InfluenceAsia Top 100 CEOs 2026
Asia Leaders
Srini Pallia Has More Large Deals at Wipro. He Still Needs a Growth Model That Pays
Wipro’s order book is strengthening while near-term revenue and margins remain constrained. Srini Pallia must prove that AI investment can improve both relevance and economics.
Asia Leaders
Mitsuko Tottori Must Make Japan Airlines Safer and Less Dependent on the Airline Cycle
Record results give Japan Airlines the resources to diversify. Mitsuko Tottori’s harder task is to make safety reform and portfolio transformation reinforce each other.
Asia Leaders
Nithin Kamath Built Zerodha for a Boom. Regulation Is Testing the Model in Reverse
Zerodha entered its fifteenth year expecting broking revenue to decline about 40 per cent as regulation and lower activity reshaped the market. Its response will test the value of independence, trust and restraint.
Asia Leaders
Ravi Kumar S Has Restarted Cognizant’s Growth. The AI Builder Strategy Must Now Deepen It
Cognizant has regained momentum under Ravi Kumar S. Its next test is to close the gap between enterprise AI spending and measurable operating outcomes without sacrificing margin.
Asia Leaders
Noubar Afeyan’s Venture Factory Faces the Test That Matters: Translation
Flagship Pioneering enters 2026 with $14 billion under direction and fresh companies spanning modified DNA, AI and agriculture. The harder challenge is converting breadth into repeatable clinical and commercial evidence.
Asia Leaders
Tony Fernandes Finally Has a Clean Capital A. Now He Must Prove What Remains Is a Business
The long restructuring is over and the airline assets have moved to AirAsia X. Tony Fernandes must now turn Capital A’s collection of travel-adjacent businesses into a coherent investment case.
Asia Leaders
Founder Control Is Huda Kattan’s Competitive Edge—and Her Governance Test
After buying back Huda Beauty and separating Kayali, Huda Kattan is using fragrance to widen the core brand. The next chapter will test whether community instinct can be matched by institutional discipline.
Asia Leaders
Falguni Nayar Has Restored Nykaa’s Growth Premium. Now She Must Defend It From Speed
Nykaa’s fourth-quarter revenue and gross merchandise value rose 28 per cent as profitability strengthened. Its competitive answer must combine trusted assortment, owned brands and measured fulfilment rather than copy ten-minute commerce.
Asia Leaders
Deepinder Goyal’s Biggest Test at Eternal Is Whether He Can Truly Let Go
Eternal’s growth accelerated as Blinkit reached scale, but its founder is no longer group chief executive. Deepinder Goyal’s leadership challenge is now one of boundaries, capital allocation and credible succession.
Asia Leaders
Chung Shin-a Has Restored Kakao’s Operating Momentum. The Agentic AI Bet Is More Difficult
Kakao is again growing with discipline. Chung Shin-a’s next task is to make AI useful across the group while keeping incentives, data and accountability under control.
Asia Leaders
Akira Shimada Is Recasting NTT for an AI World That Cannot Afford AI’s Energy Bill
NTT’s IOWN vision addresses the power and latency constraints of AI. Akira Shimada now has to convert that technological logic into profitable, repeatable infrastructure economics.
Asia Leaders
Salil Parekh Must Let AI Disrupt Infosys Before It Disrupts the Services Model
Infosys is financially resilient but entering a structural transition. Salil Parekh must use AI to improve client economics without allowing productivity to shrink his own revenue base.
Asia Leaders
C. Vijayakumar Is Betting HCLTech’s Engineering DNA on Owning More of the AI Stack
HCLTech is moving from AI services into infrastructure. C. Vijayakumar must prove that ownership creates differentiation without weakening the disciplined economics of the group.
Asia Leaders
Canva Is Becoming an AI Operating System. Melanie Perkins Must Keep It Simple
Canva AI 2.0 expands the company from visual creation into research, scheduling, data and publishing. The strategic test is whether Canva can win enterprise trust without burying its product-led advantage in complexity.
Asia Leaders
Sriharsha Majety’s Quick-Commerce Bet Has a Deadline: Better Economics Before More Scale
Instamart’s fourth-quarter order value rose nearly 69 per cent, but its adjusted EBITDA loss was ₹858 crore. Swiggy’s chief must now make unit economics, not store count, the proof of leadership.
Asia Leaders
Choi Soo-yeon Has Put AI Inside NAVER’s Growth Machine. Now the Economics Must Catch Up
NAVER’s AI strategy has moved from demonstration to distribution. Choi Soo-yeon must now prove that agents can deepen the platform’s economics as quickly as they raise its infrastructure bill.
Asia Leaders
K. Krithivasan Has Given TCS an AI Revenue Number. Now It Needs Better AI Economics
TCS’s AI business is scaling and deal wins remain strong. K. Krithivasan faces the harder task of converting automation into revenue, margin and a stronger operating model.
Asia Leaders
Chanel’s Return to Growth Gives Leena Nair Room to Invest, Not Permission to Relax
Chanel’s 2025 revenue, profit and free cash flow all improved. The strategic question for Leena Nair is whether creative renewal, supplier ownership and boutique expansion can sustain rarity in an uneven luxury market.
