ET Awards 2018 for Global Indian: Shantanu Narayen, Chief Executive Officer, Adobe Systems
He also created a multibillion-dollar business at the company by developing tools for digital marketing, sensing the shifting of advertising from traditional platforms to digital.
By ET Bureau | Updated:
ET Awards 2018: Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen is the 'Global Indian of the Year'
On cloud $125-billion with a subscription for success
It reflected investor confidence on Shantanu Narayen, the 56-year-old chief executive of Adobe, who helped the maker of the PDF file format transition to a cloud-based subscription model that ensured recurring income, instead of one-time licensing of its software.
He also created a multibillion-dollar business at the company by developing tools for digital marketing, sensing the shifting of advertising from traditional platforms to digital.
The jury took a quick and unanimous view awarding Narayen for the way he transformed the business of Adobe which now has a market capitalisation of $125 billion. His vision of what technology can do goes beyond merely products, the jury observed, taking note of the phenomenal increase in the company’s market capitalisation under his leadership.
Mumbai-born Narayen studied electronics and communication engineering at Hyderabad’s Osmania University and then moved to the US, where he completed an MBA from University of California and MS in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University, Ohio.
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Oscars of India Inc: Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2018
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With India's top policymakers and industry doyens under one roof, the ET Awards 2018 function was a star-studded affair.
With India's top policymakers and industry doyens under one roof, the ET Awards 2018 function was a star-studded affair.
In his speech, Finance Minister Jaitley extolled the virtues of prudence — from the pricing of petrol and diesel to regulatory and fiscal policies. He said India was paying the price for seeking shortcuts to growth after the global financial crisis.
Don’t kill growth by squeezing liquidity, he exhorted, setting the stage for what could be an explosive face-off with RBI board.
In his speech, Finance Minister Jaitley extolled the virtues of prudence — from the pricing of petrol and diesel to regulatory and fiscal policies. He said India was paying the price for seeking shor..
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Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined govt's big Make in India push in large orders, citing companies that have bagged some major deals.
She made light of the ongoing legal tangle over Rafale, predicting that opposition charges of wrongdoing are going to fall flat.
Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined govt's big Make in India push in large orders, citing companies that have bagged some major deals.
She made light of the ongoing legal tangle over Rafale..
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Nitin Gadkari talked of a sector beset with crippling fund crunch, harping on what India needed to do to get past the roadblocks it is facing.
He cited India's waterway gamechanger to drive home the rapid strides the country is making towards dramatically cheaper transportation.
Nitin Gadkari talked of a sector beset with crippling fund crunch, harping on what India needed to do to get past the roadblocks it is facing.
He cited India's waterway gamechanger to drive home the..
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Piyush Goyal made a strong case for what the govt is doing to put India firmly on the infra superhighway.
He said coal is giving India a sizeable headache, shedding light on an industry swinging between hope and despair.
Piyush Goyal made a strong case for what the govt is doing to put India firmly on the infra superhighway.
He said coal is giving India a sizeable headache, shedding light on an industry swinging bet..
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The Lifetime Achivement award went to Adi Godrej, the patriarch of the 120-year-old Godrej Group, who now performs more of a mentoring role having decided to stay away from day-to-day ops.
The jury felt the award would be a fitting celebration of the deeds of a man whose journey began with a small entity with a Rs 10-cr turnover, which over time transformed into a Rs 32,000-cr behemoth.
The Lifetime Achivement award went to Adi Godrej, the patriarch of the 120-year-old Godrej Group, who now performs more of a mentoring role having decided to stay away from day-to-day ops.
The jury ..
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When Sanjiv Bajaj, the younger son of Bajaj Group chairman Rahul Bajaj, took the reins of the group’s newly spun off financial service division 10 years ago, the business was completely new to him. Yet, over the past decade, he has turned the business, comprising Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv, into a moneymaking machine for the group.
While selecting Bajaj as the Business Leader of the Year, the jury pointed out he entered a highrisk business category and fundamentally altered the consumer finance business both through the use of technology and through execution, with even leading banks later replicating his model.
“I am both excited and humbled to be awarded the Business Leader of the Year,” said Bajaj, managing director at Bajaj Finserv.
(In pic: Venkaiah Naidu presenting the Business Leader of the year Award to Shri Sanjiv Bajaj at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai)
When Sanjiv Bajaj, the younger son of Bajaj Group chairman Rahul Bajaj, took the reins of the group’s newly spun off financial service division 10 years ago, the business was completely new to him. Y..
