How We Did It

THIS IS EIGHTH edition of Fortune India's 40 Under 40 listing, where we identify young achievers who made a mark over the past year in business and economy. For this year's listing, the achievers needed to be under 40 years of age as on March 31, 2023.

Fortune India kickstarted the process by asking our team of journalists, HR heads and senior professionals across industries to recommend names of people who made an impact over the past year. We also invited nominations via Fortune India's social media handles. We received over 140 nominations by the stipulated deadline.

In the past, the majority of nominations were from start-ups. This year we have two sets of candidates: those who made an impact in legacy companies and founders of start-ups.

The candidates were required to provide exhaustive information, including details of how they have been disruptors; how the business scaled up in the last year; how the company's offering is different from others, and any decisions taken by them that helped the organisation.

After going through the information provided by the nominees in detail, Fortune India's senior editorial team identified 74 potential achievers — 12 legacy entrants and 62 start-up founders and promoters — whose details were presented before an independent jury that identified the winners based on quantitative information provided by the nominees and qualitative inputs that the jury deliberated upon. The final list of 40 includes nine legacy entrants and 31 promoters of start-ups.

Members of the jury comprised Cyril Shroff, managing partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Manish Tiwary, country head, Amazon India; Rajat Dhawan, India managing partner & senior partner, McKinsey & Company; K Pandiarajan, executive chairperson and director, Ma Foi Group and CIEL Group; Mohandas Pai, chairman, Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education; and Prayank Swaroop, partner, Accel India. The jury was chaired by Dr. Sanjiv Goenka, chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which also publishes Fortune India.