CNN-News18 announces Indian of the Year 2025: Jay Shah Takes Outstanding Achievement, Harmanpreet Named Champion of the World, Check Full List

New Delhi: CNN-News18, India’s No.1 English News channel, celebrated the fifteenth version of star-studded ‘Indian of the Yr’ on twenty eighth November. The version opened on a excessive be aware, bringing collectively outstanding leaders from throughout sectors beneath one roof. The occasion celebrated and honoured people whose grit, imaginative and prescient and accomplishments have helped form India’s evolving story.

The 2025 version, themed ‘India’s Invincible Icons’, paid tribute to changemakers who embody braveness, perseverance and an unwavering spirit, figures who stand as highly effective symbols of progress in a quickly remodeling India.

This yr’s version of the Indian of the Yr Awards celebrated a rare lineup of achievers who left an unforgettable mark on the nation. Among the many distinguished winners have been Baba Kalyani, Chairman of Bharat Forge Restricted and Kalyani Strategic Programs Restricted, honoured with the Enterprise Award, and Suruchi Phogat, who obtained the Rising Sports activities Star Award. Phogat, a rising drive in Indian taking pictures, just lately clinched her third consecutive ISSF World Cup gold in Munich.

Lt Cdr Roopa A and Lt Cdr Dilna Okay have obtained the Youth Icon Award for finishing a historic circumnavigation as the primary Indian duo to sail across the globe in double-handed mode aboard INSV Tarini beneath the Navika Sagar Parikarma II mission.

Rauf Wani and Sajjad Ahmad Bhat have been awarded the Braveheart Indians Award for exemplifying braveness and humanity in the course of the Pahalgam terror assault in Jammu and Kashmir, the place they performed a vital position in rescuing victims.

Deepika TC–led Blind Ladies’s Cricket Group received the Particular Inspiring Champions Award after just lately making historical past by successful the inaugural T20 World Cup for the Blind in November 2025.

The International Indian of the Yr was awarded to Chef Vijay Kumar. Vijay Kumar was additionally honoured as Finest Chef: New York State by the James Beard Basis.

Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, the lead actors of the latest blockbuster movie Saiyaara, have been named the Gen Z Icons of the Yr. This win marked their first-ever main award-show recognition, making it an extremely particular second for them.

‘Meals Pharmer’ Revant Himatsingka received the Influencer of the Yr Award. Revant is a diet educator and social media influencer who raises consciousness concerning the dietary values of the meals individuals devour.

Aditya Mukarji, a devoted plastic warrior whose nature-focused campaigns have helped remove hundreds of thousands of single-use plastic objects from the hospitality sector, was honoured with the Local weather Warrior Award.

Chhonzin Angmo, the primary blind Indian lady to scale Mount Everest, was honoured with the Iconic Lady Achiever Award, having educated relentlessly to realize this exceptional feat regardless of her incapacity.

ICC Chairman Jay Shah was honoured with the Excellent Achievement Award for his contributions to Indian cricket, together with introducing pay parity for girls gamers and launching the Ladies’s Premier League (WPL). Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the victorious Indian Ladies’s World Cup workforce, was honoured with the Champion of the World Award. She led India to triumph within the 2025 Ladies’s Cricket World Cup, secured the Ladies’s Asia Cup titles in 2012, 2016, and 2022, and received a gold medal on the 2022 Asian Video games.

Talking on the occasion, Shah devoted his award to India’s girls’s cricket and the present workforce that received the ICC Ladies’s World Cup 2025. Shah mirrored on his tenure as BCCI secretary and mentioned the numerous steps taken to enhance Indian cricket, together with strengthening Indian home cricket, cracking a grand media rights deal, and extra. “We strengthened the home cricket construction, carried out pay parity, launched the WPL, and efficiently accomplished a ₹50,000 crore media rights deal, all with none controversy,” he stated.

Successful the award, Harmanpreet Kaur stated, “Lifting the World Cup was a dream we cherished since childhood. I want to thank Jay Shah for his contributions to the Ladies’s cricket workforce, the pay parity and the Ladies’s Premier League (WPL) initiatives have been immensely useful.”

CNN-News18’s ‘Indian of the Yr’ award, considered India’s premier news tv honour, has a wealthy legacy of recognising distinctive people throughout numerous fields who’ve elevated the nation’s world standing via their inspiring contributions. Chosen by an elite jury, this yr’s winners have been people whose dedication has touched lives and impressed hundreds of thousands.

Through the years, the honour has been bestowed upon among the nation’s most outstanding achievers, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah Rukh Khan, Neeraj Chopra, Virat Kohli, NGO Cease Acid Assaults, Viswanathan Anand, A.R. Rahman, Manmohan Singh, ISRO, Kailash Satyarthi, Mary Kom, Deepika Padukone, N. Chandrasekaran and Arvind Kejriwal, amongst many others.