Network18 Felicitates Champions of India Inc at CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards

Honouring India Inc's top companies and saluting the outstanding leaders who are at their helm,Network18 felicitated the winners of CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards 2015 today in New Delhi. The awards night witnessed the presence of the most prominent personalities from all walks of life. The award ceremony was presided over by theHonorable Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley. Other eminent guests included Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Arvind Subramanian, Hasmukh Adhia, Irrfan Khan, Abhinav Bindra and Piyush Pandey to name a few.  The event which saw a grand turnout of dignitaries from corporate world was followed widely on social media and trended on twitter with #CNBCTV18IBLA all through the evening. The audience included not just the ones seated at the venue but also across the world through LIVE telecast on Facebook.

Speaking on the occasion, Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Network18 said, “We are proud to carry on the tradition of honouring remarkable business leaders, who through ingenuity, innovation and foresight, induce positive changes in an evolving corporate world. We believe that such individuals not only further the cause of their respective businesses but also inspire and propel the growth of India’s economy, which is critical to improve the lives of India’s 125 crore citizens.”

CNBC with the Asia Business Leader Awards (ABLA) pioneered the business leadership awards to recognize leaders who create and sustain entrepreneurial initiatives, develop best practices and carve out powerful businesses in the global economy. CNBC-TV18 has carried on this tradition in India with the India Business Leader Awards (IBLA). The visionaries that have led India's glorious journey from the front are the champions that it salutes in the 11th edition this year.

Speaking about the eleventh edition of the awards, Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 said, “The India Business leader awards have always celebrated integrity, ideas and innovation. We at CNBCTV18 believe these are the pillars which will help drive India towards sustainable and equitable growth. This year, IBLA will put the spotlight on the imperatives to ensure India delivers on its economic promise by 2020.”

The awards adhere to a transparent and robust selection process that includes the Editorial Board drawing up a list of nominees, further leading to the final selection of winners by a Jury comprising a select group of distinguished personalities. This year’s jury comprised eminent members like Uday Kotak, Dilip Shanghvi, Shikha Sharma, Cyril Shroff, VG Siddhartha and Sanjay Nayar.

Quotes of the key Dignitaries.

Honorable Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said,

·         “If inflation does come down, which also seems likely as the factors that pushed it up look like coming down in next 3 months, therefore hope for the rate cut is logical. But the decision rests with the Reserve Bank.”

·         “Banks have been executively and legislatively empowered to tackle NPAs”

·         “It is important to strengthen banks before consolidation. In due course, we will see some banks getting merged”

Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor:

·         “Taxes are bad but a necessary bad. The higher it is, the distortion is greater. We have to keep that in mind for GST. The lower is better but it will depend on a lot of choices of policy implementation.”

Winners of CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards: