Chief executive officer of the Serum Institute of India (SII) Adar Poonawalla was felicitated as Business Leader of the Year at the Economic Times (ET) Awards for Corporate Excellence event held on May 7, 2022. SII, the world’s largest producer of vaccines by volume, has been at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus with their vaccine Covishield.
The Awards "honor the best and the brightest, the men, women and organizations that have made a fundamental difference to the way business is done,” stated ET.
Adar Poonawalla (projected on screen and ext r) receiving Business Leader of the Year
award from Nirmala Sitharaman as, from l, Vineet Jain and Rajnath Singh look on
"The journey has been exhilarating and challenging at the same time,” Poonawalla told the Mint daily of May 11, 2022. "We are glad to have played an instrumental role in the world’s fight against the pandemic. However, there have been challenges as well. Right from choosing to go with at-risk manufacturing to obtaining regulatory approvals, procuring raw materials in a global lockdown, setting up facilities, and securing logistical, infrastructural and financial avenues that can withstand and deliver the demand has been a herculean task.”
Others recognized included Apollo Hospitals founder Dr Pratap Chandra Reddy (Lifetime Achievement); global chief executive officer of professional services firm Deloitte, Punit Renjen (Global Indian of the Year); executive vice chairperson, Cipla, Samina Hamied, (Businesswoman of the Year); Infosys (Company of the Year); HCL Technologies (Corporate Citizen of the Year).