Forty-six achievers were honoured across diverse categories. Notable awards included Person of the Year as well as the Largest and Most Profitable Construction Company, Fastest Growing Construction Companies, Top Challengers and India’s Most Admired Brands. The stars were out in full force at a spectacular event! The prestigious 21st Construction World Global Awards united top construction industry leaders, experts and policymakers at Shangri-La Eros Hotel in New Delhi. Hosted by infrastructure thinktank FIRST Construction Council, this landmark event was part of the 9th India Construction Festival, which saw industry stakeholders coming together for consecutive star-studded events. Forty-six companies such as Larsen and Toubro (L&T), NCC, PNC Infratech, J Kumar Infraprojects, Tata Projects, HG Infra Engineering, PSP Projects, APCO Infratech and SOBHA, among others, bagged awards in different categories. The awards included the CW Person of the Year - Private Sector, which went to AAV Ranga Raju, Managing Director, NCC; Largest and Most Profitable Construction Company; Fastest Growing Construction Company (Large, Medium and Small); Top Challengers; India’s Most Admired Brands; Construction Project of the Year; ENR Awards; Emerging Company of the Year; Product Innovation of the Year and CSR Company of the Year. Over the years, the event has become the industry’s must-attend high-net-worth networking occasion, where top industry leaders and government officials converge to discuss the massive investments required to drive the nation’s growth. And this year’s edition was no exception. The event began on an auspicious note with a lamp-lighting ceremony by dignitaries including Pratap Padode, Founder and President, FIRST Construction Council; Falguni Padode, Co-Founder and Group Managing Editor, ASAPP Info Global Group; Lieutenant General Arvind Walia, Engineer-in-Chief, Indian Armed Forces; AAV Ranga Raju, Managing Director, NCC; Ratnesh Sinha, BKT; and Hardik Agarwal, Director, DRAIPL. Welcoming the audience to the 21st Construction World Global Awards, Pratap Padode said, “The Government plays the most crucial role in infrastructure development, either as a creator or by acting as an enabler and facilitator. On both fronts, government commitment has been very strong. Government infrastructure investments as measured by Central Government capex have gone up eight times over FY14 to FY24. In FY24, this is expected to be 4.9 per cent of GDP compared to 1.7 per cent of GDP in FY14. Over the same time period, road capex has gone up 7.5 times and railways capex is up 4.5 times.” Now, let’s take a closer look at the winners. Outstanding performers A big winner across categories was L&T, which won awards in the categories of ‘Largest & Most Profitable Construction Company’ and ‘Most Admired’ for L&T Construction and Mining Machinery as well as two ENR Awards. NCC proved its mettle by securing the title for ‘Fastest Growing Construction Company - Large Category’ apart from being recognised as one of the ‘Top Challengers’ in the industry. AAV Ranga Raju, Managing Director, was honoured as the ‘Person of the Year - Private Sector’, highlighting his exemplary leadership. He was unanimously chosen by the jury panel for his contribution to his company and the industry as a whole in 2022-23. The 2022 ‘Man of the Year - Private Sector’ was SV Desai, Whole-Time Director and Executive Vice President (Civil Infrastructure), L&T. DRAIPL was the first ‘Fastest Growing Construction Company - Large Category’ followed by PNC Infratech and NCC. J Kumar Infraprojects stood out in the ‘Fastest Growing Construction Company - Medium Category’ apart from claiming the ‘Top Challengers’ title and securing the ‘Construction Project of the Year’ award for its exceptional Thane Creek Bridge Project. Tata Projects won at the ENR Awards for its outstanding contribution to the industry. HG Infra Engineering was celebrated as ‘Fastest Growing Construction Company’ in the medium category apart from an award in the ‘Top Challengers’ category. PSP Projects emerged as the ‘Fastest Growing Construction Company’ in the small category. Ircon International received accolades at the ENR Awards apart from one for ‘Top Challengers’. APCO Infratech bagged the ‘Construction Project of the Year’ for its Bundelkhand Expressway Project apart from bagging the ‘Fastest Growing Construction Company’ in the medium category. GA Infra, represented by Pramila Agarwal and Malvika Agarwal, was honoured as the ‘Emerging Company of the Year’, acknowledging their journey in construction. The ‘Product Innovation of the Year’ (for steel