Kavin Mittal, Sakshi Malik, Alia Bhatt among Forbes's 30 Under 30 Asia list

The annual list of young achievers includes 300 disruptors selected from 24 countries

Last Updated: Apr 17, 2017, 19:13 IST3 min

Kavin Mittal, Founder, HikeImage: Amit Verma

More than 50 Indians, including entrepreneur Kavin Mittal, Olympic sportspersons Sakshi Mallik and Dipa Karmakar, and actress Alia Bhatt, have made it to the Forbes’s 2017 30 Under 30 Asia list released last week.

The annual initiative, now in its second year, honours a selection of 30 achievers across 10 categories such as Consumer Technology, Enterprise Technology, Entertainment & Sports, The Arts, Finance & Venture Capital, Industry, Manufacturing & Energy, Healthcare & Science, Social Entrepreneurs, Media, Marketing & Advertising, and Retail & E-commerce.

According to Forbes, there were more than 1,200 submissions out of which 300 applicants were selected by a panel of experts.

Apart from Mittal (29), whose messaging app Hike, boasts over 100 million users and rivals Whatsapp in India, some of the young entrepreneurs on the list include the inspirational Srikanth Bolla (25), Founder, Bollant Industries, who was born blind into a family of farmers in rural India and "went on to become the first international blind student at MIT", where he studied business management and 19-year-old Bisan Deu, who has invented "Green Wood", a low-cost material made of rice waste which could be used to build housing for the underprivileged.

India’s first paralympic swimmer Sharath Gayakwad (25), who has won almost 100 medals nationally and internationally and award-winning Hindi film actress Alia Bhatt (24) are also a part of the list in the Entertainment & Sports category.

Rana Wehbe, Senior Digital Editor, Asia at Forbes Media, said: “This year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list highlights the diversity of talent in this vast region, with 300 impressive young entrepreneurs from all walks of life pushing the boundaries of innovation. It’s fascinating to see how these millennials are using technology to disrupt their industries, empower their communities and overcome cultural barriers. Notably, this year’s list showcases a number of women in Asia who are advocates for social change and are defying stereotypes and prejudice to set a positive example for what women in this part of the world can achieve.”

The list includes representation from across 24 countries and 30 nationalities: ranging from China (76 honorees), India (53 honorees) and Southeast Asia to Australia (29 honorees).

Here are some of the Indian achievers in the 2017 Forbes’s 30 Under 30 Asia list:

Category: The ArtsSanket Avlani (29), Curator, Taxi FabricMunaf Kapadia (28), Chief Eating officer, The Bohri KitchenVaishnavi Murali (29), Founder, Eikowa Art

Category: Entertainment & Sports Fasil Ali (28), Martial Arts Coach, Ali's Sports AcademyAbhinandan Balasubramanian (26), Founder, Premier FutsalAlia Bhatt (24), Actress, EntrepreneurSharath Gayakwad (25), AthleteDipa Karmakar (23), AthleteSakshi Malik (24), Athlete

Category: Finance & Venture CapitalVaibhav Agarwal (30), Associate Partner, Lightspeed Venture PartnersAbhishek Garg (28) and Riddhi Mittal (26), cofounders, FinomenaArjun Malhotra (26) and Rohan Malhotra (26), Founding Partners, InvestopadJatin Malwal (24) and Bhuvan Rustagi (29), Cofounders, LendboxAshwin Srivastava (29), Cofounder, Idein Ventures

Category: Industry, Manufacturing & EnergySrinivas Reddy Aellala (25) and Nalin Gupta (27), Cofounders, Auro RoboticsSrikanth Bolla (25), Founder, Bollant IndustriesAnkit Parasher (26), Sudarshan Ravi (26) and Pushkar Singh (26), LetsTransportAdarsh Manpuria (29), Cofounder, FabHotelsKetan Mehta (28), Founder, Rays Power InfraAnirudh Sharma (30), Social Impact Technologist, Graviky Labs

Category: Media, Marketing & AdvertisingKovid Gupta (28), AuthorMandovi Menon (27) and Varun Patra (27), Cofounders, HomegrownRohit Pothukuchi (26), Founder, Standard Indian Legal Citation

Category: Retail & EcommerceChanakya Hridaya (27) and Rajesh Yabaji (28), Cofounders, BlackBuckAnkit Deb (27), Founders, Bizongo Shreya Mishra (28) and Pranay Surana (26), Cofounders, FlyrobeAnjana Reddy (29), Founder, USPLShikha Ahluwalia (25) and Tushar Ahluwalia (29), Cofounders, StalkBuyLove

Category: Healthcare & ScienceSaarthak Bakshi (29), Cofounder, International Fertility CentreEnbasekar Dinadayalane (27) and Satish Kannan (27), Cofounders, DocsApp.inGaurav Aggarwal (24) and Shubham Maheshwari (23), Cofounders, HealofyAshwath Hegde (24), Founder, EnviGreen Biotech IndiaAkshay Navaladi (29), Founder, Healthskool ClinicsRicha Singh (30), YourDOSTYogita Agrawal (23), Amanat Anand (24) and Shubham Issar (23), Cofounders, SoaPenHarsh Songra (20) and Aafreen Ansari (20), Cofounders, Time Ahead

Category: Social EntrepreneursAditya Agarwalla (23), Cofounder, Kisan NetworkIshita Anand (27), Founder, BitGivingDebartha Banerjee (30), Director, Sampurn(e)arth Environment SolutionsBisman Deu (19), Inventor, Green WoodAnkit Kawatra (25), Founder, Feeding IndiaTriha Shetty (26), Founder, SheSays

Category: Enterprise TechnologySudheendra Chilappagari (24), Cofounder, Belong.coHrishikesh Datar (29), Founder, Vakilsearch Legal SolutionsAbhinav Aggarwal (26) and Raghav Aggarwal (29), Cofounders, Fluid AIJaspreet Makkar (25), Founder, WeDoSkyAnand Prakash (23), Founder, AppSecure IndiaAbhinav Shashank (29), Cofounder, Innovaccer

Category: Entertainment & Sports Kavin Bharti Mittal (29), Founder, HikeSanjay Kumaran (15) and Shravan Kumaran (17), Cofounders, GoDimensionsRaghav Chandra (27) and Varun Khaitan (29), Cofounders, UrbanClap

Click here to view the full list: http://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-asia/2017/

First Published: Apr 17, 2017, 19:13

Forbes 30 Under 30 AsiaKavin Mittal

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Neeraj Gangal