MUMBAI: ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka has received the prestigious ‘The Economic Times’40 under Forty’ - India’s Hottest Business Leaders Award 2014’. The award ceremony was held on 29 April at a glittering function held at the Four Seasons, Mumbai.

The award was presented to him by HDFC executive chairman Deepak Parekh. The list of the 40 winners was finalised by a study conducted by The Economic Times and Spencer Stuart to identify India Inc’s upcoming leadership.

Out of the original list of 2000 leaders, the final 40 were identified based on a combination of quantitative business results (growth, margins and turnaround) as well as qualitative attributes (innovation, reputation, people leadership, and contribution to the ecosystem). The jury was chaired by Deepak Parekh. The members on the panel were Spencer Stuart India managing director Anjali Bansal, Tata Communications chairman Subodh Bhargava, Boston Consulting Group, Asia Pacific chairman Janmejaya Sinha, Hindustan Unilever COO, Unilever and Non-executive chairman Harish Manwani, PepsiCo India chairman and CEO D Shivakumar and Info Edge India CEO and co-founder Sanjeev Bhikchandani.

Other notable names who received the honour are Flipkart co-Founder & CEO Sachin Bansal, Parle Agro CEO Schauna Chauhan, IndiGo Air president Aditya Ghosh and The Walt Disney Company India MD Siddharth Roy Kapur.