ET Awards for Corporate Excellence 2025: Celebrating India Inc. distinguished icons

The Economic Times (ET) Awards for Corporate Excellence series, now in its 26th edition, recognises and honours the best and the brightest individuals and companies shaping inspiring success stories and building a lasting legacy for entrepreneurial and business success, alongside those steering economic reform and sustainability practices.

The ET Awards for Corporate Excellence serve as a benchmark for excellence in India Inc, where winners are selected each year by a distinguished jury. The winners are felicitated at a prestigious ceremony attended by ministers and the top echelons of corporate India. Watch this year’s ceremony on 25 April, 2026.



Business Reformer of the Year: N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh

Since reclaiming chief ministership in 2024, N Chandrababu Naidu has emboldened Andhra Pradesh’s stakes in business and entrepreneurship through his bold reform-led governance approach. Naidu has been instrumental in positioning Andhra Pradesh as a premier investment destination, garnering investments worth ₹10.7 lakh crore. Naidu’s calibrated policymaking—including the use of "white papers" to identify sector-specific problems—and proactive industry engagement have ensured that the leadership stays focused on simplifying processes and promoting technology-led growth. The reforms, such as introducing escrow accounts for investors and cutting red tape, underscore how administrative agility can unlock private sector participation at scale.


Business Leader of the Year: Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & MD, JSW Group

Sajjan Jindal has steered JSW Group through volatility cycles with strategic foresight, with the jury hailing his consistency and the group's ability to rebound from past turbulence. Under his leadership, the conglomerate expanded across renewables, cement, ports, and electric vehicles (EVs), combining disciplined capital allocation with bold expansion plans. Over the past year alone, the group sealed deals worth ₹ 41,000 crore in FY 2025 in its energy vertical, including a transformative buyout in paints. By investing in capacity expansion and technological modernisation, he strengthened the group’s competitive positioning while aligning growth with environmental responsibility.

Company of the Year: Bharti Airtel

^{Bharti Airtel was acknowledged for its sustained growth trajectory and resilience in India's tightly regulated telecom sector. The company has evolved from a pure-play telecom firm into a full digital provider offering broadband, cybersecurity, cloud services, and fintech through Airtel Payments Bank. Airtel maintains approximately 40% market share and the revenue grew at a three-year CAGR of 14%. Net profit rose by 99% annually to ₹33,556 crore between FY 22 and FY 25.}

Businesswoman of the Year: Vibha Padalkar, MD and CEO, HDFC Life Insurance

Vibha Padalkar has been celebrated for her strategic leadership and commitment to operational excellence, including steering HDFC Life through its landmark IPO in 2017, the second public listing by a life insurer in India. Under her leadership, HDFC Life’s market capitalisation has nearly doubled, rising from ₹90,000 crore when she became CEO to ₹ 1.65 lakh crore. Padalkar also guided the company’s evolution from a joint venture with UK-based Standard Life to a subsidiary of HDFC Bank following the landmark HDFC Ltd-HDFC Bank merger. These achievements are a testament to Padalkar’s strategic foresight and financial discipline, which have played a significant role in sustaining the company’s upward trajectory, with the company’s annualised premium equivalent (APE) growing at a compound annual rate of 17% between FY21 and FY25.

Entrepreneur of the Year: Lalit Keshre, Cofounder and CEO, Groww

Lalit Keshre was honoured for building a leading digital investment platform through a disruptive, customer-first model. As the co-founder of Groww, Keshre was recognised by the jury for bringing “young ideas” and innovation to the financial services landscape. His visionary leadership has redefined access to financial services for a new generation of Indian investors. Groww closed FY25 with revenue of ₹ 4,056 crore and a net profit of ₹1,819 crore.

Lifetime Achievement: Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman, Serum Institute of India

Cyrus Poonawalla has been recognised for a career defined by strategic foresight and enduring global impact. Serum Institute, founded by Poonawalla, has made a profound impact on low- and middle-income countries by providing affordable vaccines. His early bet on the Covishield vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic saved millions of lives and made the institute a household name. The award honours his decades-long contribution to global public health and ethical leadership.

Lifetime Achievement: Kaushal Pal Singh, Chairman Emeritus, DLF

Kushal Pal Singh (KP Singh) has been honoured for transforming DLF into India’s preeminent real estate firm and turning Gurugram into a global corporate hub. His journey involved overcoming immense challenges, including a period in the 1970s when private urban development was prohibited. Under Singh’s visionary leadership, DLF transformed from a local developer into India’s largest real estate company. Today, the firm boasts a market capitalization of nearly ₹1.73 lakh crore as of December 15, 2025, standing as a testament to his role in institutionalizing the Indian real estate sector.

Emerging Company of the Year: RateGain Travel Tech

RateGain, founded in 2004 in Noida, has been acknowledged for thriving on global travel and tourism opportunities through its SaaS solutions. The company serves 33 of the top 40 hotel chains and several Global Fortune 500 companies using AI to process data from over 1,100 sources. RateGain reported its highest-ever revenue of ₹ 1,076.7 crore in FY25, reflecting a three-year CAGR of 43.2%. RateGain has remained debt-free since its 2022 IPO.

Global Indian of the Year: Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube

Neal Mohan has been acknowledged for successfully steering the world’s largest video-sharing platform and redefining the attention economy. Under his leadership, YouTube’s standalone valuation is estimated to have reached between $475 billion and $550 billion, representing approximately 30% of Alphabet’s total valuation. Mohan has championed the creator economy in India, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over ₹16,000 crore to the nation's GDP and supported 930,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2024. His leadership balances product innovation, such as the expansion of Shorts and subscriptions, with a focus on trust and safety.

Conscious Corporate of the Year: Asian Paints

The company has set a benchmark in social commitment, spending 3% of its annual profit on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The company has achieved significant milestones in water stewardship and renewable energy, with renewable electricity accounting for 57.6% of its total power consumption in FY 25 and it intends to transition entirely to renewables by 2030. It earned an AA ESG rating from MSCI and ranked second in India in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2025. The award celebrates the company’s commitment to responsible business practices and community upliftment.

Together, the winners represent how visionary leadership, innovative agility, and responsible stewardship can propel India’s corporate excellence, shaping a resilient economy for the future.