India is the fastest-growing country in south Asia in terms of its economy. The Indian economy has surpassed the UK in the top 5 global economies and has become the 5th largest economy by nominal GDP of the world. The Indian economy is a more than 3 trillion-dollar economy and is expected to get the status of 3rd largest economy in the world by 2029. First most populated country in the world and is currently the house to more than 17% population of the world.
To manage its large population, the Indian government and private sector is working collectively to produce more and more firms and businesses in India because they play a direct role in enhancing their economy by increasing their GDP annually. Currently, more than 1 million registered companies are working on the national and international levels as well. As India’s next goal is to produce 90 billion new jobs over the next decade, they are promoting companies and businesses to attract investors for heavy investment in their country.
Every individual company needs extra care to manage its affairs. To handle a company smartly and efficiently every company’s board of directors pays extra care to appointing its CEO. Because CEOs are the ones whose smart decisions can take their company by leaps and bounds.
Best CEOs In India:
The Chief Executive officer (CEO) is the backbone of the company. The CEO is responsible for managing the affairs of the company by all means. The CEO is actually the boss of all departments of the company so it is important for him to act as a Jack of all trades. Because he is not only responsible to check and balance every single department of the company but also a representative entity of the company. Mostly small companies are run by their owners as a CEO however, large companies hire CEOs with the advice of their board of directors according to their ability, experience, and requirements.
If you are checking for the best CEOs in India then here is a list of the top 30 best CEOs in India according to their credentials and experience.
By Going Through This Article You Will Witness The Top 30 Best Ceos In The World From Least Good To Best.
30. Umang Vohra
29. Hetish Oberoi
28. Sunil A.D Souza
27. Rajeev Talwar
26. S N Subrahmanyan
25. Siddharth Lal
24. Deepinder Goyal
23. Arvind Krishna
22. Vibha Padalkar
21. Ajay Kapur
20. Kunal Bahl
19. Sunil Duggal
18. Falguni Nayar
17. Abhijit Roy
16. Sanjiv Mehta
15. Shantanu Narayen
14. Amitabh Chaudhry
13. Dilip Shanghvi
12. C P Gurnani
11. Anish Shah
10. Gopal Vittal
09. Rajiv Bajaj
08. Ajay Banga
07. Sundar Pichai
06. Suresh Narayan
05. Karan Adani
04. T.V Narendra
03. Rajesh Gopinathan
02. Salil Parekh
01. Mukesh Ambani
30. Umang Vohra:
Umang has been working as Managing Director and Chief executive officer of Cipla since 2016. His career started with Cipla in 2015 as a Global chief financial officer. In a short time, Umang had proved himself to be appointed as the CEO and Managing Director of Cipla. Umang did his degree in engineering, as well as marketing and finance.
After completing his degree, he started his job in various firms. He had past experience working with Eicher Motors and PepsiCo. Before joining Cipla he was serving as head of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. He has vast experience working in the pharmaceutical business because he has been serving in this field for the past two decades.
Also provided Cipla with a strong vision of building strong momentum in home marketing and showing improvement In their operating margins and profitability. Helped Cipla to achieve its goal of providing affordable medicines through his sharp knowledge and experience in this field. His smart and never to stop behavior makes him one of the best CEOs in India.
29. Hitesh Oberoi:
Hitesh has been serving as CEO and Managing director of Info Edge since July 2010. Bachelors from IIT Delhi and master from IIM Bangalore. A part of info edge India board member since 2001. Experience working with Hindustan Unilever for almost 4 years.
Associated with the IT sector for the past 18 years, And known as a top-notch IT expert in India. He has served in various IT forums; he served as Chairman of IAMAI. He is also the founder of the board of Trustees of Ashoka University. He is also a winner of an award for business transformation in 2008. His ability in making new reforms and taking wise decisions makes him one of the best CEOs in India.
28. Sunil A.D Souza:
He is serving as Managing Director and Chief Executive officer at TATA global beverages since April 2020. He has also served as managing director of Whirlpool India in the past. He has experience working with several other companies such as PepsiCo.
