e-commerce
Paytm is Forbes India’s ‘Outstanding Startup for the Year’
MUMBAI: Paytm, the Noida-based e-commerce platform which would be the biggest gainers of the government decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, has pocketed the ‘Outstanding Startup for the Year’ award at the Forbes India Leadership Awards (FILA) here yesterday. India Inc’s brightest, biggest and bravest entrepreneurs were honoured at FILA.
Lupin’s Vinita & Nilesh Gupta won Forbes India ‘Entrepreneur for the Year 2016’ award and YK Hamied was conferred the Lifetime Achievement award.
The awards across nine categories acknowledged the outstanding contributions of CEOs, entrepreneurs and business leaders who have built enterprises that have had a deep and enduring impact on the economy and the wider society.
“As chroniclers of entrepreneurial capitalism, Forbes India has been celebrating leadership for years. FILA is a one important way we do this where we honour a set of such inspirational business leaders. Now in its sixth year, the awards celebrate those who, by their actions, have made a difference to their organisations, their employees and also to the business segments in which they operate,” said Forbes India editor Sourav Majumdar.
The achievements of this year’s winners assume significance since many of the business leaders felicitated have braved difficult local and global economic conditions to steer their organisations towards operational excellence.
Winners of the FILA 2016:
Outstanding Startup for the Year
Vijay Shekhar Sharma – Paytm
Nextgen Entrepreneur for the Year
Pranav Amin & Shaunak Amin – Alembic Pharmaceuticals
Entrepreneur with Social Impact
P Namperumalsamy – Aravind Eye Care System
Conscious Capitalist Company for the year
Mahindra Finance
Best CEO – Multinational Company
Kenichi Ayukawa – Maruti Suzuki India
Best CEO – Public Sector
Sutirtha Bhattacharya – Coal India
Best CEO – Private Sector
KBS Anand – Asian Paints
Lifetime Achievement Award
Yusuf K Hamied – Cipla
Entrepreneur for the Year
Vinita Gupta & Nilesh Gupta – Lupin
The selection process started with an extensive research along qualitative and quantitative parameters. The long list of nominees for each category was narrowed down to a strong set of three to five nominees per category. A jury headed by Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico Ltd, examined the nominations and selected the winners.
Other members of the jury were — AZB & Partners founder and senior partner Zia Mody, TeamLease Services co-founder and chairman Manish Sabharwal, McKinsey India managing director Noshir Kaka, KKR India managing director Sanjay Nayar, and Omidyar Network partner and Omidyar Network India Advisors managing director Roopa Kudva.
KPMG, Forbes India’s knowledge partners for the event, helped with the
nomination process.
Transformational leadership, which the 2016 edition of the Forbes India Leadership Awards seeks to honour, includes individuals and organisations who have achieved success through their vision, foresight, and business ethics.
e-commerce
Instamart and Duolingo launch street spell check campaign for Instaprint
Duo the owl fixes signboard typos across cities to showcase instant printing.
MUMBAI: If spelling mistakes had a sworn enemy, it might just be a bright green owl with a printer. Instamart has teamed up with language learning platform Duolingo for a quirky nationwide campaign that turns everyday spelling errors into a public spectacle while promoting its instant printing service, InstaPrint. The playful activation takes aim at the many misspelled shop boards and public signs scattered across Indian streets. From “saloons” that promise haircuts rather than drinks to menus and posters peppered with punctuation mishaps, the campaign sends Duolingo’s mascot Duo on a mission to restore linguistic order.
Armed with Instamart’s instant printing feature, Duo prints corrected versions of the mistakes on the spot and pastes them over the originals. The result is a series of humorous street interventions that have quickly begun circulating on social media.
Photos and videos of the grammar correcting owl have been widely shared online, with amused users reacting to the unexpected spell check patrol. One user joked, “Ab ayega na maza bhidu,” capturing the internet’s delight at the unusual campaign.
Behind the humour lies a practical message. The activation is designed to showcase the capabilities of Instaprint, Instamart’s printing service that allows users to print documents and posters almost instantly.
The company says the feature is meant for everyday needs such as printing resumes, visa documents or last minute posters without the usual scramble to locate a print shop.
Instamart introduced Instaprint in 2025 across select metropolitan cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. The service allows users to order printed materials directly through the platform, extending the quick commerce model beyond groceries and household essentials.
By combining Duolingo’s famously persistent owl with India’s street level spelling quirks, the campaign taps into the internet’s long running fascination with grammar mistakes while demonstrating a real world use case for instant printing.
After all, in a world full of typos, sometimes what you really need is a quick printer and a very determined language teacher.
