Shortlist of Gaja Capital Business Book Prize unveiled
New Delhi: "Azim Premji: The Man Beyond the Billions" by Sundeep Khanna and "Getting Competitive: A Practitioner's Guide for India" by RC Bhargava are among the five non-fiction books on contemporary Indian business that have made it to the shortlist of the third Gaja Capital Business Book Prize.
The shortlisted books, announced on Tuesday, comprise a "diverse range of stories of business leaders, entrepreneurial journeys and the spectre of leadership". Other titles making the cut include "Indian Icon: A Cult called Royal Enfield" by Amit Raj, "Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver" by Urjit Patel, and "Yes Man: The Untold Story of Rana Kapoor" by Pavan C Lall.
According to the organisers, these chronicles of Indian business stories are "canonising the struggle and joys" of entrepreneurship, creating a repository of pioneers and their experiences.
"A poet once said that the universe isn't made of atoms but stories. The Gaja Capital Business Book Prize jury felt the shortlist this year has multiple stories of triumph and tragedy yet mostly reflects a new breed of confident, ambitious and rising corporate India," said Manish Sabharwal, entrepreneur and chairman of the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize jury.
Instituted two years ago, to encourage Indian entrepreneurs, writers, and journalists to tell their stories for the world, the award offers a prize money of Rs 15 lakh -- making it the "biggest book prize" in the country to honour authors transforming the business ecosystem with their creativity.
The award in 2019 was won by Girish Kuber, the author of "The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation", and by journalist Mihir Dalal for his debut book, "Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story", in 2020.
"Business bookshelves are dominated by western stories of business and entrepreneurship. As the Indian economy scales and the Indian entrepreneurial and investor ecosystem matures, we will have many more stories and lessons for the world, from India," said Gopal Jain, Managing Partner, Gaja Capital.
"As investors and entrepreneurs in the Indian market, we have witnessed several such journeys first-hand. We would like to make a small contribution in encouraging Indian writers, journalists and entrepreneurs to tell our stories and tell them well, for the world," he added.
The 2021 winner will be announced on November 30.
