Aditya Puri, former managing director of HDFC Bank, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently concluded Mint India Investment Awards 2026. The awards ceremony recognized corporate transactions, fund performance and business leadership over the past year.
The award also recognized institutional achievements. Bharti Airtel was named Company of the Year. Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. was awarded as Dealmaker of the Year.
Winning bids
In specific transaction categories, the $4.4 billion acquisition of a minority stake in Shriram Finance by MUFG Group secured the M&A Deal of the Year.
In the private equity (PE) categories, KKR’s exit from JB Pharma was named PE Exit of the Year, while TPG’s $1 billion investment in TCS Hypervault was named PE Exit of the Year.
In the venture capital segment, Peak XV’s partial exit through Groww’s IPO, where it achieved a 75x return valued at $790 million, was recognized as VC Exit of the Year. Westbridge’s $200 million investment in mobile firm Rapido has won the VC Investment of the Year award.
M. Damodaran, Chairman, Excellence Enablers Pvt, and Ravi Krishnan, Editor-in-Chief, Mint presented the prizes to the winners.
Selection methodology
The final winners were chosen by a five-member jury. The panel consisted of Keki Mistry, former vice-chairman and managing director of HDFC; A Velumani, founder of Thyrocare and managing director of AVM Labs; Manisha Girotra, Managing Director and Head of India at Moelis; Ankur Thadani, India Head of TPG Growth and Rise; and Prashant Prakash, Managing Partner at Accel.
The evaluation process took place according to the defined methodology. For investment prices, transaction data was obtained directly from Tracxn. The biggest deals made in the past year were taken into account and then divided into different rating categories.
For the Company of the Year award, the jury considered promoter-led companies listed in the BSE100 index. These companies were evaluated based on shareholder value creation, operating performance and growth, capital allocation efficiency, balance sheet and risk architecture, and corporate governance and transparency.
