ET Product of the Year Awards 2026: Where product innovation meets broader market impact

Product excellence is entering a new era. In markets shaped by rapid innovation, rising consumer expectations and greater emphasis on sustainability and self-reliance, the success of a product is increasingly measured by the value it creates beyond its immediate function. The most influential products are not merely solving problems; they are shaping businesses, strengthening ecosystems and contributing to a more sustainable economy.

As markets become more crowded, the definition of product success is evolving. It is no longer simply about what a product delivers at launch, but what it enables organisations, consumers and society to achieve in the real world.

The ET Product of the Year Awards 2026 recognise this evolution through specialised Horizontal categories, celebrating products that combine innovation with meaningful national and environmental outcomes. The evaluation goes beyond baseline functionality and technical specifications to consider verifiable results, real-world execution and market excellence.


The programme features two distinctive Horizontal honours that cut across individual product categories: Make in India Product of the Year and Sustainable Product of the Year. Eligible products can enter these Horizontal categories alongside their core category, giving companies an additional opportunity to demonstrate the wider value and impact of their products.

Each honour recognises a different dimension of product excellence where innovation extends beyond the product itself to create a broader impact.

Make in India Product of the Year

The Make in India Product of the Year celebrates domestic self-reliance, engineering capability and Indian product excellence. It is open to products across sectors from hardware and software to vehicles and consumer goods that demonstrate substantive India-based design, development or manufacturing.

Winning requires more than a local assembly operation. The jury will assess the depth of India-based value addition, including meaningful contributions in engineering, design, technology or manufacturing, supported by demonstrated market performance.

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Sustainable Product of the Year

The Sustainable Product of the Year recognises products that deliver measurable and verifiable environmental outcomes, regardless of their core category. This could include clean mobility, renewable energy integration, resource efficiency, circular materials, or other innovations that create tangible environmental benefits.

The emphasis is on evidence; strong entries must demonstrate measurable impact against credible baselines, with the jury rewarding quantifiable environmental results over sustainability positioning or marketing claims.

Together, these Horizontal categories allow companies to demonstrate that product excellence can extend beyond functionality to national capability, environmental responsibility and measurable real-world impact. The awards provide a platform for companies to substantiate their product leadership through evidence of adoption, execution, outcomes and broader market impact.

In an increasingly competitive landscape, product success cannot be measured by functionality alone. The strongest product stories are those backed by the strongest evidence.

Explore the Horizontal categories, find the right fit for your product and nominate today for the ET Product of the Year Awards 2026.