IGI Logo

Gaja Capital today announced the shortlist for the fifth edition of the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize (2023). The jury selected five books from the earlier released longlist of ten books that cover a diverse range of stories of business leadership and entrepreneurship from a variety of different sectors, including IT services, consumer, and hospitality.

The 2023 shortlist includes – Against All Odds: The IT Story of India by S. ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan,  N. Dayasindhu, and Krishnan Narayanan; Capture the Dream: The Many Lives of Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair by Bachi Karkaria; Essentially Mira: The Extraordinary Journey Behind Forest Essentials by Mira Kulkarni; The Tech Phoenix: Satyam’s 100-Day Turnaround by T.N. Manoharan and V. Pattabhi Ram, and Winning Middle India: The Story of India’s New-Age Entrepreneurs by T.N. Hari and Bala Srinivasa.

This year's Gaja Capital Business Book Prize shortlist honours the painstaking pursuit of notable homegrown businesses and offers a commentary on business ecosystems. These chronicles of Indian business stories are canonizing the struggle and joys of entrepreneurship, creating a repository of pioneers and their experiences.

Currently in its fifth edition, the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize was instituted in 2019 with an aim to encourage Indian entrepreneurs, writers, and journalists to tell their stories to the world. With a prize money of INR 15 lakhs, it is the leading business book prize in the country to honour authors transforming the business ecosystem through their research and inspiring stories of entrepreneurship and business leadership in India.

Gopal Jain, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Gaja Capital, said, "The 2023 shortlist offers an in-depth exploration of the Indian entrepreneurial landscape, paying tribute to individuals who have contributed to India's rising global presence. These stories highlight women and men from diverse backgrounds, who turned dreams into reality through sheer dedication, innovation, and risk-taking ability. "

The jury for the fifth edition of the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize comprises stalwarts from the worlds of industry, investments, academia, public policy, and governance: Manish Sabharwal, Vice-Chairman at TeamLease (Chairman, Jury), Imran Jafar, Managing Partner & Co-Founder at Gaja Capital, Arindam Bhattacharya, Senior Advisor and Emeritus Partner of Boston Consulting Group, Dr. Lakshmi Venu, MD of Sundaram-Clayton (SCL), Dr. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, Michael Queen, Former Chief Executive of 3i, Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Economist, Head of Global Research, and member of the Board at Axis Capital, Prithvi Haldea, Founder Chairman of Praxis Consulting, Shailesh Haribhakti, Founder and Managing Partner of Shailesh Haribhakti & Associates Chartered Accountants, and UK Sinha, Former Head, RBI Expert Committee on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Former Chairman of SEBI.

Commenting on the shortlist of 2023 and the overall reading experience, Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, Teamlease and Chairman of the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize Jury said, “This year's nominations have been nothing short of exceptional, with a record number of submissions, which presented the jury with the challenging task of selecting the shortlist of 5 books. It was great to see stories traverse India's entrepreneurial landscape. The shortlist is a must-read list of books with valuable, time-tested lessons from India’s past along with valuable insights for entrepreneurs building India’s future.

Past winners include journalist and author Harish Damodaran’s “Broke to Breakthrough” (2022), a detailed and perceptive account of the rise of dairy company Hatsun Agro and its founder R.G. Chandramogan; Amrit Raj's book "Indian Icon: A Cult Called Royal Enfield," (2021) a gripping account of how a strong Indian brand became global; Mint journalist Mihir Dalal’s debut book, “Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story” (2020) and “The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation” (2019) co-authored by Girish Kuber & Vikrant Pande.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer