The eighth edition of businessline’s Changemaker Awards will take place in New Delhi on Tuesday. The ceremony honors individuals and organisations that quietly drive societal change. Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman will serve as chief guest, marking her third appearance at the event over the past seven years.
The milestone edition is presented by Sastra Deemed University and powered by City Union Bank. Associate partners include State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, Citizen Watches, Government of Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, NTPC Ltd., Indian Bank, Steel Authority of India Ltd., GAIL (India) Ltd., Essar Group, ICFAI Group, NMDC Ltd. and UCO Bank, while Kia Sorento serves as the mobility partner.
Over 1,600 nominations were received across five categories—Social, Digital, Financial Transformation, Young Changemaker and Iconic Changemaker—after a public call that began on May 12. The submission window closed on July 7, and entries were screened by businessline, Ashoka Foundation and Deloitte. In 2025, DRDO won Changemaker of the Year, the Azim Premji Foundation was named Iconic Changemaker, Araku Valley Coffee received the Financial Transformation award, Bhashini was honoured for Digital Transformation, Impulse NGO Network for Social Transformation, and the Young Changemaker award was shared by Kalyani Shinde and the Young Tinker Foundation.
The jury met in Chennai on August 10, chaired by Justice (retired) Prabha Sridevan and comprising Suresh Narayanan, Safeena Hussain, B. Santhanam, N.S. Nappinai, A. Balasubramanian and Mukund Rajan. Since its inception in 2018, the awards have been held annually except in 2021 when the pandemic prevented a ceremony. The selection process involves validation by Niiti Consulting before an independent jury announces the winners.
