Indians in Forbes 30 Under 30 List 2016

The Forbes 30 under 30 list has become iconic for highlighting young and emerging talent as it groups the most revolutionary and innovative individuals under the age of 30 for the world to see.

For 2016, the Forbes 30 under 30 contains 600 women and men, with 30 of the achievers falling under each designated categories.

Forbes said: “In the past, youth was a handicap to professional success. Getting older meant more resources, more knowledge, more money. No more.

“Those who grew up in the tech age have way bigger ambitions perfectly suited to the dynamic, entrepreneurial and impatient digital world they grew up in. If you want to change the world, being under 30 is now an advantage.”

45 Indians and Indian-origin people have made the list this year, which is a fantastic achievement for the Desi community.

With South Asians shaking things up and laying the foundation of success, it should encourage many others to have faith in their abilities.

In the consumer tech section, a notable candidate is Ritesh Agarwal who is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, at the age of 22. Forbes said:

“In a country that lacks a steady supply of budget hotel chains, Oyo has developed a network of 2,200 small hotels in 100 cities across India.”

Dazzling the manufacturing segment is Sampriti Bhattacharyya, who is a 28-year-old MIT graduate student who developed underwater drones that have the capability of autonomously communicating and as a result work together.

They can be used to look for lost planes, or measure oil spills or radiation under the sea.

Another interesting addition is in the social entrepreneur’s category, Anoop Jain who at 28 years old is the Founding Director of Sanitation and Health Rights in India.

They work to build toilets and collect human waste, alongside using the methane that comes of the waste in order to create clean water.

Interestingly enough, this list finally has a category for video games. And it is a diverse one, with developers, creative directors, YouTube bloggers, technical directors and so much more.

Aradhya Malhotra is the stand alone Indian in this section, who at tender age of 25 is the co-founder of Skyless Game Studios.

Here is the complete list of Indians in the 30 under 30 Forbes collection:

Finance

• Minesh Bhatt, 29 ~ Helped USB launch family business
• Nila Das, 27 ~ Vice President, CitiGroup
• Vikas Patel, 29 ~ Senior Analyst, Millennium Management, LLC
• Divya Nettimi, 29 ~ Investment Analyst, Viking Global Investors
• Neel Rai, 29 ~ Investment Analyst, Caxton Associates
• Ramanan Sivalingam, 29 ~ Vice President, Deutsche Bank

Consumer Tech

• Ritesh Agarwal, 22 ~ Founder CEO of Oyo Rooms
• Karishma Shah, 25 ~ Google X, Rapid Evaluation Program Manager, Google
• Neeraj Barry, 28 and Gagan Biyani, 28 ~ Co-founders, Spring

Hollywood Entertainment

• Lilly Singh, 27 ~ Comedian, Writer, YouTube star

Retail Commerce

• Satish Kanwar, 29 ~ Director of Product, Shopfly
• Shruti Shah, 27 ~ Co-founder, Move Loot

Education

• Advait Shinde, 25 ~ Co-founder, GoGuardian
• Ameesh Sohoni, 27 ~ Project Director, the New Teachers Project

Games

• Aradhya Malhotra, 25 ~ Co-founder Skyless Game Studios

Venture Capital

• Vishal Lugani, 26 ~ Senior Associate, Greycroft Partners
• Amit Mukherjee, 27 ~ Senior Associate, New Enterprise Associates
• Mahesh Vellanki, 27 ~ Vice President, Redpoint Ventures

Media

• Nisha Chittal, 27 ~ Social Media and Community Manager, MSNBC
• Ashish Patel, 29 ~ Senior Vice President, NowThisMedia

Manufacturing Industry

• Sampriti Bhattacharyya, 28 ~ Founder, Hydroswarm
• Saagar Govil, 29 ~ CEO, Cemtrex
• Shashank Samala, 23 ~ Co-founder, Tempo Automation

Enterprise Tech

• Tarun Gangwani, 27 ~ Offering Manager, IBM Cloud
• Ravi Parekh, 27 ~ Co-founder, Heap
• Herman Nerula, 27 ~ Co-founder, Improbable
• Rahul Amin, 28 and Husayn Kassail, 26 ~ Co-founders, Onfido
• Rahul Mitra, 28 and Vivek Nair, 22 ~ Co-founders, Stackware

Food and Drink

• Anjali Kundra, 29 and Nikhil Kundra, 26 ~ Co-founders, Partender

Social Entrepreneur

• Shobhita Soor, 26 ~ Co-founder, Aspire
• Anoop Jain, 29 ~ Founding Director, Sanitation & Health Rights in India
• Sharad Saagar, 24 ~ Founder, Dexterity Global

Law and Policy

• Akash Chougule, 26 ~ Deputy Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity
• Dipayan Ghosh, 27 ~ Privacy & Public Advisor, Facebook
• Ashish Kumbhat, 26 ~ Monetary Policy, Federal Reserve Board
• Anisha Singh, 28 ~ Campaign Manager, Centre for American Progress

Science

• Arnav Chabra, 24 ~ PhD candidate, Harvard University
• Sanjam Garg, 29 ~ Assistant Professor, University of California Berkeley
• Harbaljit Sohal, 28 ~ Postdoctoral Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Energy

• Karan Jerath, 19 ~ Inventor, University of Texas, Dallas

Health

• Mugdha Gokhale, 29 ~ PhD candidate, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

With so many Indians gracing this list, it is very important to support and encourage others to do groundbreaking work.

Although the Forbes list is not the definition of success, and there are many more out there doing successful work, we should highlight and celebrate the achievements of these Desi people.

DESIblitz congratulates everyone who made the 2016 list!