LinkedIn Power Profiles 2018 list recognises influential Indian professionals

Professional networking platform LinkedIn released its fifth edition of the LinkedIn Power Profiles 2018 list, which recognises the 'most viewed' professionals in India. Srividya Gopani, director, bra

Aug 23, 2018, 10:14 IST5 min

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Ananth NarayananChief Executive Officer, Myntra, JabongUnder his leadership, Myntra has made two strategic acquisitions – Cubeit, a Bangalore based start-up that facilitates content aggregation on mobile devices, and Jabong from Global Fashion Group making it India’s biggest fashion e-tail destination. Narayanan aims to make Myntra the first profitable ecommerce company in India. He started his career with Mckinsey & Company, where he worked for 15 years in four different offices. Narayanan has been using his experience in consultancy and managing operations to mentor start-ups.

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Anant MaheshwariPresident, Microsoft India Maheshwari has been working on transforming Microsoft India, making it more productive and focusing on the mobile-first, cloud-first era. Microsoft’s role in India is essential, especially with the country’s focus on Digital India. Prior to Microsoft, Maheshwari has worked with the Honeywell Group.

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Nisaba GodrejExecutive Chairperson at Godrej Consumer Products Godrej has been a key player in planning Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GPCL's) strategy in the last decade. In 2007, she launched Project Leapfrog, which helped accelerate organic growth in the Indian market through innovation, to become a more global company by investing in other emerging markets. She is also known to have brought about design-driven thinking. Over the last ten years, its market capitalisation has risen from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore.

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Along with the most influential CEOs on LinkedIn, the professional networking platform also revealed a list of what it calls LinkedIn Influencers. Dominating the list are Priyanka Chopra and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Priyanka Chopra Actor and Singer After proving her mettle in Bollywood with several super hit movies, the former Miss World has now moved to Hollywood. The Padma Shri awardee has been lauded for her work in the American TV series Quantico and in Hollywood movies like Baywatch, A Kid Like Jake. She is starring in the upcoming flick Isn't it Romantic. Recently, she also signed Cowboy Ninja Viking with actor Chris Pratt. In her singing career, she has also collaborated with will.i.am (‘In my city’) and Pitbull (‘Exotic’).

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Narendra ModiPrime Minister of India Modi’s focus on development and foreign policy has made him one of the most popular and controversial Indian political leaders. His powerful personality and tech-savviness has made him very popular on social media.

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Shradha SharmaFounder & CEO, YourStory MediaPeople are just as extraordinary as they believe themselves to be. On this premise, Shradha Sharma founded YourStory in 2008, with the aim of championing the untold stories of entrepreneurship in India. She strongly believes that stories have the power to transform, connect and inspire people all over the world.YourStory's founder is followed by Vani Kola, managing director, Kalaari Capital, on the list. Having been a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, Kola now works with first-time entrepreneurs to build strong global companies. She focuses on technology companies, leveraging India’s domestic growth to create high growth enterprises. To date, Kalaari Capital has funded more than 50 companies in India.

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Ravi VenkatesanChairman of the Board, Bank of BarodaRavi Venkatesan was the former chairman of Bank of Baroda. Board mMember at Rockefeller Foundation. Founder of Social Venture Partners India, a pan-India network of engaged philanthropists. Partner at Unitus Ventures. Former chairman of Microsoft India and Cummins India. Former board member and co-chairman of Infosys Ltd, and also served on the Boards of AB Volvo, Thermax Ltd. and Harvard Business School.

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Kunal Bahl Co-founder, Snapdeal Bahl launched ecommerce platform Snapdeal in February 2010 along with co-founder Rohit Bansal. It has received funding from prominent investors like Softbank, BlackRock, Temasek, Foxconn, Alibaba, Premji Invest, Ratan Tata, and so on. In 2017, there were rumours that the ecommerce platform would be sold to Flipkart, amid several layoffs. However, Bahl was resilient and took a bet on his company. In a lengthy presentation to Snapdeal, Bahl announced Snapdeal 2.0, a stripped-down and lean version of the ecommerce company.

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Ronnie ScrewvalaCo-founder, UpgradSerial entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala's rise to popularity can be charted with the growth of his media company UTV, and his movie studio that has gone on to create over 70 movie titles, won 350 awards and another 20 national awards. Now, Screwvala is an active Venture Capital/Private Equity investor and has made significant investments in various Indian startups. This is apart from running his e-learning platform Upgrad. He is also the founder of the Swades Foundation, along with his wife Zarina. The Swades Foundation is committed to focusing on improving the livelihood of people. Santosh Desai, MD & CEO, Futurebrands also featured on the list.

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Kailash Satyarthi Nobel Peace Laureate & Founder, Kailash Satyarthi Children's FoundationNobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi has been at the forefront of the global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labour since 1980. Child labour is a human rights issue that has staggering effects on poverty, illiteracy and humanity. Satyarthi and the grassroot movement founded by him, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement), have liberated more than 85,000 children from exploitation and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation.Source:

Image by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Kailash Satyarthi