Sanjiv Bajaj is the EY Entrepreneur Of the Year 2017

Sanjiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv, was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017. Bajaj Finserv has today emerged to become the country’s leading name in financial services with solutions across lending, life and general insurance and wealth advisory.

EY also named nine other Category Winners for the Entrepreneur of the Year Program. The Awards were presented today at a Gala Award ceremony in Mumbai, in the presence of over 400 business leaders and special invitees.  

Sanjiv Bajaj will now represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo from 13-17 June, 2018. EOY is the only global business award program in the world and is celebrated across 60 countries.

Dr. E Sreedharan, widely acknowledged for his invaluable contributions transforming public transport in India, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was instrumental in the planning and execution of the Kolkata Metro, Delhi Metro, Kochi Metro and Lucknow Metro. He also spearheaded the Konkan Railway project, considered among the most difficult railway projects in the world, and completing it in a short span of eight years.

EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017: Winners

• Sanjiv Bajaj

Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv

• Lifetime Achievement: Dr. E Sreedharan

Category Winners

• Start-up: Nithin Kamath

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Zerodha

• Business Transformation: Ajay Singh

Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet

• Manufacturing: Puneet Dalmia

Managing Director, Dalmia Bharat Group

• Services: Satheesh Kumar K.R.

Chairman and Managing Director, Enzen Global Solutions

• Financial Services: Rashesh Shah

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Edelweiss Group

• Consumer Products & Retail: Sunder Genomal

Managing Director, Page Industries

• Life Sciences & Healthcare: Glenn Saldanha

Chairman and Managing Director, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

• Entrepreneurial CEO: Akhil Gupta

Executive Chairman, Bharti Infratel

• Energy, Real Estate & Infrastructure: Sumant Sinha

Founder Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ReNew Power Ventures

Rajiv Memani, Chairman, EY India, says, “Entrepreneurs are fundamental to nation-building and it is their impact which the EOY program seeks to recognize. The winners this year comprise first-time entrepreneurs who are disrupting sectors with innovation or dominating new industries as also individuals from family enterprises, where despite being in conventional businesses, they have created massive differentiation with their aspirations, innovation and execution intensity."

A distinguished nine-member jury, led by Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries selected the winners. The other Jury Members included Jalaj Dani, Co-Promoter, Asian Paints; Harsh Goenka, Chairperson, RPG Enterprises; Naina Lal Kidwai, Chairman, Max Financial Services; Meher Pudumjee, Chairperson, Thermax Ltd; Renuka Ramnath, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Multiples Alternate Asset Management; Vijay Sankar, Deputy Chairman, Sanmar Group; MK Sharma, Chairman, ICICI Bank and Romesh Sobti, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IndusInd Bank.

Being the only business award to be based on self-nomination, the Entrepreneur of the Year is now in its 19th year in India. Says Farokh Balsara, Partner and EOY India Program Leader, “Faster, better and more intense – that’s how the pace of disruptive change is advancing today. Our EOY 2017 India winners are entrepreneurs who have consistently used agile innovation to create profitable enterprises impacting industries, societies and individual lives.”

Founded and produced by EY, the 19th edition of Entrepreneur of the Year Awards were sponsored in India by Standard Chartered Bank and Dell.

Zarin Daruwala, Chief Executive Officer, India, Standard Chartered Bank, says, “Never before have we seen ideas and innovation spur such zeal, whether it is in the exciting world of start-ups with technology at the core of business ideas, or conventional businesses who are reshaping themselves. The lasting impact lies within the manifold ways entrepreneurship touches and changes lives: creating employment, raising health and education standards, and ushering in a stable and progressive society. In pursuit of recognising such leaders and innovators who have been contributing in shaping the future of our country we have associated with EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for the third year. The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards program truly captures and celebrates the spirit behind India’s economic resurgence.”

Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director, India Commercial, Dell EMC, says, “This is an exciting time for entrepreneurship and the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 has seen record participation of 250+ nominees. I, on behalf of the DellEMC family, would like to acknowledge and congratulate the winners. I wish all the finalists and winners the very best for their future endeavors.”