India’s entrepreneurship journey has now got global recognition: Zia Mody

Mody, who was a member of the jury which selected the awards, was in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express group. Ed-tech platform upGrad’s co-founder Ronnie Screwvala, who was the chief guest at the event, was the other panellist.

“It is our decade unless we do something wrong to ourselves. I think just as demography, democracy, aspirational set of youth and with the world in our hands, we just need to stay the course. The course has to be one of governance at the end of the day,” Mody said.

When asked to comment on the challenges which four top startups – Dream11, Paytm, Byjus and Ola – are facing, Screwvala said every industrial group has gone through their highs and lows, and it would not be correct to spotlight a few.

“Governance is an issue which comes with maturity, and it also comes from the investors that come to the company. It is a two-way street,” he said.

According to Screwvala, the two things which worry him the most are the sense of entitlement among entrepreneurs and success overtaking perception of life.

He said the growing income divide in the country is something which needs more focus.

“We can’t be an absolute developed country unless we can have some more sense of wealth balance and some sense of income parity between people,” Screwvala said.

This year, the lifetime achievement award was given to Swati Piramal, Vice-Chairperson, Piramal Group.

The other winners included Ananya Birla as the newsmaker, Roshni Nadar Malhotra as the legacy entrepreneur, along with several other stellar winners, each of whom carved out a niche in select domains with not just an impressive footprint but also with their pathbreaking endeavours.

Deepika Padukone, Renuka Ramnath, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Meher Pudumjee, Laila Tyabji, Jyotsna Suri, Indu Shahani, Meena Ganesh, Ghazal Alagh, and Vineeta Singh were the other winners in separate categories. Avarna Jain has been chosen as a promising FICCI-FLO entrepreneur.