Kumar Mangalam Birla gets Business Leader of the Decade Award
Sanjiv Bajaj, TV Narendran, Venu Srinivasan, Samir Mehta, Ather Energy founders, NPCI, ABB, and Rahul Kanwal honoured
Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel, presented the 13th AIMA Managing India Awards to India's high-performing management leaders and institutions for their contribution to nation building at a spectacular ceremony last night.
Shri Scindia congratulated the awardees and called the awards 'a wonderful portrayal of Indian capability'. "For me, it is a sobering moment but also a moment of tremendous pride because we see in India today the capability of straddling multiple domains with ease," he said. Drawing on the diversity of the awards and awardees, Shri Scindia said that the ceremony projected the vibrancy between the old and the new, between ingenuity and entrepreneurship, and between brick and mortar and technology. "This capability is the essence of the story of new India," he said.
Shri Scindia emphasized that India has seen massive structural shifts combined with sustained strategic efforts to create an ecosystem of partnership. "The philosophy today is that in your success lies India's success," he told India's business leaders.
"Today, India has embarked on a tryst with a new destiny...on a new journey from her Amritkaal to her Shataabdikaal," Shri Scindia said and stressed that the new India is predicated on infrastructure development. "India will achieve the target of becoming a developed nation by 2047 by following this very path," he said.
Highlighting the achievements in the civil aviation sector, Shri Scindia pointed out that in the last 9 years, 74 additional airports, waterdromes, and, heliports have been built, which has doubled the number of airports to 148. He referred to the 75% increase in the number of aircraft in the country from 400 to 700. Shri Scindia declared a resolve to build more than 200 airports over the next 4-5 years. He also predicted a doubling of the air passenger throughput in the 6 metros to 450 million by 2030. "It is our resolve to bring wholistic growth such that the civil aviation sector can support a $20 trillion economy by 2047," the minister said.
Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, received the Business Leader of the Decade Award. In his acceptance speech, Mr Birla said, " It is a very special award because it recognizes longitudinal contribution over a period of ten years." He stressed that the last ten years had been a period of epochal change for India and the leaders of industry have had a chance to participate in that change and shape the future of the country. "The last decade has been an exciting one for Aditya Birla Group and in many ways has mirrored the rise of India," he said and pointed out that in this period ABG's market capitalization has grown from $25 billion to $65 billion, its revenues have grown from $22 billion to $60 billion, it made 22 acquisitions across all businesses and spread its wings to 36 countries where people of 100 different nationalities are employed. "We are fortunate to have a canvas so wide that enables us to have a range of opportunities and make a small impact and enrich lives," he said.
Mr Birla shared six key learnings from his years in business. The first that a business leader's most important asset is one that is not reflected in the balancesheet. It is the people. The second - surround yourself with people who are smarter than you even if it gets uncomfortable at times, as it unfailingly succeeds. The third - create a superstructure that sets your people up for success. The fourth - become more and more comfortable with knowing less and less about more and more. The fifth - scale is not the only thing. actually, it is everything. The sixth - no short cuts, as nothing significant is achieved through short cuts.
Mr TV Narendran, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Steel Ltd was honoured with AIMA JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award on the occasion. Accepting his trophy, Mr Narendran dedicated the award to the company’s past and present employees. He pointed out that Tata Steel has many 5th and 6th generation employees, and it is the only company he has known in his 35- year career. He also acknowledged his wife. “My family has sacrificed the most for my professional success,” he said.
Mr Sanjiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv Ltd received the Transformational Business Leader Award. He called the award important because it recognized the endeavour to transform a traditional banking and insurance sector that has not changed much in 200 years into a digitally-led, digitally-first avatar that is relevant to consumers of today. "This award is also important because it recognizes transformational ability of traditional business groups like ourselves in this age of startups where with a great team you can be as agile as nimble and bring the strength of old business with the agility of a new business," he said.
Mr Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus, TVS Motor Company was given the Outstanding Institution Builder Award for making the TVS group a major force in the domestic and international automotive markets. Mr Srinivasan credited the award to all the present and past colleagues and Mrs Mallika Srinivasan.
The Outstanding PSU of the Year Award went to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) of the UPI fame. Mr Vishwanath Krishnamurthy, Chief Risk Officer and Mr Sampath Rangasamy, Chief of New Product Development accepted the award on behalf of the organizations. They credited the government and the RBI for NPCI’s success.
ABB India Ltd got the MNC in India of the Year Award. Mr Sanjeev Sharma, Country Managing Director, received the trophy. He pointed out that ABB had been doing business in India for 100 years and manufacturing locally for 70 years. “ABB is well domesticated and we are enjoying growth in the country,” he said.
Mr Samir Mehta, Chairman, Torrent Group received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He attributed the recent growth of the group to its founder’s values.
The Young Entrepreneur Award went to the founders of electric scooter maker, Ather Energy - Mr Tarun Mehta and Mr Swapnil Jain. “We are engineers first and we are poor in management. So, we are happy to receive this award from a management organization,” Mr Mehta said. Mr Jain said that India needs more entrepreneurs not only in software but also in the areas of hardware and manufacturing.
The Outstanding Contribution to Media Award went to Mr Rahul Kanwal, News Director, India Today and Aajtak. In his acceptance speech he said that good journalism is not about making noise but about making sense. He pointed out that India is in the grip of unprecedented polarization in politics and media and argued that journalism should explore the truth instead of joining any side.
The citations for the awards were read by eminent celebrities, including Mr
Suhel Seth, Mr Shekhar Gupta, Mr Dilip Cherian, Mr Vikram Chandra, Ms Ritu Beri, Ms Rina Dhaka, and Mr Sunil Kant Munjal.
The jury for the awards was chaired by Mr Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. The jury was made up of eminent business leaders, including Mr Shrinivas Dempo, Mr Harsh Pati Singhania, Mr Sanjay Kirloskar, Mr Rajive Kaul, Mr Sudhir Jalan, Ms Preetha Reddy, Mr Inderdeep Singh, Mr P Balaji, Mr Vineet Agrawal and Mr Yezdi Nagporewala.
AIMA President, Mr Shrinivas Dempo said that this year's Managing India Awards reflected achievements across the entire spectrum of Indian economy - from conventional economy to avant-garde ventures, from young entrepreneurs to empire builders, from public sector to multinationals. "Each of our award winners has set new benchmarks of excellence and success, which the rest of us can emulate," he said.
AIMA Senior Vice President, Mr Nikhil Sawney thanked the minister for presenting the awards and congratulated the award winners. He expressed appreciation for the award jury and the citation readers.
AIMA Vice President, Ms Suneeta Reddy introduced the Chief Guest, Mr Scindia.
The ceremony was attended by many of India's celebrated leaders from business, government, academia, media, and culture. The proceedings were live-streamed on AIMA's social media channels.
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