Pantaloons CEO Style Inc. 2.0: Mahuaa Media's Praveer Gaur wins Jury Award

Romeer Sen, director, Katha Mediatix received the maximum votes on Facebook, while Akshay Chhugani, CEO, indianbackpacker.com received maximum votes on afaqs!.

The Grand Finale of the Pantaloons CEO Style Inc. 2.0 was held on February 16. The contest, conducted in association with afaqs!, involved a hunt for the most stylish boss. Votes for the most stylish boss were cast on two platforms - the Pantaloons official Facebook fan page (which garnered more than five lakh online fans) and afaqs.com. Voting began on December 15, 2010, and went on till January 31. Individuals in national level leadership roles were eligible for nomination.

The jury comprised Achala Sachdev, choreographer, Manasvi Mamgai, Pantaloons Femina Miss India World 2010, and Apurva Purohit, chief executive officer, Radio City.

Praveer Gaur, head, distribution and syndication, Mahuaa Media, walked away with the Jury Award.

Amongst the other winners were Romeer Sen, director, Katha Mediatix, who won an award for receiving the maximum votes on Facebook, and Akshay Chhugani, chief executive officer, indianbackpacker.com, who received the highest number of votes on afaqs.com.

Meanwhile, Gaur also won the First Impression Award; the first and second runners-up for the same were Vikaas Kalantri, managing director and chief executive officer, White Leaf Entertainment, and Meherzad Munsaf, managing director, Instinct Publicity.

Five other style icons from the corporate world were also a part of the competition, including Arnab Mitra, regional director, India and South Asia, Havas Media Digital, Rammohan Sundaram, founder, chief executive officer and managing director, NetworkPlay Media, Prashant Kumar, chief executive officer, India News Communications; Aneil Deepak (better known as Andy), senior vice-president, Mudra Max, and Amit Tripathi, managing director, id8labs.

The competition also involved elaborate ramp walks by the stylish contenders, followed by an entertaining Q&A round. Between sessions, Pantaloons unveiled its new Spring Summer Collection. At the event, Pankaj Tibrewal, chief operating officer, Pantaloons, spoke about the benefits of the store's Green Card offering, through which shoppers can avail discounts over time as well as have packages delivered across cities for free.

This was the second season of the Style Inc. contest. Anil Srivatsa, chief executive officer, Kings XI Punjab bagged the Pantaloons Style Inc. Male award last year and was deemed corporate India's most stylish boss at the time.

Part of the Future Group, Pantaloon Retail India is amongst the country's largest fashion chains, with 52 stores spread across 27 key cities, in both metros as well as smaller towns.