India has never had a shortage of ambition. What it has had a shortage of is the right kind of recognition, the kind that is earned through verified achievement rather than visibility, and documented with the editorial rigour that genuine performers deserve. The Jan-Mar 2026 edition of Entrepreneur News, now officially released, represents the publication's most consequential editorial undertaking since its founding in 2024.
This is the inaugural Entrepreneur News 30 Under 40 edition. And it has been worth the wait.
A Cover That Sets the Tone
Raj Shamani graces the cover of this edition, and the choice says everything about what Entrepreneur News is trying to build. At 28, Shamani is India's No. 1 podcaster on Spotify, the first Indian to sit across from a French President for a long-form conversation, and the entrepreneur who scaled a family FMCG business to Rs 200 crore before building Figuring Out into one of the most consequential media platforms young India has. His story is not a social media story. It is a business story. And that is precisely the kind of story this edition was designed to tell.
The edition carries two landmark institutional partnerships that extend its reach significantly. Radio Mirchi serves as the official radio partner for the 30 Under 40 Class of 2026, and Jio News joins as the official media and publishing partner, placing this edition within one of India's largest and most trusted digital media ecosystems. For a publication in only its second year of operation, these partnerships reflect the credibility Entrepreneur News has built through consistent editorial standards rather than volume.
Thirty Names. Fourteen Categories. Zero compromises on credibility.
The Entrepreneur News 30 Under 40 list is not a business-only list. That is a deliberate editorial position, and it is the right one. India's most consequential under-40 performers are not confined to boardrooms and cap tables. They are on racing circuits, in fighter jet cockpits, behind chess boards, on kitchen counters, and in laboratories where the next material or platform or infrastructure is being built quietly, without fanfare, and without waiting for permission.
Kush Maini became the first Indian to win a Formula 2 race at Monaco in May 2025, carrying India's name into one of motorsport's most storied venues. Squadron Leader Mohana Singh Jitarwal made history as the first woman to fly the indigenously developed HAL Tejas LCA during the Tarang Shakti multinational air exercise, a milestone that belongs as much to the nation as it does to her. Shivesh Bhatia built a five-million-follower food empire and six bestselling cookbooks from a kitchen in New Delhi, earning a Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 recognition along the way. D. Gukesh became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion in history at eighteen, shattering a record Garry Kasparov had held since 1985. Shraddha Rangarh reached World Rank 2 in kickboxing without a coach, without a sponsor, and without institutional support, covering every competition cost herself while defeating athletes from across seven nations. Nikhil Kamath co-built Zerodha into India's largest discount brokerage, entirely bootstrapped, now valued at Rs 64,800 crore, and became the youngest Indian to sign the Giving Pledge in 2023.
These are not profiles assembled for relatability. They are records of what disciplined, sustained execution looks like across industries and fields that rarely share the same page.
Print Expansion and a Growing Physical Presence
The Jan-Mar 2026 edition also marks a meaningful step in Entrepreneur News's print expansion. The magazine is currently distributed across business events and conferences where Entrepreneur News serves as an official media partner, placing it directly in the hands of entrepreneurs, investors, and senior professionals in active professional environments. Targeted expansion into India's premium business venues, including private business clubs, fine dining restaurants, luxury resorts, and private yachts, is planned for later in 2026 as the publication scales its physical presence.
Global Frontline and In The Frame
Beyond the cover list, two editorial sections give the Jan-Mar edition considerable depth.
Global Frontline, dedicated to global brands and leaders shaping business at scale, features PerfectTed, the wellness beverage brand redefining the energy drink category; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Privateer Space, on his next chapter in commercial space infrastructure; Jordan Harper, founder of Barefaced, on building clinical skincare for real people; and Andrew Ross Sorkin, founder of DealBook, on the evolving relationship between financial journalism and public accountability.
In The Frame, the magazine's premium editorial section for brands and founders, profiles Fixderma and its disruption of India's clinical skincare market; the Merchant family's blueprint for India's next pharmaceutical chapter; Raj Shamani's landmark conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron; and Scott Eyewear, the brand the Parikh family built over four decades of distribution intelligence into one of India's most aspirational fashion eyewear names.
Brand Insights: Founders Building in the Gaps
The edition's Brand Insights section is where the magazine's founding philosophy, that the most important business stories are often the least visible ones, finds its clearest expression.
Jeet Wagh | Ideabaaz and Kuberans Tech Ventures Jeet Wagh, Founder and CEO of Ideabaaz and Kuberans Tech Ventures, has built a media-tech startup ecosystem that has funded over 40 startups across sectors and is restructuring Sippy Films, home to iconic IPs including Sholay, into a scalable IP-led enterprise, operating at the intersection of startup capital and media storytelling.
Rohan Dube | I-Stay Properties Rohan Dube, Founder of I-Stay Properties, is challenging Mumbai's obsession with square footage by centering intelligent residential design at his flagship Andheri East development. With zero-wastage layouts, dual washrooms, and fifty lifestyle amenities, I-Stay is built for how urban Indians actually live, not how developers assume they invest.
