India / Global — 2025 — Coherent Market Insights (CMI) was pleased to serve as Research Partner for the ET Edge 40 Under 40 – South Edition 2025, a distinguished platform that recognizes extraordinary young business leaders driving innovation and economic growth across South India.
Mr. Mohit Shrivastava, AVP – Research & Consulting, Coherent Market Insights, presented a well-curated, structured, and evidence-led research methodology to identify the region’s most promising leaders under the age of 40. Keeping the initiative in mind, the methodology is built on the foundation of credibility, transparency, and balanced representation. His address outlined the multi-stage screening process, sector mapping framework, weighted scoring model, and independent jury validation system included in the evaluation framework.
Advancing Leadership Excellence Across South India
ET Edge 40 Under 40 – South Edition 2025 acknowledges the emerging business leaders who have a knack for demonstrating measurable growth, innovation, and strategic impact across industries in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and the Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
The initiative takes into consideration individuals shaping both traditional industries and next-generation business models, with South India serving as a dynamic hub for technology, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems.
CMI’s Role: Designing a Structured and Transparent Evaluation Framework
Coherent Market Insights, being a Research Partner, designed and implemented a rigorous, multi-phase evaluation framework. The framework included identifying South India’s most distinguished business leaders under 40 years of age. The methodology employed by the company was rooted in measurable performance metrics, objectivity, and balanced sector representation.
Identification and Longlisting
Stringent eligibility screening was the first step of the evaluation process. Candidates were required to be under 40 years of age as of October 31, 2025, have significant business presence across South India, and possess a minimum of three years in a strategic leadership role such as Founder, Co-founder, CEO, or equivalent.
Professional background, leadership trajectory, innovation, measurable growth, and recent business achievements were the parameters that were taken into consideration when assessing profiles. The ET Edge microsite acted as credible platform for sourcing leaders through corporate filings, business intelligence platforms, startup ecosystems, industry associations, editorial outreach, and structured nominations.
Candidates were mapped across the technology, healthcare, manufacturing, BFSI, consumer goods, infrastructure, and emerging industries in order to ensure comprehensive ecosystem coverage. In order to maintain enterprise-size parity, organizations were further categorized by revenue bands—Emerging Businesses (below ₹50 crore), SMEs (₹50–₹100 crore), and Large Enterprises (above ₹100 crore). The longlist demonstrated participation across Tier 1 as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and prioritized gender inclusivity.
Each profile underwent rigorous structured desk-level validation. This included verification of leadership tenure, revenue classification, and business impact through statutory filings and credible public sources.
Evaluation and Jury Review
The shortlisted leaders were evaluated on the basis of a standardized scoring framework. The framework offered 55% weightage to business leader–specific parameters—such as leadership vision, innovation, measurable impact, governance practices, and future potential—and 45% weightage to organization-specific metrics, including revenue growth, strategic partnerships, key initiatives, and industry recognitions.
Independent jury evaluation by senior editorial members from The Economic Times, industry experts, investors, and academic professionals marked the culmination of the evaluation process. The final selections were confirmed through comprehensive checks to ensure credibility, transparency, and merit-based recognition.
A Credible, Multi-Stage Leadership Benchmark
Mr. Mohit Shrivastava highlighted that the ET Edge 40 Under 40 – South Edition 2025 selection procedure followed a meticulous, transparent, and multi-layer screening process. As part of this methodology, the screening of a broad candidate pool was conducted against strict eligibility parameters. The results were further evaluated using balanced scoring criteria, followed by validation through independent jury review.
The outcome of this meticulous-crafted methodology was a credible, diverse, and high-impact cohort of South India’s most promising business leaders under the age of 40.
Enabling Data-Driven Leadership Recognition
Coherent Market Insights caters to India’s evolving business landscape through its structured benchmarking and evaluation framework. With this motto, the company strengthened its commitment to advancing merit-based recognition systems that elevate leadership standards and promote informed stakeholder engagement.
About ET Edge 40 Under 40 – South Edition 2025
ET Edge 40 Under 40 – South Edition 2025 is a regional leadership recognition platform honoring high-performing young business leaders driving innovation, governance excellence, sustainable growth, and strategic impact across South India’s diverse economic ecosystem.
About Coherent Market Insights
Coherent Market Insights (CMI) is a global market intelligence and consulting firm delivering data-driven insights across diverse industries. Headquartered in India, CMI’s operations span the U.S. with strategic partnerships across the U.K. and Japan. Supported by over 300 full-time consultants and a global network of domain experts across 24 countries, CMI caters to clients in more than 32 countries worldwide, enabling informed decision-making in dynamic markets environments.
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