Forbes India Rewind 2021: Our best photos of the year

2021 is the year when self-evaluation triggered by the lockdown, and valuations that skyrocketed businesses kept us glued to an OTT series-like unravelling of our times. These remarkable photos mark a few episodes of that saga
Published: Dec 24, 2021
Students at the RG Halli government school in Bengaluru, mostly children of migrant labourers, farme

Image by : Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India

1/24

Students at the RG Halli government school in Bengaluru, mostly children of migrant labourers, farmers and daily wage earners, had challenges accessing digital education in the wake of the pandemic. On the other side of the billion-dollar edtech boom, these children have been unable to access the most basic forms of online education.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 09 dated April 23, 2021.
 

Staring at a bankrupt venture after a decade, and starting up in his 40s, Hemant Jalan always knew h

Image by : Varun Kulkarni for Forbes India

2/24

Staring at a bankrupt venture after a decade, and starting up in his 40s, Hemant Jalan always knew he was an entrepreneur at heart, and he was willing to bet on it. Frugal, practical but bold, the 63-year-old founder's venture Indigo Paints had a blockbuster IPO this year
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 27 dated December 17, 2021
 

Dr Santhosh Kumar, deputy superintendent at the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram, pu

Image by : R Ravi for Forbes India

3/24

Dr Santhosh Kumar, deputy superintendent at the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram, put his decades-long experience of tackling health crises in other countries to use in fighting Covid-19 back home, leading the charge despite suffering a heart attack in November 2020.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 02 dated January 15, 2021.
 

Hyderabad-based Recykal is solving India’s growing trash problem by using digital technology t

Image by : Vikas Chandra Pureti for Forbes India

4/24

Hyderabad-based Recykal is solving India’s growing trash problem by using digital technology to connect waste generators, processors and recyclers. The team (from left) Vikram Prabakar, Abhay Deshpande, Abhishek Deshpande, Anirudha Jalan and Ekta Narain want to channelise 3 million metric tonnes of waste through Recykal’s system by 2025.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 24 dated December 24, 2021


Naveen Munjal’s Hero Electric, India’s biggest electric two-wheeler maker, is set for a

Image by : Amit Verma

5/24

Naveen Munjal’s Hero Electric, India’s biggest electric two-wheeler maker, is set for a high-voltage fight as rivals, including Hero MotoCorp, firm up an aggressive plan to charge up the EV market.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 18 dated August 27, 2021.

 

Hailing from Gargadbahal village in Baragaon tehsil of Odisha’s Sundargarh district, grassroot

Image by : Raju Chauhan for Forbes India

6/24

Hailing from Gargadbahal village in Baragaon tehsil of Odisha’s Sundargarh district, grassroots health worker Matilda Kullu was instrumental in taking Covid-19 care to the bottom of the pyramid this year. But workers like Kullu, who belong to a Scheduled Tribe, remain overworked and underpaid, and also have to bear the brunt of casteism and untouchability during door-to-door visits.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 26 dated December 03, 2021
 

Deep tech startup BrainSightAI founders Laina Emmanuel and Rimjhim Agrawal (left) are building a neu

Image by : Hemant Mishra for Forbes India

7/24

Deep tech startup BrainSightAI founders Laina Emmanuel and Rimjhim Agrawal (left) are building a neuro-informatics platform that could equip brain surgeons and psychiatrists with vital information about their patients.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 26 dated December 3, 2021

 

Neetu Yadav (left) and Kirti Jangra hustled hard to make it to IIT, and then the duo stunned everyon

Image by : Madhu Kapparath

8/24

Neetu Yadav (left) and Kirti Jangra hustled hard to make it to IIT, and then the duo stunned everyone by selling cows and buffaloes online on their Animals platform. Their dream? To improve the lives of farmers by making dairy farming significantly more productive and profitable.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 22 dated October 22, 2021.

 

Rohan Pate has single-handedly built Blades of Glory in Pune into the world’s largest cricket

Image by : Mexy Xavier

9/24

Rohan Pate has single-handedly built Blades of Glory in Pune into the world’s largest cricket museum, with 2,000 rare collectibles on display and close to 50,000 others waiting to be showcased. The main aim of the museum is to recognise India’s heroes, honour and remember former cricketers and preserve its rich cricketing culture.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 13. JUNE 18, 2021

 

Rani Rampal has led the women’s hockey team to a historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Oly

Image by : Madhu Kapparath

10/24

Rani Rampal has led the women’s hockey team to a historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, helping them build a legacy. With Olympic qualifications beginning in 2022, Rampal will be key to the team’s hopes in Paris 2024.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 26 dated December 3, 2021
 

26-year-old Varun Singh Bhati, a differently-abled athlete is training in high jump for the 2020 Par

Image by : Madhu Kapparath

11/24

26-year-old Varun Singh Bhati, a differently-abled athlete is training in high jump for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Hailing from Jamalpur in Bihar, Bhati won the bronze at the Rio Olympics 2016.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 19 dated September 10, 2021

Actor Rajkummar Rao is a proven performer over the years and has won the audiences over with his rea

Image by : Mexy Xavier

12/24

Actor Rajkummar Rao is a proven performer over the years and has won the audiences over with his realistic performances. He is now looking for parts where he can push his boundaries and go all out to satiate his artistic hunger.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 28 dated December 31, 2021


 

Prabhtej Singh Bhatia’s fledgling beer brand Simba survived a torrid pandemic and summer last

Image by : Rachit Chimnani for Forbes India

13/24

Prabhtej Singh Bhatia’s fledgling beer brand Simba survived a torrid pandemic and summer last year by focusing on South India and following the 20:80 rule; rewarding 20 percent of staff who do 80 percent of work.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 05 dated February 26, 2021.
 

