Vellayan Subbiah is the EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ 2023; Natarajan Chandrasekaran awarded the Special Jury Award and Venu Srinivasan conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award

• EOY Winners also announced in seven other Award categories
• Zomato co-founder, Deepinder Goyal, wins in Business Transformation category
• Team ICICI Bank bags the Entrepreneurial CEO EOY category award

Mumbai, 23 February 2024: In a celebration of entrepreneurial excellence, Vellayan Subbiah, Chairman, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd and Executive Vice Chairman, Tube Investments of India has been awarded the esteemed EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ Award 2023 (EOY). The nine-member independent jury led by K V Kamath, Former Chairman of ICICI Bank, selected Vellayan Subbiah as the EOY 2023 winner for his bold strategies to transform existing businesses while seizing new opportunities through acquisitions and diversification, which not only helped him grow his group companies to unprecedented scale but also created four times increase in shareholder value in just three years.

Vellayan Subbiah will represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo from 4-7 June 2024.

The Chief Guest, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, felicitated Vellayan Subbiah, N Chandra, Venu Srinivasan and the EOY 2023 category winners: Lalit Keshre, Co-founder, Groww for Start-up category; Sanjay Gupta of APL Apollo Tubes Ltd. for Manufacturing; Anand Deshpande of Persistent Systems in Services category; Rafique A. Malik, Chairman, Metro Brands Ltd. for Consumer Products and Retail; Shahid Bilakhia of Micro Life Sciences in Life Sciences and Healthcare category; Deepinder Goyal, Co-founder, Zomato in Business Transformation category; Team ICICI Bank (CEO, Sandeep Bakhshi and Executive Directors - Sandeep Batra, Rakesh Jha) for Entrepreneurial CEO category.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, was conferred the Special Jury Award for his outstanding leadership of the Tata Group and contributions to nation-building. His bold strategies of strengthening the core businesses, enabling group synergies, focusing on scale while creating a strong and empowered team have bolstered the Group’s market position and doubled its market capitalization from US$170 billion to an astounding US$365 billion.

The 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus of TVS Motor Company, was recognized for his decades of entrepreneurial excellence in revolutionizing the two-wheeler industry in India. By exemplifying quality, innovation and sustainable practices, Venu Srinivasan has won several global and Indian awards including the prestigious Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 2010 and 2020 respectively.

The EOY 2023 winners and finalists collectively represent an impressive revenue of INR 14.7 lakh crore and employ over 12.5 lakh people in India and globally. The 2023 Jury, apart from Jury Chair KV Kamath, included Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO, Nykaa; Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and MD, Bajaj Finserv; Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharmaceuticals; Sajjan Jindal, Chairman, JSW Group, Sunish Sharma, Managing Partner and Founder, Kedaara Capital; Ranjan Pai, Chairman, Manipal Group; Shailendra Singh, MD, Peak XV Partners, and Gaurav Trehan, CEO, KKR India.

Reflecting on the winners’ achievements, Rajiv Memani, Chairman and CEO, EY India, said, "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our esteemed winners and finalists of EOY 2023. They are true symbols of entrepreneurial excellence, who have transformed their businesses and created new markets where none existed. What distinguishes all of them is the scale, customer centricity and innovation with which they have built their businesses."

This prestigious EOY Award program for this year was sponsored by IDFC FIRST Bank.

Farokh Balsara, Partner and EOY India Program Leader, said, “EOY is a celebration of entrepreneurship where each passing year, our winners and finalists inspire us with their steadfast vision, remarkable resilience and passion to make a difference. I congratulate our 2023 winners, who form the distinguished league of entrepreneurs dedicated to building a Better India through their immense contributions to their industries and broader communities.”

25th Anniversary of EY EOY India Awards

The 25th Anniversary of the Awards celebrated the theme of 'Builders of a Better India,' applauding all past winners of the Awards whose resilience, adaptability, and visionary leadership significantly contribute to the nation's progress. Over the past 25 years, notable winners of EOY include industry stalwarts such as Mukesh Ambani (2000), Ratan Tata (2003), Anand Mahindra (2009), Kumar Mangalam Birla (2005), and Sunil Bharti Mittal (2004), among others, whose visionary leadership continues to inspire and contribute to India’s progress. N.R Narayana Murthy (2003), Uday Kotak (2014), and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (2020) have bagged the World Entrepreneur Of the Year title. Since its inception in 1999 in India, the EOY program has celebrated over 350 outstanding entrepreneurs.

Read more about the program at EY Entrepreneur Of The Year India

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About EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ Award

EY Entrepreneur of the Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in 60 countries.

About EY

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