ET Awards : Event that showed how political will combined with entrepreneurial zeal can help India

It was a celebration of the success and can-do spirit of an aspirational India. A peer-topeer acknowledgement of things done well. Acknowledging the important role of mentors and spouses, and taking digs at their rivals, the winners expressed confidence in India’s future.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a “hands-on” approach that has powered the many reform initiatives of the government. Recipient of the Business Reformer and Policy Change Agent award, the finance minister has been at the forefront of implementing landmark reforms but said everyone in government was responsible for making policy change a reality.


In pic: The way forward- Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu makes the keynote address

“I think the fact that you don’t blink, the fact you are able to decide these issues expeditiously, that is the essence of governance that India needs and fortunately we had the support of the Prime Minister who led from the front and enabled most of these decisions,” Jaitley said.


In pic: View from the front- Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran with wife Lalitha, and Chanda Kochhar

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani recalled father Dhirubhai Ambani’s lessons — “belief in India’s potential, invest in businesses of the future.” Ambani also paid tribute to wife Nita and his three children. Ambani won Business Leader of the Year award for the second time in a decade, a rare feat in the annals of the ET Awards.



This year’s Global Indian of the Year award winner Prem Watsa, founder-chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings, has invested close to $5 billion in India. “While I and many others came to the west in the past, looking for our future, now India is where many will come to look for their future,” Watsa said in a prerecorded speech.



Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava said the amalgamation of Indian and Japanese skills and values was the key reason for the company’s success. Receiving the Company of the Year award along with managing director Kenichi Ayukawa, Bhargava said, “When there are difficult times, we have always looked at innovative ways to overcome difficulties.”



Suggestions by employees had helped the company save over Rs 300-350 crore every year, he said. ITC chairman YC Deveshwar won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Corporate Excellence for his contribution, spanning nearly five decades, toward building a business empire.



Deveshwar was instrumental in transforming the Kolkata-based company from being mostly a cigarette-maker to a conglomerate with interests in sectors such as fast-moving consumer goods, hotels, paper and packaging, and agri-business. “Our pledge to serve larger national priorities has led to the creation of an exemplary Indian enterprise,” said ITC CEO Sanjiv Puri, receiving the award on Deveshwar’s behalf.



Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal won Entrepreneur of the Year award. “Our surge pricing is still more competitive than some of our competitors’, so the audience tonight can most comfortably take an Ola cab back home after the awards,” he said as Uber chief business officer Madhu Kannan watched. Aggarwal reminisced about starting the company from a 1BHK apartment opposite IIT Mumbai in Powai.



The ET Awards are not just about recognising successful businesses and those who run them but also a tribute to those that give back to society. Mahindra and Mahindra was declared the Corporate Citizen of the Year. Anand Mahindra, in a pre-recorded speech, underlined the importance of good corporate citizenship and credited it to the “core value from the days of our founders.”


In pic: Ajay and Swati Piramal


In pic: Midori Ayukawa and Aruna Bhargava



In pic: Sajjan Jindal and Naveen Jindal


In pic: Happy hour: Harsh Goenka, GM Rao and Rahul Bajaj in the front rows