The awards presentation will be held in October in Mumbai, when over 300 high-profile dignitaries will gather to salute the winners.

An official release says that the awards intend to recognise and salute the spirit of excellence in corporate India. The list of the eight professionals that the high-profile jury picked to claim the title of 'the best of the brightest' in India Inc for '02-03 comprise AV Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla. At 36 he is the youngest ever to be ET’s 'business leader of the year'.

Deepak Parekh of HDFC is the youngest ever to receive 'The ET award for lifetime achievement', following the likes of Dhirubhai Ambani and Verghese Kurien. The 'company of the year' was awarded to Ranbaxy, India’s pharmaceutical pioneer which invested in R&D when few did.

The award for the 'emerging company of the year' will go to the Citibank promoted i-flex Solutions, whose banking software product has been tried and tested around the globe. The 'entrepreneur of the year' award will be bagged by VG Siddhartha for creating a national brand and lifestyle chain Cafe Coffee Day from a commodity business.

The winner for 'the businesswoman of the year' is Ela Bhatt, for creating the mammoth business network - SEWA.

In the newest category, introduced this year, for 'global Indian of the year', the award was bagged by Amar Gopal Bose who is the legendary creator of the world’s greatest sound systems. The Godrej Group emerged as the 'corporate citizen of the year', for its long and proven contribution to the social sector.