Forbes names 25 women 'trailblazers', snubs all talk of ranking

Ahead of International Women`s Day on March 8, Forbes India has released a its "W-Power Trailblazers" issue this weekend, featuring 25 women stars, on the ascendency in business. The 25 women stars included names like Chiki Sarkar, publisher, Juggernaut Books, Adhuna Bhabani, founder-director, Bblunt, Anupriya Acharya, CEO (India), Publicis Media, Kavitha Sairam, co-founder, FIB-SOL Life Technologies, Dina Wadia and Shivpriya Nanda, joint managing partners, J Sagar Associates among others.

"We need to specify that this is not a ranking but a qualitative selection -- a grouping of ground breakers, game-changers and innovators working across diverse sectors such as technology, law, banking, insurance, media, biotech and the startup sector," Forbes India said in a statement.

"Mandated quotas smack of tokenism, and we have as many women who favour reservations as those who would like merit to be the decider," said Brian Carvalho, Editor of Forbes India, referring to the lack of women on company boards.

"With the overwhelming response that we received for the first edition of W-Power last year, a second edition was imminent. This issue is unique because of the methodology used in selection of the leaders. We believe that this list cannot be ranked hence we adopt a qualitative approach," said Joy Chakraborthy, CEO-Forbes India and President-Revenue, Network18.

The final list of 25 was identified based on jury votes.