From building businesses to addressing pressing needs to ditching high-paying jobs, meet the winners of Forbes India 30 Under 30 2025, a class full of performers who are a mix of tech innovators, health care mavericks, financial wizards, and more.
Now, in its 12th year, Forbes India’s annual and most-awaited list has winners across 19 categories, including the newly added Artificial Intelligence.
The cohort of winners has not only launched disruptive businesses all under the age of 30, but also focussed on creating social impact through ventures that address societal issues, sustainability and community development. They are a mix of dynamic entrepreneurs, professionals, sportspersons, influencers, and creative artistes in music, film and visual arts.
We’re talking of winners who’ve built an Internet-of-Things-enabled door-to-door smart waste collection facility for urban areas and a 25-year-old who makes maths fun to dispel the fears around the subject. We have three friends and former roommates who went on to launch a restaurant in Mumbai where diners meet farmers to learn about the ingredients they are consuming, and the challenges faced in growing them.
Talk of the resilience the winners possess, and a 12-year-old who saw most of his family wealth lost to the 2008 financial crisis ended up becoming the youngest vice president at 27 at Bain Capital Private Equity, an investment firm.
The Forbes India 30 Under 30 is a 300-plus group of names and people we recognised before the world did.
Take 2024 sports winner Jyothi Yarraji, for instance. Last year, she became the first woman athlete to represent India in 100 m hurdles in the Olympics. Known as the country’s fastest hurdler, she will be raring to go in 2025, having rubbed shoulders with the world’s best at the Paris Games. The 25-year-old has received the Arjuna Award this year. Another winner, Parul Chaudhary, was also the only Indian track and field athlete to qualify for two events in the Paris Olympic Games—the 5,000 m and the 3,000 m steeplechase. For 2025, her sole focus lies on earning a podium finish at the World Championships.
Anushka Rathod, a winner in the digital content creator category, published her first book, The Money Guide, a graphic novel in 2024. She was also recognised in Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 Media, Marketing and Advertising category.
Former finance winner in 2024, Seethalakshmy Narayanan, the youngest-ever vice president at Premji Invest in its 17-year history, led a $25 million (nearly `265 crore) deal for wealth management firm Dezerv.
“In the private equity world, the average age of a vice president is around 35 to 38, a younger performer is perceived as being less experienced. Being a part of the list helped a lot in bridging that gap positively. Startup founders have been a lot more open to discuss deals,” she says.
Here’s to those who dare to dream, and will remind the generations to come that the future belongs to those who believe in the power of possibilities.
Methodology
The research process was three-fold: One was interviews by the Forbes India team with sources across relevant categories as well as through studies of databases and media coverage. Two, on forbesindia.com, inviting applications from, or nominations of, entrepreneurs and professionals who fit the criteria. Three, spreading the word on social media. This helped us arrive at a long list across 19 categories, including a new one—artificial intelligence—this year. The next step was narrowing down to a ‘shorter longlist’—the names most likely to make it to the top were decided in consultation with experts in each category. The last stage was finalising the winners for 2025. Armed with expert views, the Forbes India editorial team debated, argued, and vetoed its way down to the final list from close to a thousand nominations. We have only considered for selection those who were under the age of 30 as of February 28, 2025 (the cut-off date for selection of the list). And, in the case of enterprises that have several co-founders, we have considered only those where at least one of them is under 30.