He worked as Manager of handling all commercial aspects of PepsiCo beverages and foods in Asian Countries for almost 15 years. He started his career in Brooke bond Lipton India in 1998. Since 1998, he has been working in different positions in several beverage companies.
He did his engineering from the University of Madras and also did his diploma in management from the Indian institute of management Calcutta. Due to his vast working experience in the beverages industry, he is considered one of the best CEOs in his respective field.
27. Rajeev Talwar
Rajeev is currently serving as CEO of DLF Ltd. He did his degree from St. Stephen College, University of Delhi. He was first appointed as a probationary officer in the state bank of India. He was an IAS officer and was selected for Indian administrative services in 1978.
He has a vast experience in policymaking in crucial economic sectors. He has served in various administrative sectors such as transport, tourism, and infrastructure. He has also served on the board of the Delhi transport corporation, Delhi tourism, and transport development, and Delhi metro rail corporation.
He was among the founders of the formulation, implementation, and promotion of India’s tourism policy. Another major achievement of Rajeev is he was involved in shifting all commercial vehicles in Delhi to CNG. He is president of Ph.D. chamber of commerce and Industry. His intelligence has made him a remarkable personality in both the public and corporate sectors.
26. S N Subrahmanyan:
Sekariapuram Narayanan Subrahmanyan (born march 1960) is currently serving as CEO and managing director of Larsen and Turbo. He took charge in 2017. He also served as vice chairman on the boards of LTI and LTI technology. He was also a vice chairman of the Indian multinational outsourcing and IT company Mindtree.
He was also appointed as chairman of the national safety council. He did his engineering degree from Kurukshetra in 1982. He pursued his master’s from the institute of business management in Pune. He has won several awards for best CEO in the infrastructure sector. His hard work and dedication have designated him one of the best CEOs in India.
25. Siddharth Lal:
He is the son of top businessman Vikram Lal. He is currently serving as CEO and managing director of Eicher Motors. He is also serving as director of Eicher Goodearth Limited and chairman and MD of VE Commercial Vehicles.
He did his bachelor’s in economics from St. Stephen College, University of Delhi. He has also obtained his diploma in mechanical engineering from Cranfield University. He did his masters in automotive engineering from the University of Leeds. After completing his studies, he started his career in the Eicher group in 1999. He worked in various departments. From 2000 to 2004 he worked out of Royal Enfield’s headquarters in Chennai. In 2006 he took the charge of CEO and managing director. His smart decision and ability to resist make him one of the best CEOs in India.
24. Deepinder Goyal:
Goyal is the CEO and co-founder of Zomato with Pankaj Chadda. Zomato is the largest food delivery service in India and is currently operational in more than 24 countries. Before founding Zomato Deepinder worked at Bain and Company in Delhi as a management consultant. When he was working at Bain he thought of the idea of having an online restaurant information service while seeing the demand for menu cards among his colleagues. He started Zomato in 2008.
He did his graduation in a mathematics and computing degree from IIT Delhi in 2005. Despite having such a short time in Establishing Zomato Deepinder has made a huge achievement because of his farsightedness. Zomato has millions of active users per month listing 42000+ restaurants in India and 4000 plus restaurants in Dubai. He is no doubt one of the best CEOs in India due to his hard work and determination.
23. Arvind Krishna:
Arvind Krishna (born in 1962) is an Indian American businessman. He is currently serving as Chairman and CEO of IBM. IBM is basically one of the top companies in India in the IT sector. Arvind took charge as CEO in April 2020 and he also became Chairman of IBM in January 2021.
He did his BTech degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1985. He did his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois. Krishna started his career in 1990 at IBM Thomas j Watson research center and became senior vice president in 2015.
He led various programs at IBM such as artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing, and block chain technology. He was one of the integral components of Red Hat. He was also ranked as the most influential Executive by CRN.
22. Vibha Padalkar:
She is currently serving as CEO and MD in HDFC life. She is a chartered accountant by profession. She did her bachelor of commerce in Accounting and Finance from the University of Delhi and her master in Accounting from the institute of chartered accounting in England and Wales.
Before joining HDFC she was vice president, Finance at WNS Global and Manager of Finance at Colgate Palmolive India. She became part of HDFC in 2008. She is also serving as a chairman of the board at HDFC Life and an Independent non-executive at TATA power. Her dedication to her work makes her one of the best CEOs in India.
