E Sreedharan bags IBLA award

Winston Churchill said, never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. These words apply today to a conflict of a different kind. One, that recognizes victory by measuring economic growth. The jury of the CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards had a tough time picking one more person to join the ranks of a select few, who have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of the Indian economy.

Be it former RBI governor YV Reddy, Sebi chief M Damodaran, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi or EGoM specialist and former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee this year's winner of the award for outstanding contribution to the Indian economy had big shoes to fill. Especially, in a year when the economy slowed, policy paralysed and investment stalled. And yet in this difficult environment - one man's achievements stood shoulders above the rest. Metro man - E Sreedharan.

Nandan Nilekani, chairman, UIDAI and jury member, IBLA 2012, says that what stood out is the track recorded execution, the fact that took him to single handed, to put his head down & work day in and day out, first with the Konkan railway and then with the Delhi Metro and then we felt that we should reward the people who are focusing on execution because it is one of the big challenge in India today.

In a country starved of infrastructure and plagued by project delays - E Sreedharan has done the impossible - he has successfully executed three mega public projects, the Calcutta metro rail project, the Konkan rail project, the Delhi metro rail project. Now he's onto his fourth, the Kochi metro rail project.

N Chandrasekaran, MD & CEO, TCS and jury member, IBLA 2012, says that what he has demonstrated in terms of execution is just truly exemplary. Who says that you can't execute in India? I mean it's just remarkable that the person's credibility is so high if it has to be run for the project. All hats off to him.

The civil servant with an impeccable track record and unimpeachable integrity, E Sreedharan, the man who has given India an admirable platform for growth will walk the victory carpet on 2 November 2012.