Selecting the award winners from a list of accomplished business leaders becomes more challenging every year. Under stringent, objective and transparent criteria, business leaders are judged by a jury comprising world-respected management strategists, academics and corporate personalities. The jury, along with research partners - The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB), Development Dimensions International (DDI) and The CNBC-TV18 Reasearch Team assess candidates through a unique judging process based on a combination of criteria, including financial performance, leadership, creativity, innovation and social responsibility. Candidates are also evaluated on their ability to create short-term advantage, long-term value, a competitive edge, and the demonstration of leadership in the business community.

CNBC-TV18 will also be conducting a national poll for the awards, with a special group of business leaders, a peer group and the general public.

The CNBC-TV18 editorial panel and research team conducts a 3-phase methodology, which in turn is a comprehensive exercise in research and analysis so as to recognize the companies with excellent business leaders at their helm.

This year the high profile jury comprised of some big names like Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC as chairperson of the Jury, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Ltd., Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Uday Kotak and Mr. Raghav Bahl, MD, Network18.