~Country's earliest assessment-driven awards program honoring excellence across manufacturing, digital transformation, and sustainability~

MUMBAI, India, Dec. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan successfully hosted the 2025 edition of the India Manufacturing Excellence Awards (IMEA) and the Sustainability 4.0 Awards, bringing together leading industry professionals for an evening of celebration, benchmarking, and inspiration.

The event took place at ITC Grand Maratha, Mumbai, underlining Frost & Sullivan's continued commitment to fostering manufacturing excellence and sustainability in India.

The 2025 edition reaffirmed the importance of aligning business excellence with long-term, sustainable strategies, especially as India's manufacturing landscape rapidly evolves with digital transformation, supply chain complexity, and environmental considerations.

Driving Manufacturing Excellence: IMEA 2025

Now in its 21st edition, IMEA remains India's earliest and the most recognized and respected assessment-based manufacturing award. The 2025 framework evaluated organizations on manufacturing capability, extended supply chain reliability, and technology adoption, reinforcing Frost & Sullivan's commitment to holistic operational excellence.

At the heart of the awards is Frost & Sullivan's rigorous assessment methodology, refined over more than 2,000+ manufacturing sites, which provides participating organizations with detailed facility scorecards, benchmarking, and actionable insights for continuous improvement.

Key Highlights:

• His Excellency Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Abdulla Al Raqbani, Head of the Sustainability Committee at Dubai Investments and General Manager, Dubai Investment Industries, delivered the opening keynote address.
• MOU Exchange Ceremony – As a significant step toward our 2026 vision, we witnessed the MoU Exchange Ceremony between Frost & Sullivan and the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI) — a strategic alliance driven by a shared purpose, national impact, and long-term value creation.
• Introduction of a new category of awards, CEO Of the Year and the very first award recipient was Mr. Gurpratap S. Boparai, Suzlon Energy Limited

• The evening celebrated major strides in digital manufacturing, Industry 4.0 implementation, and process optimization.
• Executives and thought leaders from diverse sectors came together to discuss how innovation and resilience can co-exist in India's industrial landscape.

IMEA 2025 Apex Winners:

• Indian Corporate of the Year Award: Hindalco Industries Limited
• Indian Manufacturer of the Year: Vedanta Limited
• Indian Manufacturer of the Year 1^st Runner-up: Bharat Aluminium Company Limited
• Smart Factory of the Year: Utkal Alumina International Limited

IMEA's legacy continues to inspire manufacturing firms across sectors - automotive, metals, FMCG, pharma, engineering; to scale their operations, build future-ready systems, and deliver sustainable value.

Celebrating Sustainability Leadership: Sustainability 4.0 Awards

The 16^th edition of the Sustainability 4.0 Awards underscored Frost & Sullivan's dedication to recognizing organizations that integrate purpose, people, planet, and partnership into their core business strategies.

These awards spotlight enterprises that are not just financially successful, but also socially responsible and environmentally conscious, those paving the way for a more sustainable India.

Key Highlights:

• Recognition of systemic sustainability strategies across both service and manufacturing sectors.
• Leaders in ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives shared best practices and future roadmaps.
• The awards reinforce the critical role of sustainable innovation in driving long-term business resilience.

Sustainability 4.0 Awards 2025 Apex Winners:

• Sustainable Factory of the Year: Royal Enfield (A Unit of Eicher Motors Ltd.)
• Sustainable Factory of the Year 1^st Runner up: Hindalco Industries Limited, Belagavi Works

Aroop Zutshi, Global Managing Partner & Executive Board Member, Frost & Sullivan, welcomed the gathering, saying, "The future of Indian industry will be defined by organizations that combine operational excellence with transformational growth. Together, IMEA and Sustainability 4.0 provide a structured roadmap to help enterprises lead this transformation. As India advances toward becoming a global manufacturing powerhouse, success will depend not just on scale and efficiency, but on how intelligently and sustainably value is created across the ecosystem."

Rahul Sharma, Vice President & Global Head, Digital Transformation & Sustainability, highlighted, "The next phase of manufacturing excellence will be defined by using analytics and AI to embed sustainability and decarbonization into core operations. IMEA and Sustainability 4.0 together provide a structured pathway for intelligent, responsible growth. As Indian industry scales globally, leadership will be determined by how effectively data, digital technologies, and decarbonization priorities are translated into measurable outcomes across the manufacturing value chain."

The awards program was supported by Dassault Systèmes as Technology Partner, Cavin InfoTech as Next-Gen Digital Transformation Partner, emotii.ai as Emotionally Intelligent Multilingual Communication Partner, andMedeon as AI Startup Partner. The official media partners for the event were: MOTORINDIA + EV Tech News, Industrial Automation, ESG News and Sustainability Next.

Supporting Frost & Sullivan's vision for IMEA and Sustainability 4.0 Awards for the fourth consecutive year, Mr. Chinmaya Hardas, DELMIA India Sales Director at Dassault Systèmes India, says, "As a Technology Partner for Frost & Sullivan's India Manufacturing Excellence Awards & Sustainability 4.0 Awards, Dassault Systèmes reaffirms its commitment to advancing digital transformation and sustainable growth across India's manufacturing ecosystem. The collaboration reflects a shared vision for building future-ready factories driven by innovation and intelligence."

Ms. Usha Guru, Managing Director & Business Head at Cavin Infotech Pvt Ltd. believes, "Our partnership with Frost & Sullivan reinforces Cavin Infotech's vision to be a trusted digital transformation partner. By combining strategic consulting with our implementation expertise, we deliver measurable, technology-led outcomes across industries." 

Mr Sumit Sachdeva, Founder and CEO at emotii.ai, also took the opportunity to say, "Partnering with Frost & Sullivan for the IMEA & S4.0 Awards aligns with emotii.ai's vision of connecting innovation with inclusion. The collaboration highlights how technology can break communication barriers and enable deeper understanding across global organizations."

For more information on the 2026 editions E-mail: nimisha.iyer@frost.com

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Media Contacts: -Shannon Gable, South Asia Corporate Communicationsshannon.gable@frost.com

Nimisha Iyer, Director – Marketing Communications, MEASAnimisha.iyer@frost.com

Social Media: -Twitter: @Frost_Sullivan & @FrostSullivanIN (Event Hashtag: #IMEA2025#Sustainability40)

LinkedIn: Frost & Sullivan India LinkedIn