Deepinder Goyal awarded the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2025

• EOY winners announced in eight categories
• Uday Kotak felicitated with the Special Jury Award

Mumbai, 25 February 2026: In a celebration of entrepreneurial excellence, Deepinder Goyal, Founder of Eternal Ltd. has been awarded the esteemed EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award 2025 (EOY Award). An eminent 11-member jury acknowledged Deepinder for his extraordinary impact on India’s consumption patterns through his consumer-tech businesses. Through his steadfast focus on innovation, operational excellence and long-term thinking, Deepinder has not only created exceptional shareholder value but has also created thousands of jobs for youth and gig workers and empowered an ecosystem of entrepreneurs across the country.

Deepinder will represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo to be held in June 2025.

The Chief Guests, Shri Piyush Goyal, Honourable Minister of Commerce and Industry, felicitated Deepinder Goyal and Uday Kotak along with the EOY 2025 category winners.

The winners in categories are: Abhishek Lodha of Lodha Group in Energy, Real Estate and Infrastructure, Ajay Bhardwaj of Anthem Biosciences in Life Sciences and Healthcare, Gopal Vittal of Bharti Airtel in the Entrepreneurial CEO category, Jasbir Singh of Amber Enterprises in Manufacturing, Karan Bhagat of 360 One WAM in Services, Pranav Goel and Uttam Digga of Porter in the Start-up category, Sunil Vachani of Dixon Technologies in Business Transformation, and Vir S Advani of Blue Star in Consumer Products & Retail.

Speaking at the 27th edition of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Mumbai, Piyush Goyal said, “India’s entrepreneurial spirit is today the driving force behind one of the most compelling growth stories in the world. In the last 11 years, entrepreneurship has become Bharat’s greatest strength.’ We are witnessing the rise of a confident, aspirational India with 65% of our population under 35 years of age, 25 crore citizens lifted out of poverty, and 2.3 million STEM graduates entering the workforce every year, creating an unmatched demographic and innovation advantage.

Our macroeconomic fundamentals remain robust real GDP growth of 8.2% in Q2 FY26, inflation on a downward trajectory, foreign exchange reserves touching $725 billion, and banking sector NPAs at historic lows. India attracted $80 billion in FDI in FY25 alone, reflecting global confidence in our reforms and policy stability.

Through next-generation reforms from consolidating 29 labour laws into 4 simplified labour codes to improving Ease of Doing Business,  and implementing forward-looking tax and compliance reforms we are reducing friction and enhancing competitiveness. 

Our high-quality Free Trade Agreements, concluded during Modi Government, now provide preferential market access to 38 nations, to about two-third of global trade. Notably, trade with Australia and the UAE has doubled since the FTAs came into force. Moreover, these FTAs fully protect sensitive sectors like Agriculture, MSMEs, Dairy, Fisheries, Labour intensive sectors like textiles, etc.

With transformative initiatives such as PM Gati Shakti, INR 1 lakh crore for Research, Development and Innovation, the Deep Tech Fund of Funds, and India’s leadership in digital public infrastructure like UPI now facilitating over a million global transactions we are laying the foundation of a future-ready economy. As Prime Minister has said, ‘This is India’s moment’. The world recognises India as a key engine of global growth. I urge our entrepreneurs especially MSMEs to leverage our FTAs, invest in innovation, scale globally, and become the architects of Viksit Bharat @2047.”

These EOY 2025 winners boast of a collective revenue of nearly INR 4 lakh crore with a combined market cap of over INR 22 lakh crore and provide employment to almost 2.8 lakh people.

Uday Kotak, the esteemed Padma Bhushan recipient, veteran banker and now the Chairman of Gift City, was honoured with the Special Jury Award, for his transformative contributions to the Indian banking and finance industry and his enduring impact on generations of entrepreneurs.

Highlighting the winners’ achievements, Rajiv Memani, Chairman and CEO of EY India said, “Accelerated reforms, deeper global integration and AI revolution are together reshaping India’s economy, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs. Our 2025 winners represent the very best of Indian entrepreneurship. Their stories remind us that a new India is emerging - inspired by bold ideas, world‑class execution and constant innovation. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the winners for the exceptional impact they have created.”

Farokh Balsara, Partner and EOY India Program Leader, said, “The 2025 cohort reflects the scale, diversity and ambition of Indian entrepreneurship today. Across sectors, these entrepreneurs are building businesses anchored in innovation, long‑term value creation and purpose, while generating employment and strengthening the broader ecosystem. We thank the eminent jury for their rigorous evaluation and look forward to Indian entrepreneurship continuing to make its mark globally.”

EOY 2025 Jury

Led by Sajjan Jindal, Chairman of JSW Group, the Jury included Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceuticals, Harsh Mariwala of Marico, Nilesh Gupta of Lupin, Ravi Lambah of Temasek, Sanjeev Bikhchandani of Info Edge Ltd, Saurabh Agarwal of Tata Sons, Shailendra Singh of Peak XV, Shweta Jalan of Advent International, Suneeta Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, and Vellayan Subbiah of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance and Tube Investments of India.

Past World EOY winners

N.R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys (2003), Uday Kotak, Kotak Mahindra Bank (2014), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon (2020), and Vellayan Subbiah, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance and Tube Investments of India (2024) have bagged the World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title.

Read more about the 27th EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Awards Program at EY Entrepreneur Of The Year India | EY - India

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in 60 countries.

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