Srabasti Ghosh, a performing artiste who works with the Kolkata Centre for Creativity, has been prov

Image by : Subrata Biswas for Forbes India

14/24

Srabasti Ghosh, a performing artiste who works with the Kolkata Centre for Creativity, has been providing home-cooked meals to Covid-19 affected families in North Kolkata.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 14 dated July 02, 2021.

 

Ashish Chanchlani is the second-most subscribed Indian YouTuber with 23.3 million subscribers. In 20

Image by : Arpit Jain for Forbes India

15/24

Ashish Chanchlani is the second-most subscribed Indian YouTuber with 23.3 million subscribers. In 2020, his videos—Lockdown with Parivar and Lockdown Ke Side Effects—got a total of 76 million-plus views. His latest—Office, Exam Aur Vaccine—has crossed 43 million views on YouTube.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 04 dated February 12, 2021.



With her recent success in making bankable commercial cinema on a big scale, director Sudha Kongara

Image by : Balaji Gangadharan for Forbes India

16/24

With her recent success in making bankable commercial cinema on a big scale, director Sudha Kongara has shattered conventional prejudices against women behind the camera in the Tamil film industry. Her ambitious big-budget OTT release Soorarai Pottru, based on Air Deccan founder Captain GR Gopinath and his vision of creating a low-cost airline, garnered over 100 million views just over the weekend of its release.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 22 dated October 22, 2021

Team Brookfield (L to R) Nawal Saini, Dev Santani, Ankur Gupta, Aditya Joshi, and Arpit Agarwal at t

Image by : Neha Mithbawkar for Forbes India

17/24

Team Brookfield (L to R) Nawal Saini, Dev Santani, Ankur Gupta, Aditya Joshi, and Arpit Agarwal at their office in Powai, Mumbai. While it started its journey in India with investments in real estate and small infrastructure bets, Brookfield has deployed nearly $10.5 billion under its infrastructure asset class in the last three years.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 14 dated July 02, 2021

 

Anand Kumar is the man behind ‘Super 30’—a programme that provides free IIT entran

Image by : Manish Sinha for Forbes India

18/24

Anand Kumar is the man behind ‘Super 30’—a programme that provides free IIT entrance coaching to 30 students from the poorest families every year. He rues that in edtech today, the focus is not on how much children are learning, instead the emphasis is on the valuation of the startup, on how much funding it gets.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 09 dated April 23, 2021

 

Former HSBC banker Sameer Aggarwal has been a prime mover in financing electric rickshaws with RevFi

Image by : Madhu Kapparath

19/24

Former HSBC banker Sameer Aggarwal has been a prime mover in financing electric rickshaws with RevFin, having financed over 3,000 EVs since 2018. Their USP: Apply for a loan and drive out with an electric rickshaw in just 10 minutes.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 25 dated November 19, 2021

Mamaearth’s Varun and Ghazal Alagh disrupted the personal care industry by rolling out toxin-f

Image by : Amit Verma

20/24

Mamaearth’s Varun and Ghazal Alagh disrupted the personal care industry by rolling out toxin-free products, and going direct to consumers. Touching Rs 500 crore revenue in FY21, and valued at $730 million, Mamaearth is one of the most valued personal care brands today.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 28 dated December 31, 2021


Pune-based architect Pratima Joshi is giving slum dwellers across seven cities in Maharashtra, uniqu

Image by : Nayan Shah for Forbes India

21/24

Pune-based architect Pratima Joshi is giving slum dwellers across seven cities in Maharashtra, unique digital addresses so that they can access basic services like clean water, safe sanitation and even doorstep deliveries.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 26 dated December 3, 2021


 

It took twenty years to realise what Srikanth Iyer didn’t want to do. When he did, Iyer starte

Image by : Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India

22/24

It took twenty years to realise what Srikanth Iyer didn’t want to do. When he did, Iyer started his third venture at age 43, and made HomeLane India’s biggest home interiors brand.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 27 dated December 17, 2021


 

Maalavika Manoj (Mali), one of the most recognised faces in the English music circuit in India, had

Image by : Arpit Jain for Forbes India

23/24

Maalavika Manoj (Mali), one of the most recognised faces in the English music circuit in India, had quit her job as a podcast producer in 2015 to pursue music. Six years later, Mali has a successful EP and multiple singles; of them, her song ‘Mundane’ has ranked #1 in the Euro India Music Chart.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 04 dated  February 12, 2021.


Visitors go through mandatory thermal screenings at UB City Mall in Bengaluru. After 15 months of st

Image by : Hemant Mishra for Forbes India

24/24

Visitors go through mandatory thermal screenings at UB City Mall in Bengaluru. After 15 months of stop-and-start, luxury retail is beginning to pick up, and the coming festival season is expected to further push it towards growth.
Forbes India Vol 13 Issue 21 dated October 08, 2021


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