NDTV Profit has announced the nominees and jury for the Business Leadership Awards 2026, celebrating excellence across business, finance, technology, governance and entertainment.
The awards recognise individuals and organisations that have demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation and impact over the past year, with winners to be selected by an independent jury comprising some of India's most respected business leaders and policymakers.
The jury includes Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises; Noel N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts; Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Jayant Sinha, President of Everstone Group, Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and former Union Minister; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson of the Biocon Group; U.K. Sinha, former Chairman of SEBI; and CS Setty, Chairperson of State Bank of India.
Sanjeev Krishan, Chairperson of PwC India, and Rahul Kanwal, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the NDTV Group, will serve as non-voting members of the jury.
The awards feature 13 categories spanning corporate leadership, financial services, sustainability, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, governance and public service.
The CEO of the Year – Private category includes Anish Shah of Mahindra Group, K.N. Radhakrishnan of TVS Motor, P. Venkatesalu of Trent, Inder T. Jaisinghani of Polycab India, Vinita Gupta of Lupin, Rajiv Bajaj of Bajaj Auto, Hisashi Takeuchi of Maruti Suzuki India and S.N. Subrahmanyan of Larsen & Toubro.
In the CEO of the Year – Public category, the nominees are Capt. Jagmohan (Retd.) of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Manoj Jain of Bharat Electronics, K. Sadashiv Murthy of BHEL, Gurdeep Singh of NTPC and Arun Kumar Singh of ONGC.
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The New Economy Leader of the Year category recognises high-growth technology businesses and includes Eternal (Zomato), PB Fintech (Policybazaar), FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), CarTrade Tech and Delhivery.
For Financial Powerhouse of the Year, the private sector nominees are Shriram Finance, BSE, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank, while the public sector nominees include Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Power Finance Corporation, Canara Bank, State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.
The Wealth Creator of the Year nominees include BSE, Transformers & Rectifiers India, MCX India, Himadri Speciality Chemical, Gallantt Ispat, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and Neuland Laboratories.
The AI Champion of the Year category features Sarvam, Neysa, Fractal, Qure.ai, Karya and Emergent for their contribution to strengthening India's artificial intelligence ecosystem.
The IPO of the Year nominees include Meesho, Billionbrains Garage Ventures (Groww), ICICI Prudential AMC, LG Electronics India, Lenskart Solutions, HDB Financial Services and Tata Capital.
The Green Champion of the Year category includes Lupin, Tech Mahindra, Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Properties, Firstsource Solutions and the Mahindra Group.
For Trailblazer of the Year, recognising women leaders driving commercial success, the nominees are Geetanjali Kirloskar, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Falguni Nayar, Mallika Srinivasan, Vibha Padalkar and Prabha Narasimhan.
The Philanthropist of the Year nominees are Shiv Nadar, Azim Premji, Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, and Susmita Bagchi.
The Entertainer of the Year category features Ranveer Singh, Allu Arjun, Rishab Shetty, Rashmika Mandanna and Arijit Singh.
The Reformer of the Year nominees are Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for driving transformative policy initiatives.
The India's Atmanirbharta Champion award will recognise enterprises advancing India's self-reliance in manufacturing and strategic industries. The nominees are ONGC, Tata Electronics, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Wockhardt.
The Lifetime Achievement Award nominees are A.M. Naik, Chairman Emeritus of Larsen & Toubro; distinguished banker Kalpana Morparia; Sun Pharmaceuticals founder Dilip Shanghvi; Salesforce South Asia President and CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya; and Marico Founder and Chairman Harsh Mariwala.
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