Mumbai: Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani was recognised as the Iconic Business Leader of the Decade at the Indian Business Leader Awards held in Mumbai on Friday.
The IBLA, hosted by India's No. 1 business channel CNBC-TV18, was presented to the RIL Chairman by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at a glittering ceremony in India’s financial capital.
Ambani, under whom the Reliance group emerged as India’s largest company, dedicated the award to his father and company founder Dhirubhai Ambani, as well as the young leaders who, he said, have transformed the business in the last decade.
“If you have followed Reliance over the last four decades, we started as a textile company and transformed ourselves as a petrochemical company, since then transformed ourselves as a refining and energy company. In the last decade, we have built a world-scale retail and consumer tech business,” he said.
Thanking the jury, Ambani said he was only accepting the award on behalf of the young leaders of the company, and mentioned the roles of Akash and Isha Ambani in taking the company forward.
He expressed optimism for the Indian economy over the next decade and said this was a golden opportunity for business leaders to collectively drive India to consistently being among the world’s top three economies.
“I am very, very optimistic,” Ambani told an audience that consisted of some of the most outstanding leaders and true visionaries of corporate India, and termed the current economic slowdown as “temporary pains”.
Ambani said that for him, the only iconic leader was his father Dhirubhai and he had taught him that we have to dream big for Reliance and even bigger for India.
The IBLA honours the high achievers of India Inc. and recognises personalities who have contributed to bringing about equitable economic growth or building profitable, sustainable and socially conscious businesses.
Chaired by Aditya Puri, managing director of HDFC Bank, an eminent jury selected winners from a compelling list of nominees.
The high-powered jury comprised Varun Berry, managing director of Britannia; Rajnish Kumar, chairman of State Bank of India; minister of state for finance & corporate affairs Anurag Thakur; Zia Mody, founder and managing partner of AZB & Partner; Sanjiv Puri, chairman and managing director of ITC; and Zarin Daruwala, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank.
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