21. Ajay Kapur:
Ajay Kapur has been appointed as CEO and non-executive director of Ambuja cement in December 2022. Ambuja Cement is part of Adani cement and is known as India’s leading cement-producing company.
Ajay did his graduation in economics from St. Xavier University. He did his MBA from the Somaiya Institute of Management. He also attended a program of advanced management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Ajay started his career at Ambuja cement in 1993 as an Executive Assistant and was then promoted to managing director. He has vast experience of more than 25 years in the cement industry. Ajay also worked as the CEO of Aluminum and power. He also worked as managing director of commercials at Vedanta Ltd. Ajay Kapur is no doubt one of the best CEOs in India because of his hard work and determination.
20. Kunal Bahl:
Kunal is a top Indian technology entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal. Snapdeal is India’s leading eCommerce platform founded in 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Kunal did his BSE in Entrepreneurship operation and Information management from The Wharton School and School of Engineering and applied sciences.
In 2022 his e-commerce company transformed into a group corporate of Ace Vector which is now housing multiple businesses such as Snapdeal, Unicommerce, etc. He has received various awards in the eCommerce sector as the best Entrepreneur. He is one of the youngest CEOs and Entrepreneurs in India.
19. Sunil Duggal:
Sunil is serving as whole-time chairman and CEO of Vedanta limited in April 2021. Prior to joining Vedanta Limited, He was the whole time director of Hindustan Zinc Limited. Vedanta Limited is India’s largest minerals mining company. They are involved in the mining of oil and gas. They are one of the leading producers of different minerals in India such as Iron, Steel, Aluminum, copper, etc. They are one of the largest private-sector power-generating companies in India.
Sunil is currently leading Vedanta’s aim of making India on the list of 0% carbon emission countries. Has a vast experience of 34 years in this mining sector. He had also served as vice chairman of the international Zinc association, and chairman of the Federation of Indian mineral and mining industry. He is one of the most experienced people in the Mineral and mining sector in India.
18. Falguni Nayar:
Falguni (born February 1963) is an Indian billionaire businesswoman. She is the founder and CEO of Nykaa. Nykaa is one of the leading beauty and lifestyle retail companies in India. She did her BCom from the College of Commerce and Economics Sydenham and her Postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Management.
Falguni is known as one of the two self-made female Indian billionaires. In 2022, she was entered into Forbes India’s rich list at no 44. Prior to establishing Nykaa, she started her career at Kotak Mahindra group for 19 years. In 2005 she was appointed as managing director of Kotak Mahindra group and exited that company in 2012 in order to establish her own fashion and beauty online store.
17. Abhijit Roy:
Abhijit Roy is the CEO of Berger Paints India LTD. He did his BE in mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University, Calcutta. He did his master’s at the Indian institute of management in Bangalore. He started his career with Asian paints LTD. He worked in the sales department of Asian paints in west Bengal based out of Calcutta. Then after he started working in Garnier Lab, a division of loreal in 1994.
He joined Berger in 1996 as a product manager for the ColorBank tinting system. He was promoted to General manager of marketing in 2004. His ambitious personality and determination promoted him to the CEO of Berger paint India.
16. Sanjiv Mehta:
Sanjiv is an Indian business executive and MD of Hindustan Unilever limited. It is India’s fastest-moving consumer goods company and the top most valuable company in the country. He is a chartered accountant and did his degree from the Institute of chartered accountants of India.
He started his career in 1983 at Unicorn carbide. In 1984 he was appointed as a board member of Unilever Bangladesh as its commercial director. In 2007 he was moved to Unilever Philippines and in 2008 he was appointed as chairman of Unilever north Africa. In 2013 he took charge of Unilever India. Under his leadership, Hindustan Unilever Limited became one of the top 5 most valuable companies in India. Well-known in his field because of his effective marketing strategies.
15. Shantanu Narayen:
He is an American Indian businessman. He has been serving as CEO of Adobe Inc since 2007. He did his bachelors from the university college of engineering in electronics and communication.
