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HUL’s Priya Nair is India’s top woman executive, Mumbai is top hub of female leaders again

Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) chief executive officer and managing director Priya Nair topped the chart of woman leaders in the Professional CEOs category, according to the 2026 Candere Hurun India Women Leaders List released on Thursday.

She heads a company valued at ₹5,06,600 crore, the largest valuation among the list’s 12 category leaders.

HCL Technologies chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra topped the Wealth Multipliers category with a net worth of ₹2,84,000 crore, while Apollo Hospitals’ Preetha Reddy and Suneeta Reddy jointly led the Veterans category, backed by a group valuation exceeding ₹1,21,000 crore.

“What defines this year’s list is not just its size, but its reach. Across 117 honourees and 12 categories, the 2026 edition spans seven decades of achievement, from 19-year-old para-archer Sheetal Devi to 86-year-old entrepreneur Rajni Bector and stretches well beyond the boardroom to include Olympic and Paralympic medallists, authors, independent journalists, and social changemakers,” Anas Rahman Junaid, Founder and Chief Researcher, Hurun India, said.

ReNew Power’s co-founder and chairperson – sustainability Vaishali Nigam Sinha led the New Economy category, with the company valued at ₹22,230 crore, while Rajni Bector of Bectors Food Specialities topped the Heartland Founders category at a valuation of ₹5,650 crore.

BIBA Founder and Chairperson Meena Bindra led the Indian Fashion & Lifestyle category, with annual revenue of ₹758 crore, and Square Yards’ Kanika Gupta Shori topped the Startup Founders category with 3.33 times valuation growth.

Tushara Shankar, head of corporate social responsibility at Lupin, ranked first among Social Change Makers on sustainability score, and para-shooter Avani Lekhara led the Olympic and Paralympic Medallists category with three medals. Sudha Murty led the Authors category on readership impact, startup founder Ananya Birla topped the Social Media Influencers category with 277 per cent year-on-year follower growth, and Faye D’Souza led the Independent Journalists category with 2,238,000 Instagram followers.

The rankings form part of the 2026 Candere Hurun India Women Leaders List, which recognises 117 women across 12 categories, up from 97 honourees across nine categories a year earlier. The honourees have a combined valuation of ₹39 lakh crore, surpassing Finland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Well-known names

The list features some of India’s best-known names including Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon), Falguni Nayar (Nykaa), Nisaba Godrej (Godrej Consumer Products) and Anita Dongre (House of Anita Dongre), alongside sportswomen P.V. Sindhu (badminton), Saina Nehwal (badminton), Mary Kom (boxing), Manu Bhaker (shooting) and Mirabai Chanu (weightlifting). Barkha Dutt (Mojo Story), Palki Sharma Upadhyay (journalist), Twinkle Khanna (actor), Namita Thapar (Startup Founders category) and Kusha Kapila (Startup Founders category) are the others on the list.

Of the 117 honourees, 98 are self-made, outnumbering those who inherited their positions by more than five to one. The average age of honourees is 48, spanning seven decades from 19 to 86. Para-archer Sheetal Devi, 19, is the youngest honouree, while entrepreneur Rajni Bector,  86, is the oldest.

Mumbai retained its position as India’s leading hub for influential women for a second consecutive year, with 26 honourees, followed by New Delhi with 21 and Bengaluru with 16, the release said.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon, was the most-followed honouree on LinkedIn, with more than one million followers, while Shipra Khanna had the largest Instagram following on the list, with 6.29 million followers.