slag road technology) award went to CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI). SOBHA won the ‘CSR Company of the Year’ GA Infra, Bharat Vanijya Eastern and KEC International bagged the ‘Emerging Company of the Year’ awards. Undeniably, the CW Global Awards and ENR Awards are the ideal platform to recognise and celebrate the innovation, dedication and remarkable achievements of individuals and companies in the construction industry, setting the bar high for future endeavours. The panel and the process The jury members, comprising industry leaders and analysts, who played a crucial role in selecting the winners from the various categories are: Dr Anil Kashyap, Director General, NICMAR; Akhil Gupta, CEO and ED, Shapoorji Pallonji; Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Sr. Director - Transport, Logistics and Mobility, CRISIL; Maneesh Yadav, MD and CEO, ASK Financial Holding; Bharat Parekh, ED, CLSA; Vijay Agrawal, Director, Equirus; Suneet Maheshwari, Founder and Managing Partner, Udvik Infrastructure; Professor Albert Thomas, Assistant Professor, IIT Bombay; BR Parthasarathy, Sr. V-P, Tata Consulting Engineers and Anup Mathew, Sr. V-P and Business Head, Godrej Construction. The jury also selected the CW Person of the Year (Private Sector) from a list of nominations. To arrive at the Fastest Growing Companies, a report with a quantitative analysis of companies – with data sourced from published annual reports and results published by companies – was presented to the panel to allow them to assess companies in each category (large, medium and small). To ensure authenticity of data, various checks and balances were put into place. The jury was informed that the data was further audited selectively to ensure it was error-free. This data was collated and compiled by FIRST Construction Council. FIRST Construction Council has also created a model for Top Challengers, which takes into consideration promising companies – including infrastructure developers, building materials and construction equipment manufacturers – having studied their ability to grow over the previous year despite challenging circumstances. Along with these were the Most Admired Construction Brands. Call to action Calling upon people to embrace the digital evolution, Guest of Honour Lt Gen Arvind Walia, Engineer-in-Chief, Indian Armed Forces, said, “The convergence of automation, artificial intelligence, robotics and other cutting-edge technologies is reshaping every aspect of construction – right from concept and design to execution.” He opined that better representation of women with their empathy, knowledge and skills would help the construction industry grow better and higher. In conclusion Delivering the vote of thanks, Falguni Padode, Co-Founder and Managing Editor, Construction World, said, “Twenty-one is a significant number. It’s the age at which you get to vote, to decide your leaders, the number of days it takes to form a habit… and that’s how many years we have been conducting these awards to recognise the mavericks and champions. What we have created together with these awards is trust, in an industry that was viewed very sceptically when we started these awards 21 years ago. In these years, as you have built, your accountability and transparency have fostered trust and as you built, India grew in stature. With the structures and infrastructure that you created, you have all been integral in building a new India.” In line with a quote by actor Christopher Reeves, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure, in spite of overwhelming obstacles,” she went on to thank the CW Person of the Year, AAV Ranga Raju, “for the zeal with which you forged ahead, always going above and beyond, enabling all of us in this industry to stand proud.” She summed up with a recent Harvard Business Review article which asked: ‘Is India the world’s next great superpower?’ “And while many arguments abound, one thing is clear: We cannot stop the pace now; we have to keep moving and face challenges that growth will bring. Because as the saying goes: ‘There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet.’” The winners continue onward, making the industry proud and contributing to the Indian growth story. And there could be no better platform to celebrate their work than the Construction World Global Awards. As Pratap Padode put it, “It was a star-studded event”, akin to Chandrayaan. Indeed, the mega event’s lustre, like gold, has only increased steadily over time. While the event wound to a close, its reverberations remain, generating optimism for a better future: Amrit Kaal.