Asia Leaders
Ferry Unardi Is Taking Traveloka Beyond Southeast Asia. Local Intelligence Must Still Travel
Traveloka is widening its Asia-Pacific reach under Ferry Unardi. The strategic test is exporting its operating system without diluting local relevance.
Asia Leaders
Ali Ghodsi Has the Capital to Rebuild the Data Stack. Now Databricks Must Compound
Ali Ghodsi has built Databricks into a $5.4 billion revenue run-rate company. Its next phase depends on turning a widening product estate into one compounding platform.
Asia Leaders
Aravind Srinivas Is Turning Perplexity Into a Product Portfolio. Focus Is the Next Breakthrough
Aravind Srinivas has expanded Perplexity far beyond search. The next leadership test is turning product velocity into a focused, repeatable business system.
Asia Leaders
Tan Teck Long Inherited a Record OCBC Franchise. His Next Frontier Must Outrun Falling Rates
Tan Teck Long took charge of OCBC in January 2026 with record income, strong capital and a diversified franchise. His first strategic test is to replace rate-driven earnings with fee growth and deeper regional customer relationships.
Asia Leaders
Sridhar Ramaswamy Is Building Snowflake’s Agentic Control Plane. Consumption Must Follow
Sridhar Ramaswamy has recast Snowflake around enterprise AI, open data and agentic work. The strategy now has to produce lasting usage, margins and trust.
Asia Leaders
Jay Chaudhry Is Extending Zero Trust to AI Agents. Zscaler Must Keep It Coherent
Jay Chaudhry is adapting Zscaler’s zero-trust architecture to AI agents and data. The company must now turn rapid expansion into a coherent, profitable platform.
Asia Leaders
Loh Boon Chye Made SGX a Multi-Asset Exchange. Singapore’s Equity Market Still Needs More Depth
Loh Boon Chye’s multi-asset strategy has made SGX more resilient and profitable. The unresolved test is whether Singapore can attract more listings, improve liquidity and broaden participation in its own equity market.
Asia Leaders
Raj Subramaniam Has Unbundled FedEx. Now He Must Make the Network Earn Its Keep
FedEx enters its post-Freight era with stronger revenue, lower capital intensity and a simpler structure. The next test is whether Raj Subramaniam can make network reform durable through a volatile trade cycle.
Asia Leaders
Vijay Shekhar Sharma Has Restored Paytm's Profit. Trust Is Still the Scarcer Asset
Paytm's financial recovery gives Vijay Shekhar Sharma a new starting point. Sustainable leadership now depends on institutional trust as much as growth.
Asia Leaders
Peyush Bansal Has Taken Lenskart Public. The Harder Test Is Making Scale Sharper
Lenskart's public-market debut has been followed by strong growth. Peyush Bansal's next task is to make a larger system more precise and capital-efficient.
Asia Leaders
George Kurian Has Made NetApp Relevant to AI. Now Data Readiness Must Pay
George Kurian has moved NetApp from a storage incumbent to an intelligent data infrastructure contender. Fiscal 2027 will show whether AI demand can widen that opportunity.
Asia Leaders
Yuen Kuan Moon Has Repriced Singtel Around Digital Infrastructure. Now the Capital Must Work Harder
Yuen Kuan Moon has moved Singtel beyond a conventional telecoms model by recycling mature assets and scaling digital infrastructure. His next challenge is to turn greater strategic exposure into durable returns without weakening the core networks.
Asia Leaders
Lim Chow Kiat Is Building GIC for a World That Cannot Be Forecast. The Price Is More Selectivity
Lim Chow Kiat is adapting GIC to geopolitical fragmentation, AI disruption and climate risk through granular investing and stronger cross-asset leadership. The strategy depends on liquidity, selectivity and institutional patience.
Asia Leaders
Sanjiv Puri Has Made ITC More Focused. The Consumer Business Must Now Prove It Can Carry More Weight
Sanjiv Puri has sharpened ITC through the hotels demerger and a broader consumer portfolio. The next phase depends on turning double-digit FMCG growth into returns strong enough to reduce reliance on cigarettes.
Asia Leaders
Eric Yuan Has Restored Zoom’s Growth. AI Must Become More Than a Meeting Feature
Eric Yuan has repositioned Zoom as an AI-first system of action. The next test is converting product adoption into sustained enterprise expansion without losing simplicity.
Asia Leaders
Ynon Kreiz Has Turned Mattel Into an IP Company. Tariffs and Margin Pressure Will Test the Sequel
Ynon Kreiz has taken Mattel beyond its turnaround and into a broader entertainment strategy. The next test is whether intellectual property can deliver durable growth without weakening the margins rebuilt under his leadership.
Asia Leaders
Rajesh Magow Is Turning MakeMyTrip From a Booking Site Into India's Travel Operating Layer
Rajesh Magow is using AI and selective acquisitions to widen MakeMyTrip's role. The test is whether one platform can improve every stage of Indian travel.
Asia Leaders
T.V. Narendran Has Improved Tata Steel's Numbers. Now the Green Transition Must Carry Its Own Weight
T.V. Narendran has restored operating momentum across Tata Steel. His next test is making a multi-country green transition produce acceptable returns.