He did his masters in computing science and MBA from Bowling green state university and Haas school of business respectively. Started his career in Silicon Valley then he moved to Apple where he served in a senior management position until 1995.
He joined Adobe in 1998 as a senior vice president. In 2005 he was appointed as Chief operating officer and in 2007 he took charge as CEO. He changed the destiny of this company by introducing Photoshop, premier/pro, and acrobat/PDF. He transformed this company into a digital document software franchise.
14. Amitabh Chaudhry:
He is an Indian banker and MD and CEO of Axis bank. India’s one of the top leading private sector banks. He was part of HDFC for nine years and joined Axis bank in 2019.
Completing engineering at Birla institute of technology and after that went to the Indian institute of management Ahmedabad. There served as CEO and MD of Infosys BPO and head of the testing unit Infosys. He started his career with Bank of America in 1987 and undertook diverse projects. He has served in different positions in different banks. He is known as one of the most experienced bankers in India.
13. Dilip Shanghvi:
He is an Indian billionaire businessman and one of India’s richest people. He is the founder and CEO of sun pharmaceuticals. He did his bachelor’s in commerce from the University of Calcutta.
In 1982 he opened his first unit of medicines and named them Sun Pharmaceutical industries. In 2015 Sun became the largest drug-selling company in India and the fifth-largest drug-selling company in the world.
According to Forbes, he was ranked as the 14th richest person in India. Cause of his remarkable contributions to the field of medicine, he is awarded by the government of India with the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards in India.
12. C P Gurnani:
Chander Prakash Gurnani is the CEO and MD of Tech Mahindra. He did his bachelors in chemical engineering from the
National institute of technology Rourkela. He was appointed as a chairman of Nasscom in 2016 for one year.
He has spent 32 years serving in various positions in HCL. He has several awards under his belt. He is known as one of the best CEOs in India.
11. Anish Shah:
He is the CEO and MD of Tech Mahindra Limited. He joined the Mahindra group in 2014 as a group president. He did his masters from Carnegie Mellon and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper school of business.
Later In 2019, he was appointed as a deputy managing director and group CFO due to his abilities and hard work. He had served in multiple industries such as oil rigs and paper etc. He had also served in a bank as an assistant manager. Due to his hard work and dedication, he is known as India’s one of the best CEO.
10. Gopal Vittal:
Vittal is an Indian businessman. He is the chief executive of Bharti Airtel (India) and south Asia. Airtel is a multinational telecommunication services company. It is currently operational in 20 countries.
He did his bachelors from Madras Christian College and MBA from IIM Calcutta. In 1990 he joined Hindustan Unilever. He took the charge as CEO of Airtel in March 2013. He is one of the most remarkable CEOs in India.
9. Rajiv Bajaj:
He was born in December 1966. Rajiv is an Indian businessman and MD and CEO of Bajaj Auto. He did his engineering from the University of Pune and completed his Masters’s from the University of Warwick in 1990.
Earlier Started his career in the manufacturing and supply chain of Bajaj Autos. He also headed the sales and marketing department from 2000 to 2005. He is one the youngest CEOs of India with remarkable achievements.
8. Ajay Banga:
An Indian American businessman. He served as CEO and president of General Atlantic. Ajay was born in November 1959 and did his bachelor’s in Economics from St. Stephen college. He did his PGP in Management from the Indian institute of management Ahmedabad.
He started his career at Nestle in 1981 and later joined Pepsico. He served as CEO of Mastercard in July 2010. He took the responsibility of General Atlantic in 2022 as a vice chairman.
7. Sundar Pichai:
Pichai was born on June 10, 1972. An Indian American businessman. He is currently serving as CEO of Alphabet Inc which is the parent company of google.
He completed his degree from IIT Kharagpur and then moved to the US for MS in material sciences and engineering from Stanford University. He started his career at McKinsey & Company as a management consultant. In 2004, he joined Google and in 2013 he added Android to the list of Google products.
In 2019, he took the charge as CEO of Alphabet Inc. He is a very well-known and remarkable personality in the modern world. He has several achievements under his distinctions and is considered one of the inspirational personalities of India.
