6 Unicorn start-ups jointly get NDTV Indian of the Year award

Amitabh Bachchan and Sourav Ganguly honoured with NDTV Lifetime Achievement Award

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | February 5, 2016

Celebrating the ideas and individuals who inspire India, NDTV Indian of the Year awards was held on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, at New Delhi's Taj Palace. The big winner of the NDTV Indians of the Year were the 6 Unicorns – start-ups Flipkart, Paytm, Snapdeal, Quikr, Inmobi and Zomato.

It had winners ranging from India's Unicorns to the Chennai Flood Heroes, Amitabh Bachchan and Saurav Ganguly as well as outstanding actors Irrfan Khan, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.

Prannoy Roy

At the outset, Prannoy Roy, Chairman, NDTV, said, “While we celebrate many outstanding Indians who have contributed to nation-building, let me clear that there will be no awards for journalists. Our job is to report honestly without any bias. When journalists start getting awards, it means we are walking in dangerous territory, eroding our professional principles.”

Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Shekhar made a strong pitch for Net Neutrality. Narrating why he said 'no' to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg who called asking for support for Free Basics, Sharma said India was not going be to colonized once again via the internet. “We are not Third World when it comes to the Digital World.”

Receiving the Award for Transformational Business Leader of the Year, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya quizzed Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on different issues from mobile call rates to spectrum auction. The head of India's biggest bank suggested a model for handing out spectrum to only to those telecom players who commit to spending on improving India's infrastructure, but the minister felt it's an idea that won't work, saying, “One model cannot have universal application in India. We have clear instructions from the Supreme Court that natural resources need to be divided by auction. The fault in this model is that there won't be competition. But in the end, it is good governance that will find a way out.”

The LIC Outstanding Service to the Nation award was conferred on Chennai cadre IAS officers, actor Sidharth and youngsters Arjun Raman, Ashok with 8-year-old Arjun Murugan, all heroes who emerged from the Chennai flood crisis and who zealously worked selflessly to save human lives and towards rehabilitation.

On the beef ban, top bureaucrat and CEO of the Prime Minister's policy think-tank Niti Ayog, Amitabh Kant, said, "I believe we are in a democracy, we should allow people to decide what they want to say, we should allow people to decide what they want to eat." Kant received the award for Best Administrator.

Actor Ranveer Singh had a fan boy moment when acting legend Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award. "I am a Hindi film fan first, then an actor. And if you are a Hindi film fan, you are an Amitabh Bachchan fan," said Ranveer, who joined the Big B and his family on stage. Interestingly, Anand Mahindra who gave away the award to Bachchan confessed he was a huge fan of his wife, Jaya Bachchan, when he was younger and should have been honorary chairman of her fan club.

Tennis ace Sania Mirza and badminton champion Saina Nehwal were both awarded the Sportsperson of the Year award. They joked about their mutual Hyderabad connection and the confusion over their similar sounding names.

Conservationists Valmik Thapar and Belinda Wright were honoured with Real Tigers Award at presented to them by Bachchan. They stressed the significance of tiger conservation and said that higher targets should be set, with Bachchan pledging continued support for this cause.

Vikram Chandra

Congratulating the winners, Vikram Chandra, Group CEO, NDTV, said, “We take immense pride in presenting the Indian of the Year 2015 awards. This year we have not only recognized the contribution of individuals who have played a significant role in nation building but also ground-breaking ideologies. We are delighted to honour this year's winners for their contribution to the nation.”

Sonia Singh, Editorial Director of NDTV, said, “Everyone honoured here tonight is a real hero, from the little slum boys in Chennai who worked selflessly to help others during the floods to the start-ups which are providing thousands of jobs and of course our film and cricket stars. All our winners make us all proud as Indians.”

Vinay Sah, Executive Director - Marketing, LIC of India, also presented a memento to Bachchan for his contribution to Indian cinema.

Presenting Sponsor for the awards was LIC of India and Associate Sponsors were Paytm, Sensodyne and Titan Juxt.

Watch the entire award show on NDTV 24/7 on Saturday, February 6, at 10 AM and 9:30 PM and on NDTV India on February 6 at 8 PM and February 7 at 4 PM.

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