India, Dec. 20 -- Inc42's annual Newsmakers list is back, putting the spotlight on the founders and operators who grabbed the headlines in 2025. Usually, we focus on stakeholders across the ecosystem from policymakers to investors, but this time around our choices are startups founders - with just the one exception as you will see.

The usual names - Deepinder Goyal, Aadit Palicha, Vijay Shekhar Sharma among them - obviously made the cut, not just because of their profile, but also because this was a year where they had a significant role in setting the narrative or disrupting it.

And of course with Indian startups making a beeline for the stock exchanges, we also have a fair share of founders who took their companies public. The likes o...