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Sumant Sinha has led ReNew Power Ventures to the position of India’s largest clean energy company in a short span of time, overtaking older rivals on the way with a mix of mostly organic growth and a major acquisition in the rapidly growing but extremely competitive sector.
The entrepreneurship and leadership of Sinha, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi, IIM-Calcutta and Columbia University, has helped ReNew Power become India’s No. 1 renewable energy company.
Sinha dedicated the award to his team at ReNew Power.
(In pic: Nitin Gadkari presenting Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Sumant Sinha at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai)
Sumant Sinha has led ReNew Power Ventures to the position of India’s largest clean energy company in a short span of time, overtaking older rivals on the way with a mix of mostly organic growth and a..
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It reflected investor confidence on Shantanu Narayen, the 56-year-old chief executive of Adobe, who helped the maker of the PDF file format transition to a cloud-based subscription model that ensured recurring income, instead of one-time licensing of its software.
He also created a multibillion-dollar business at the company by developing tools for digital marketing, sensing the shifting of advertising from traditional platforms to digital.
Narayen’s career took off with Apple, and he also served as the director for desktop and collaboration products at Silicon Graphics. He cofounded Pictra Inc, which is said to have pioneered digital photo sharing on the Internet.
(In pic: Piyush Goyal presenting Global Indian of the Year Award to Shantanu Narayen at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai)
It reflected investor confidence on Shantanu Narayen, the 56-year-old chief executive of Adobe, who helped the maker of the PDF file format transition to a cloud-based subscription model that ensured..
Read More
As the first chief minister of India’s youngest state, the immediate concern for Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, who spearheaded a prolonged agitation for a separate state, Telangana, was to restrain flight of capital and instil confidence among businesses. Another was to address the acute power shortage in the state.
After initiating steps to tackle these issues, KCR attracted global attention by announcing the world’s first automatic industrial approvals policy TS-iPASS.
Under this, approvals are granted within 15 days of application for setting up industries, failing which clearance will be deemed conferred with self-certification from the enterprises.
(In pic: Venkaiah Naidu Presenting the Business Reformer of the year Award of Shri K. Chandrashekar Rao and received by Shri KT Rama Rao at at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai)
As the first chief minister of India’s youngest state, the immediate concern for Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, who spearheaded a prolonged agitation for a separate state, Telangana, was to restrain ..
Narayen’s career took off with Apple, and he also served as the director for desktop and collaboration products at Silicon Graphics. He cofounded Pictra Inc, which is said to have pioneered digital photo sharing on the Internet.
Narayen scaled an enviable peak in his career after he took over as Adobe’s CEO in 2007.
Under Narayen, rated among the most successful non-founder CEOs in the Silicon Valley, Adobe recorded explosive growth. His leadership helped the San Jose-based company wade through the global financial crisis of 2008, which struck soon after he took over as CEO.
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Narayen, who once represented India in sailing at an Asian Regatta, took some tough bets at Adobe, the most significant of which was shifting the business model from one-time licensing to cloud-based subscription.
“Digital technology will transform all businesses here. There are going to be new business models which will emerge in developing countries first,” Narayen told ET in February. Adobe’s largest research and development centre outside the US is in India.
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Narayen entered Adobe in 1998 as senior vice-president of worldwide product research and was later promoted to executive president. He served on the board of Dell and is a member of the advisory board of the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
In 2011, Narayen was appointed by the then US President Barack Obama on his management advisory board. In January 2018, he was elected as the vice chairman of the USIndia Strategic and Partnership Forum that seeks to enhance business relations between the two nations.
In 2011, the double postgraduate was honoured with a doctorate in applied science by his alma mater, Bowling Green State University.
The jury took a quick and unanimous view awarding Narayen for the way he transformed the business of Adobe which now has a market capitalisation of $125 billion. His vision of what technology can do goes beyond merely products, the jury observed, taking note of the phenomenal increase in the company’s market capitalisation under his leadership
I am honored and thankful to The Economic Times for this recognition. It’s an honor I share with my Adobe colleagues in India and around the world. I feel fortunate to go to work every day for a company that makes such a positive impact globally – as we seek to empower people to create and transform how business compete.” – Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO
