CNBC-TV18 announces winners of the India Business Leader Awards 2005

· The Award was presented by CNBC-TV18 and Airtel in a grand ceremony with the Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram as guest of honour
· Winners of IBLA will represent India at the Asia Business Leader Award 2005 in Kuala Lumpur in November 2005

New Delhi, October 1, 2005 – CNBC TV18, India's leading business medium together with Airtel, India's most preferred mobile service provider announced the winners of the inaugural India Business Leader Awards (IBLA) at an elaborate awards ceremony held in the Capital today.

The 'India Business Leader' for 2005 was awarded to Mr. Debu Bhattacharya, Hindalco Industries Ltd, felicitated in the presence of the Hon Finance Minister Shri P Chidamabaram.

Mr Subir Raha was felicitated 'Innovator of the Year' while Mr Satish Reddy of Dr Reddy's Laboratories is the India Corporate Citizen of the year.

A discussion on 'Indian Leadership: Poised to go global', steered by renowned personalities - Sam Pitroda and Nandan Nilekani, flagged off the awards ceremony, with corporate invitees from various sectors participating in the same.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Finance Minister, Shri P Chidamabaram said: "The world has recognized that India is performing below its potential but also has a great confidence in its stability and rich human resource".

He added that, "In Urban & suburban India, business is isolated whereas in rural India the business is isolated and those are the outstanding people waiting for an opportunity to perform and their ability."

He further added, "India lacks confidence & capacity and needs to discover it to perform and be equal to any other country in the world."

The Awards programme is part of the prestigious regional-level Asia Business Leader Awards (ABLA), initiated by CNBC Asia, which has showcased and profiled outstanding examples of corporate leadership and excellence since its launch in 2001. The recipients of the India Business Leader Awards 2005 are the visionary leaders behind today's outstanding businesses. These stellar individuals epitomizing strength, ingenuity, knowledge and vision will represent India at the Asia Business Leader Awards 2005, scheduled to take place this November in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Judging process
India Business Leader Awards was based on the unique three-phase judging process, which the Asia Business Leader Awards has become well known for. In the first phase, a dedicated team from the Awards' Knowledge Partner University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) Asia Campus shortlisted semi-finalists based on four performance measures – Sales Growth, Operating Margin, Earnings Before Interest (EBIT) Per Employee and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) – sourced from industry databases. The second phase of the judging process entailed a face-to-face interview with the semi-finalists by Development Dimensions International, a global human resource consulting company specialising in leadership development and Research Partner of the Asia Business Leader Awards 2005.

In the third and final phase, transcripts of the interviews with all the semi-finalists were presented to a regional judging panel consisting of world-respected management strategists, academics and corporate personalities, who selected the winners.

The judging panel was overseen by Lead Judge Professor Mark E Zmijewski, Dean of Executive MBA programs, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB). The Indian representative on this jury is Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General of FICCI.

Speaking at the Awards ceremony, Mr. Haresh Chawla, CEO, CNBC-TV18 said "The India Business Leader Awards is all about recognizing and celebrating achievement in business innovation and applauding them for their accomplishments. IBLA - The most definitive business leadership award is a further acknowledgement of India's importance and contribution to Asian and Global business. The winners of the IBLA 2005 have demonstrated a high-level of corporate excellence and the Awards bestows a definitive stamp of greater achievements to come. We are proud to be able to localize the ideals of the Asia Business Leader Awards (ABLA) and to recognize the achievements of Indian leaders who can appropriately represent India."

"The IBLA 2005 will recognize local business leaders who have successfully steered their companies on the path to success by inspiring their employees to confront today's business challenges and by preparing them to identify and capture the opportunities that await them in this era of globalization. These outstanding business leaders know the value of keeping abreast of the latest innovations in business management to create and execute new business models that adjust to the ever-changing business environment," said Professor Mark E Zmijewski, Dean of Executive MBA programs, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB), Lead Judge of the distinguished panel judging the awards. "IBLA 2005 will salute those leaders who have effectively energised their companies to seize opportunities, laid the foundation for strong corporate governance, and developed a healthy corporate culture and community. It will culminate with the regional-level Asia Business Leader Awards which will celebrate the spirit of achievement and excellence in business leadership throughout Asia."

About CNBC-TV18:
CNBC-TV18 is India's No.1 business medium. CNBC Asia Pacific holds a strategic equity stake in the Indian registered broadcaster; Television 18. CNBC-TV18 is the undisputed leader in the business. The channel's benchmark coverage extends from corporate news, financial markets coverage, expert perspective on investing and management to industry verticals and beyond. CNBC-TV18 has been constantly innovating with new genres of programming that helps make business more relevant to different constituencies across India. CNBC-TV18 is currently available in over 26 million households in India.

Knowledge Partner:
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) Asia Campus
Founded in 1898, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) is a Nobel Prize-winning powerhouse. It is recognized globally for producing world-changing ideas and extremely well prepared graduates.

Chicago GSB is known for its world-renowned faculty, which includes more Nobel Prize winners than all other business schools in the world combined. It is also the first business school to have a Nobel Laureate on its faculty and is also the first and only business school to have had 6 Nobel Prize winning faculty members.

The GSB is also the first business school to offer a Ph.D. program in Business back in 1920. And it is also the first to offer an Executive MBA program back in 1943.

The Chicago GSB Asia campus in Singapore, which opened five years ago, attracts executives throughout Asia and other countries to its Executive MBA program. The part-time Executive MBA program prepares high-potential managers and experienced professionals for positions of greater responsibility. The program includes joint residential sessions in London, Chicago and Singapore with students from all three campuses that are fully owned by the GSB. The Executive MBA program offered in the Asia campus (in Singapore) is exactly the same program offered in the London and Chicago campuses and is taught by the same faculty who teaches in all GSB programs.

The GSB supports an active network of more than 39,000 alumni around the globe. These graduates lead and succeed in every possible industry including some 5,500 CEOs and top officers of firms worldwide.

Research Partner:
Development Dimensions International
DDI is a human resource consulting company specializing in leadership development. DDI was established in 1970 by two organizational psychologists William C. Byham, PhD. And Douglas W. Bray PhD.

DDI has helped to train and develop more than 10 million leaders in organizations worldwide. More than 15 million people have benefited from participation in one or more of DDI's leadership training or assessment systems. Their newly acquired skills have influenced the work lives of more than 200 million employees.

For more than three decades in Asia, DDI has worked closely with numerous multinational corporations, who count on its local consultants' understanding of local cultural and business practices to provide consistent worldwide applications of its solutions.

Today, close to one third of DDI's business is done outside of North America through its network of 75 offices in 26 countries. In Asia, DDI has operations in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Japan, Korea, India and the Philippines.

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