The award ceremony will be graced by stalwarts like Rt. Hon John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, who will felicitate some of the winners from the 17 categories.

CNBC-TV18 India's leading business medium and ICICI Bank announced the 4th 'Emerging India Awards London- 2008' powered by CRISIL. Small and Medium Enterprises are often hailed as being the drivers of economic growth. 'Emerging India Awards' this year will recognize and reward India's most globally competitive SMEs whose business practices are at par with global giants. The initiative aims at recognizing the most sustainable Value Creators among SMEs in the country. It is estimated that SMEs account for almost 90% of industrial units in India, 40% of value addition in the manufacturing sector and contribute 35% to India's merchandise exports. CNBC-TV18 'Emerging India Awards London 2008' will provide a platform that enhances the visibility of these integral players in India's economic growth story.

Combating the tough competition from nominees under the category of Trading (non-retail), IndiaMART.com, India's largest online B2B marketplace has been short listed amongst the top three companies along with Aptivaa Consulting Solutions Private Limited and Molecular Connections Private Limited. "We are honored to be amongst the top 3 companies in our category. It is highly satisfying that our efforts to put Indian suppliers on the global map have been recognized. Emerging India Awards has become a platform of repute to showcase India's best SMEs, and we are happy that we have been recognized by them", says Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com

Commenting on the awards Mr. Neel Chowdhury, Vice President, Marketing CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz said "The Emerging India Awards has become not just the benchmark for recognizing the best performing enterprises from the SME space but it has also emerged as India's (and one of the world's) largest business awards! We are extremely proud to partner with ICICI Bank in this initiative. What is also extremely heartening that SMEs are raring to go and willing to take on challenges & opportunities thrown in by globalization with Think Global Go Global! We will continue to take up the SME cause at the CNBC TV18 network."

CNBC-TV18 and ICICI Bank 'Emerging India Awards' is India's foremost initiative powered by the capability of shaping the future of Indian SMEs, and have been acknowledged as India's biggest business award by the Limca Book of Records.

About IndiaMART.com

IndiaMART.com is India's largest online B2B marketplace bringing Indian suppliers and international buyers together. Established in 1996, IndiaMART.com is an ISO certified company with state-of-the-art web-development center which is one of the largest in the world. With 900 employees and a network of 29 offices pan-India, IndiaMART.com offers value service to its 500,000 members and over 5 million global buyers.

With last financial year revenues at US$ 9.5 million the company has grown at over 50% CAGR for the last 5 years. IndiaMART.com has been profitable all through the twelve years of its operations. IndiaMART's online success has been widely acknowledged by media such as CNBC, BBC, Business Money, CNN, Businessworld, Economic Times, Financial Express etc. Amongst its investors stands tall the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (Times of India Group), India's largest print media group that has made a strategic investment in IndiaMART.com in 2006.

About CNBC TV 18

CNBC-TV18 is the undisputed leader in the business. The channel's benchmark coverage extends from corporate news, financial markets coverage, expert perspective on investing and management to industry verticals and beyond. CNBC-TV18 has been constantly innovating with new genres of programming that helps make business more relevant to different constituencies across India. CNBC-TV18 is currently available in over 30 million households in India

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Arun Tyagi Marketing & PR