Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar and actress Alia Bhatt are among the 53 Indians on Forbes 30 Under 30 achievers list
The Forbes‘ 2017 “30 Under 30” Asia list features 300 impressive young entrepreneurs – 30 in each of the 10 categories – from all walks of life, pushing the boundaries of innovation.
The categories include entertainment, sports, healthcare, science, finance and venture capital, retail, social entrepreneurs and enterprise technology.
India is second only to China on the list, which has 77 honourees.
Sakshi Malik, 24, became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal when she bagged a bronze at Rio 2016.
Hailing from the North Indian town Rohtak, Malik faced a lot of local opposition of her desire to wrestle when she took up the sport at age 12, noted Forbes.
Dipa Karmakar, 23, became the first Indian female gymnast to ever compete in Olympics, also at Rio, where she came fourth.
Alia Bhatt, 24, acted in 13 Bollywood movies, with at least six of them grossing well over $15 million worldwide.
India’s first paralympic swimmer, coach and Arjuna award winner Sharath Gayakwad was also in the list. He has won 96 medals to date.
Twenty-five-year-old Srikanth Bolla is featured in the industry, manufacturing and energy category of Forbes’ list.
Bolla was born blind into a family of farmers in India and “went on to become the first international blind student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)”, where he studied business management.
Post-MIT, Bolla chose to return to India where he set up Bollant Industries in Hyderabad, a company that employs and trains differently-abled individuals to manufacture eco-friendly and compostable packaging.
Ankit Kawatra, 25, founder of Feeding India, is also on the list. Feeding India aims to solve the country’s hunger problem by providing free meals through volunteers and donation centres.
The list also includes 26-yera-old Trisha Shetty of SheSays, an Indian non-profit that empowers the country’s women to act against sexual violence by providing education, legal, medical as well as psychological support.
The youngest Indians on the list are brothers Sanjay, 15, and Shravan Kumaran, 17, who five years ago founded GoDimensions that has developed seven apps so far. Their work includes creating the goDonate platform for sharing excess food, clothes and furniture with those in need.
The list also includes Kavin Bharti Mittal, 29, founder of instant messaging service Hike. A product of London’s Imperial College, Mittal is the son of Airtel founder Sunil Bharati Mittal.
It also features 29-year-old Vaishnavi Murali, founder of Eikowa Art, an India-based online art gallery curating works from many of the country’s contemporary artists.
Indian-American author, screenwriter and filmmaker Kovid Gupta is also among the many others on the list.
–IANS