New Delhi
Nandan Nilekani gets inaugural Managing India Ratan Tata award
Industry to decide use of the govt’s R&D budget: Education Minister
FTAs are being reworked: Minister of State for Commerce & Industry
All India Management Association (AIMA) Managing India Awards 2025 were presented today. Mr Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder and Chairman, Infosys, received the inaugural Ratan Tata Corporate Citizen award.
Mr Sajjan Jindal, Chairman, JSW Group, got the Business Leader of the Decade award, Apollo Hospitals’ founder, Dr Prathap C Reddy was given the Lifetime Contribution award, and Mr Dilip Shanghvi received the Outstanding Institution Builder award. Awards were also presented to outstanding achievers from manufacturing, green tech, media, entertainment, and startup sectors.
The awards were presented by Education Minister, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, and Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Electronics & IT, Mr Jitin Prasada.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradhan told India’s business leaders that the Rs 1 lakh crore R&D fund proposed in the next year’s union budget will be used according to the industry’s priorities and not the government’s. He said that India has no option but to develop new technologies in India and the government, the industry and the academia must form an ecosystem for technology development. “It feels odd to see Indians doing research in other countries,” he said.
Complimenting India’s management leaders for driving the country's economic growth, the Education Minister said that corporate India could achieve 30%-40% return on equity by doing technology innovation and not 17%.
Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Past President AIMA and Chairman, Hero Enterprise suggested to the minister that the union government could get the state governments to cooperate in implementing the New Education Policy the same way it did for implementing the GST.
Mr Prasada assured business leaders that the government is reworking its Free Trade Agreements and it will not buckle down under any pressure. “India’s spending power allows us to negotiate on an equal footing and we will not accept junk and get only the best from outside,” he said.
Mr Prasada said that electronics manufacturing will drive India’s leadership of the world and reforms for the sector are in the pipeline. On the use of AI, the minister said that India will be the AI use case capital of the world. He said that AI chatbots will do away with the OPD in hospitals and the doctors will do only higher level healthcare and research.
Receiving his award Mr Nilekani said that he was delighted to be the first recipient of the AIMA award named after Mr Ratan Tata, as Mr Tata was a mentor, friend, collaborator and a co-investor. On his contribution to India’s digital ecosystem, he said that he has had the support of people from around the world who are committed to transform India with digital means. “The only way the country can move forward is by technological transformation,” he said.
Mr Sajjan Jindal said that he was privileged to receive the Business Leader of the Decade award. “It was ten years ago that our journey of growth started but it feels like yesterday,” he said.
Dr Prathap C Reddy’s award was collected by his daughters, Preetha and Suneeta. They said that the four Reddy sisters work hard to take their father’s work forward and are committed to delivering on his values.
Ms Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, HT Media got the Lifetime Contribution to Media Award. She said that she was pleased to have broken the barriers for the next generation, as being a rare woman in the media industry had its challenges. Commenting on the threat of fake news, she said that truth still matters and it is journalists’ responsibility to uphold the accuracy of news.
Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder, Info Edge received the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. The Transformational Business Leader of the Year award went to Mr Devansh Jain, Executive Director, INOXGFL Group and the Emerging Business Leader of the Year award to Mr Jinal Mehta, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Torrent Power.
Mr Sunil Vachani, Chairman, Dixon Technologies (India) got the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In his acceptance speech, he pointed out that India has gone from importing all electronics to producing electronics worth $500 billion at home. He promised that India will become the next hub of electronics manufacturing.
Siemens India was given the MNC in India Award. Receiving the award, the company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sunil Mathur said that the company was proud to have been manufacturing in India for more than a hundred years.
Ms Kiran Rao, Director and Producer, ‘Laapataa Ladies’, got the Director of the Year Award. She was felicitated by Niti Ayog CEO, Mr BVR Subramaniam and Saregama Vice Chairperson, Ms Avarna Jain earlier in the day during AIMA’s 69th Foundation Day programme.
The Outstanding Contribution to Media Award was presented to Ms Navika Kumar, Group Editor-in-Chief, Times Now and Times Now Navbharat.
The citations were read by renowned achievers and celebrities. They included Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Mr Shekhar Gupta, Mr P Balaji, Mr Yezdi Nagporewalla, Ms Rekha Sethi, Ms Rina Dhaka, Mr Sunil Sethi, Mr Rajiv Makhni, Mr Dilip Cherian, Mr Vikram Chandra, Ms Shivani Wazir Pasrich, and Mr Ajit Pal Singh, captain of India’s World Cup winning hockey team.
Introducing the awards, the chairman of the award jury, Mr Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, congratulated the award winners and said that the jury strived to recognize exceptional excellence across different fields.
AIMA President, Ms Suneeta Reddy said that the awardees had set new standards of performance and had led by example.
Mr Nikhil Sawhney, Immediate Past President of AIMA, thanked the ministers for presenting the trophies and sharing their plans with India’s management leadership.
The award ceremony was livestreamed on AIMA’s social media channels and was joined live by national and international audience.
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