6. Suresh Narayan:
Suresh is the CEO and MD of Nestle India. He took charge in August 2015. He did his diploma from the IMD program and holds a master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi school of economics. Having experience of more than 30 years in the FMCG industry.
He has worked in top leading countries of the world in several honorable positions. Moreover appointed as chairman of Nestle in the Philippines before serving in Nestle India.
He joined Nestle in 1999 as an executive vice president of sales. He had served as a management trainee with Hindustan Unilever. Similarly worked with Colgate Palmolive India. He is a well-known personality in his field.
5. Karan Adani
He is the CEO of Adani ports and SEZ Limited. After all, serving as director of Adani Airports holdings. He did his bachelors from Purdue University in Economics. In 2009 he joined Adani ports and SEZ limited. In 2019 he was appointed as head of Adani groups airports projects.
In 2008 he was included in the list of Tycoons of Tomorrow by Forbes India. Indeed one of the best CEOs in India because he earned a lot of distinction in such a short span of time.
4. T.V Narendra:
He is an Indian businessman. Narendra was born in June 1965. He is currently working as the global CEO and MD of Tata Steel. Tata steel is one of the largest steel-producing companies in the world.
He did his degree in engineering from a regional engineering college. An MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. He joined Tata Steel in 1988 and took care of Tata steel exports in the Middle East from 1997 to 2001. Also served as vice president of safety and flat products of Tata steels. He is known as one of the most successful businessmen in India. He has several achievements under his distinctions.
3. Rajesh Gopinathan:
Rajesh was born in 1971. He is serving as CEO and MD of Tata consultancy services. He was promoted to the role of Chief executive in 2017 after serving as chief financial officer. He did his engineering from a regional engineering college in 1996. He did his PGDM from the Indian institute of management Ahmedabad.
In 2001 he joined Tata consultancy. He was involved in designing the new organizational structure of the company. He served as a Chief Financial officer of the company where he was involved in the financial management of individual units of the Tata group. Tata achieved the milestone of being ranked among the top 3 companies in the IT sector globally under his dynamic leadership. Hence he is a well-known personality in the IT sector due to his resilience and determination.
2. Salil Parekh
Salil Prakash is currently serving as chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys. He did his graduation from IIT Bombay in aeronautical engineering and received his Master’s degree in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University.
He took charge of the CEO’s office in 2018. He has played a vital role in evolving the fate of Infosys. As Infosys is one of the leading multinational IT companies. Particularly ranked in the top 3 companies across the globe among the 150 prestigious companies of the world. Prior to becoming CEO, he also served as a member of the executive board and was appointed as deputy CEO in March 2015. Because of his resilience and hard work, he is designated as one of the best CEOs in India.
1. Mukesh Ambani:
However, last but not least personality on our list is none other than Mukesh Ambani. This man is among the most popular personalities in India. Obviously, he doesn’t need any kind of Introduction because according to Forbes he is the richest person in Asia. This man is featured as the 11th richest person in the world in the list of Forbes richest people of the world, December 2021.
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 19 April 1957. An Indian billionaire businessman with an estimated net worth of 93.8 billion US$ as of the 29 November 2022 report. He did his BE in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical technology. Afterward completing MBA from Stanford University dropped out in 1980.
He started his career by helping his father to run the family business Reliance Retail Ltd. Although, Reliance India is the largest company in India working in a number of fields such as refining petrochemicals, telecommunication, manufacturing PFY products, textiles, garments, etc. He became a member of the National academy of Engineering in 2016 for engineering and business leadership in oil refineries and petrochemical products.
In 2016 JIO (led by Ambani) launched its first 4G smartphone under the brand name LYF and soon after a short time, it became the third-largest smartphone-selling brand in India. He has several awards under his distinction such as the Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the year award, 2000, ranked 5th best performing global CEO in 2010, and much more. His strong zeal to achieve more and more and his dedication has made him one of the best CEOs and MD in India.
FINAL WORDS:
CEOs no doubt act as the heart of a company. Their strong will to achieve more and more for their companies results in favor of the companies’ status. Here in this article, you will find the 30 best CEOs of India and their inspiring stories and high achievements. That will motivate you to never stop your hard work in life.
Hope you have liked this article. Please let me know your valuable feedback in the comment section below.