The CII Southern Region Emerging Entrepreneurs Award was launched here on Thursday to showcase the region's emerging entrepreneurs and their innovative business concepts.

The event is being organised in association with Business Line .

Enterprises across the southern States having a minimum turnover of Rs 30 crore and a CAGR of 30 per cent in the last three years are eligible to participate in the competition. Thirty-six entrepreneurs from the southern States will be shortlisted, and 12 finalists will be awarded. The winners of the first edition will be announced in March 2012.

Launching the awards, Mr Jay Galla, Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh chapter of CII and member of the jury committee for the award, said the idea behind the awards was to turn the spotlight on the region's budding entrepreneurs so that they could aim at emerging national and global players.

A workshop on Funding Your Future Growth was organised to mark the launch of the awards.

Mr M.K. Arunkumar, Director, Specialist Advisory Services, of Grant Thornton, pointed out that in the last six years private equity funds had made investments over $50 billion in India, as against $31 billion raised through initial public offerings. In the next couple of years, he said, private equity funds will be more active in India, in the wake of the expanding urban wealth and increasing retail sales. “There were 350 (private equity) deals this year, the biggest recipients being Bharati Airtel, GMR Group and DLF,” he said.

Mr N. Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Sanmar Group, and former CII President, is chairing the jury committee. Other members include Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys; Mr S. Chandrasekhar, MD, Bhoruka Power Corporation Ltd; Mr T. Kannan, MD, Thiagarajar Mills Ltd; and Mr Sanjay Mariwala, MD, Kancor Ingredients Ltd.

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