Shrikant Pandore | Clearclaim Ventures Shrikant Pandore, Co-Founder and CEO of Clearclaim Ventures, has helped over 1,000 clients recover more than Rs 100 crore in unclaimed financial assets by June 2025 through his platform Claim+, addressing a nationwide problem estimated at Rs 8 lakh crore in untouched wealth sitting across banks, IEPF authorities, and insurance institutions.
Kinal Mandliya | Soi and Doro Kinal Mandliya, Founder of Soi and Doro, built a sustainable fashion brand from leftover fabrics at seventeen after studying design across India, the UK, and New York Fashion Week. What began as eight scrunchies grew to 100 daily orders, with a website launch in March 2026 and a book on conscious fashion underway.
Ayush Jhawar | Genefied Brand Protection Solutions Ayush Jhawar, Founder and CEO of Genefied Brand Protection Solutions, is embedding AI-driven traceability and supply chain intelligence into the operations of over 85 enterprise brands across India's FMCG and general trade networks, turning sustainability from a compliance obligation into a measurable, real-time operational advantage at the kirana level.
Samarth Setia | Rezio.ai Samarth Setia, Founder of Rezio.ai, is building India's first buyer-first AI brokerage model, replacing fragmented property search with intelligence-led decisioning. The platform maps buyer intent to verified options, reducing stale inventory and failed transactions in a residential real estate market long structured around agents rather than the people buying.
Shahnaz Choudhry and Ali Zaidi | Ayzel Cosmetics Shahnaz Choudhry and Ali Zaidi, Co-Founders of Ayzel Cosmetics, launched their skincare brand in 2023 after two decades operating salons, accounting firms, and manufacturing businesses across the UAE and India under the Fastwing Group. Their end-to-end industry experience gives Ayzel a product credibility most new beauty brands spend years trying to manufacture.
Prithviraaj Shetty | Bhagavad Gita for All Prithviraaj Shetty, Founder and CEO of Bhagavad Gita for All, has sold over 10,000 copies of a premium gold-gilded Gita edition and launched MyKrishna, an AI companion mapping over 2,500 real-life situations to specific verses. He is building an entirely new category he calls faith-tech, taking the Gita from cultural reverence to daily lived practice.
Sahil Chawla | Tsecond.ai Sahil Chawla, Co-Founder and CEO of Tsecond.ai, is building BRYCK, ruggedised edge AI infrastructure that delivers petabyte-scale storage and compute in environments with no satellite link, no data centre, and zero tolerance for failure. With India's defence sector declaring 2026 the Year of Networking and Data Centricity, Tsecond is building for the world as it is.
Sugarcon Engineers | Parag Gaikwad Sugarcon Engineers, led by Principal Consultant Parag Gaikwad, brings over 120 years of combined expertise across sugar, ethanol, cogeneration, and biomass engineering, having executed projects in 15 countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Mexico, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Ten specialists. Every project delivered on-site, from feasibility to commissioning, with no advisory distance between team and client.
Ayush Melwani and Dr. Disha Patel | Roth Pets Ayush Melwani and Dr. Disha Patel, Co-Founders of Roth Pets, spent two years in formulation before launching a veterinary-grade, lick-safe pet hygiene range built specifically for India's urban conditions. Combining pharmaceutical procurement discipline with clinical animal behaviour science from the University of Edinburgh, Roth Pets has a genuinely credible reason to exist before its first sale.
Jigar Shah | Jigar and Nikita Jigar Shah, Founder and Creative Director of Jigar and Nikita, built a luxury couture house from a finance background and creative instinct alone, launching in 2015 and growing to a collective of over 400 skilled artisans. With flagship stores in Santacruz Mumbai and Delhi, the label is now firmly positioned within India's evolving luxury fashion landscape.
Her Rules | International Women's Day Special
This edition's dedicated Women's Day editorial feature profiles eight women redefining excellence across industries: Ruhani Singh of Brand Talk, Karreena Bulchandani of Mokai India, Anshita Mehrotra of Fix My Curls, Chinu Kala of Rubans Accessories, Dr. Srimathy Kesan of Space Kidz India, Captain Zoya Agarwal of Air India, Hardi Oza Patel of Velvet Escapes, and Dr. Kiran Pai of Vidyashilp University, each selected on the singular basis of what they have built, not who they are related to.
What This Edition Represents
The Entrepreneur News Jan-Mar 2026 edition is available now at entrepreneurnews.org. With Radio Mirchi and Jio News as institutional partners, print distribution across business events and conferences already underway, and an editorial scope that covers chess world champions and fighter pilots alongside fintech founders and sustainable fashion pioneers, this edition makes a straightforward depth: that the most important recognition in Indian business journalism is the kind that begins with a standard and holds to it, regardless of who fits and who does not.
The 30 Under 40, Class of 2026 is the opening statement of what Entrepreneur News intends to build.