Books chronicling the IT story of India, stories of successful entrepreneurs such as The Leela Group founder Captain CP Krishnan Nair and Forest Essentials founder Mira Kulkarni are among those who have made it to the shortlist of the fifth edition of the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize.
The shortlisted five books, announced on Monday, follow the longlist of 10 books which came out last month, includes Against All Odds: The IT Story of India by S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan and N Dayasindhu and Krishnan Narayanan; Capture the Dream: The Many Lives of Captain CP 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 TN Manoharan and V Pattabhi Ram and Winning Middle India: The Story of India's New-Age Entrepreneurs by TN Hari and Bala Srinivasa.
Gopal Jain, the co-founder and managing partner of Gaja Capital said in a statement that the 2023 shortlist covers "an in-depth exploration of the Indian entrepreneurial landscape" and that it also serves as a “tribute to individuals who have contributed to India's rising global presence”. The shortlist, he added, is a list of “books with valuable, time-tested lessons from India's past along with valuable insights for entrepreneurs building India's future.”
Instituted in 2019 to encourage stories on business and entrepreneurship by journalists, and writers, and entrepreneurs themselves, the award offers a prize money of Rs 15 lakh, one of the biggest honours for writers of this field.
This year's jury is headed by Manish Sabharwal, co-founder of TeamLease Services Ltd, and also includes 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.
In 2022, journalist-author Harish Damodaran's Broke to Breakthrough, an account of the rise of dairy company Hatsun Agro and its founder RG Chandramogan, won the prize. This year's winner will be announced next month.
