 2015 edition of Corporate Excellence Awards judged by an esteemed jury panel which Economic Times call the ‘ET Intelligence Group’ (ETIG). Parameters were set by ETIG for shortlisting candidates e.g. Companies with an average market capitalization of over Rs 10,000 crore and revenues of over Rs 5,000 crore were considered and ranked on the parameters of net sales, net profit, market cap and RoE, share price return etc-
Below are the Winners of ET Corporate Excellence Awards 2015 with their brief profiles :
Company of the Year – Hindustan Unilever
Hindustan Unilever (HUL) sells more products in India than its global rivals Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Colgate, GSK Consumer and Reckitt Benckiser put together.
Yet, in an environment where the country’s consumer products sector expanded at the slowest pace in a decade, HUL grew 10 per cent in 2014-15, at almost double the rate of the overall market.
Business Leader of the Year – Uday Kotak
Last year, Uday Kotak not only succeeded in convincing the RBI that amalgamation of two healthy banks also makes sense but also spearheaded the successful acquisition of the $2.4 billion ING Vysya which many others had also eyed.
Entrepreneur of the Year – Kunal Bahl
The Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Kunal Bahl, the co-founder of online marketplace Snapdeal.
ET made sure that, Bhavish Aggarwal, the cofounder of Ola along with Kunal Bhal, was kept out of decision for this category. Bahl had demonstrated remarkable maturity, got top talent for the company and recently raised money at a valuation of $5.5 billion (about Rs 35,000 crore) from top global investors.
Lifetime Achievement Award – S Ramadorai
When most Indians were dreaming of getting a US green card, S Ramadorai turned it down to work for what was then a fairly small company, Tata Consultancy Services. When he took over as CEO of the company in 1996, TCS had about $150 million in revenue. TCS now employs 3,35,000 people and has over $15 billion in revenue.
Emerging Company of the Year – Eicher Motors
Royal Enfield maker Eicher Motors, one of the most profitable auto makers in the world, is out to build a global brand. Having established the brand in India, which took over a decade, Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Eicher Motors, wants the thump of the Royal Enfield bike to reverberate on the roads in Latin America, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Global Indian of the Year – Nikesh Arora
With a tremendous track record at Google before SoftBank, Nikesh Arora, has been an excellent mentor to entrepreneurs, spending long hours with teams of his invested companies. SoftBank has also been betting aggressively on India, and Arora’s relationships in the country has been playing a major role in fulfilling its global ambitions. When Masayoshi Son (Founder, Softbank) and Arora visited India last year, they announced investments worth nearly $1 billion in startups. The company has hinted that it could invest up to $10 billion in Indian firms.
Business Reformer of the Year – Piyush Goyal
A rare combination of a chartered accountant, lawyer and an investment banker, Piyush Goyal, rebooted the coal sector with an ordinance to clear the mess within a month after the Supreme Court’s verdict that termed most coal blocks’ allocation arbitrary. The auctions won accolades, and garnered Rs 3.35 lakh crore of potential revenues for coal-bearing states.
Corporate Citizen of the Year – Infosys (Infosys Science Foundation & Infosys Foundation)
Two entities, Infosys Science Foundation and Infosys Foundation, USA are driving the CSR activities of Infosys into an esoteric yet critical realm rarely explored by corporates — science and maths. The company had steered its CSR initiatives through the Infosys Foundation with its focus on traditional issues and challenges.
Policy Change Agent of the Year – Amitabh Kant
Amitabh Kant, the man who pilots key initiatives to attract investment, received the ET Award for Policy Change Agent as a recognition of the brand equity created for India. Amitabh has been the force behind key initiatives of the government — be it ‘Make in India’, ‘Ease of Doing Business’, FDI reforms or simplification of defense licensing.
