India's Young Super-Achievers

In a country where 60 percent of the population is under 30, it should be a breeze finding super-achievers below this age. In the last census (2011), India had 736 million people under 30, and 121 million in that sweet spot between the ages of 18 and 30, where one tends to find creativity that is noticeable to the world at large.

Picking 30 super-achievers under the age of 30 is always a daunting task—more so when there are literally hundreds of streams where you can report achievement. In our list, for example, we have people who are entrepreneurs, actors, entertainers, musicians, designers, professionals, sportspeople and even brokers who stood out from the regular pack. And this is by no means an exhaustive list. On our cover, we have a talented musician, and an entrepreneur who has built a Rs 47 crore business by helping people make better charts for the web.

To be sure, you can never compile a foolproof, criticism-proof list that will satisfy everybody. For the chances are you won’t get to know all the people who are deserving of a place on this list. And, in any case, the way you rate achievement can be subjective, even if the list is vetted by experts in their fields. And so it will be with the Forbes India 30 Under 30 list—which actually has more than 30 achievers in the final short-list. We are sure to get our share of brickbats for choosing some and leaving out others and for not even mentioning others who may be very deserving.

This is how we went about the job. First, we compiled a long list of potential achievers by interviewing experts, doing secondary research on databases, and scanning media reports in various industry/professional verticals. In some verticals, we also invited online applications from young achievers who thought they qualified. We ended up with nearly 300 names on our long list. Next, we had to pick the better ones from this list, and here we used the services of experts and observers with direct knowledge of the areas in which these 300 people were making their mark. At the final stage, we created a short-list from where Forbes India editors made a judgment call on the final 30 under 30—our list of first among equals.

So here, dear readers, is the product of more than two months of research, interviews, argument, and debate on some of India’s finest achievers under 30. We found the stories compelling. We hope you do too.

Best,
R Jagannathan
Editor-in-Chief, Forbes India
Email: r.jagannathan@network18online.com
Twitter id: @TheJaggi