MUMBAI: Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, have been chosen for the prestigious 2016 ‘Asian of the Year’ by Straits Times of Singapore as part of a group called the ‘The Disruptors’. Flipkart claims to be India’s largest e-commerce marketplace with over with over 60% market share of mobile commerce.

The Asian of the Year 2016 awards recognises entrepreneurs “operating at the frontiers of technology's interface with business” who have launched companies that have disrupted traditional business model for the benefit of end consumers. The other disruptors include the founders of Tencent, Go-Jek, Grab and Razer.

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, in a joint statement, stated: “It validates our commitment to creating a world-class internet company that is transforming the lives of Indians by making a better quality of life both accessible and affordable to them."

Awarded since 2012, the ‘Asian of the Year’ award recognises “a person or people who have contributed significantly to improving lives at home or in the wider region”. In 2014, the award was given to India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and, in 2015, it was awarded posthumously to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father.

According to the award citation for 2016, The Disruptors have "made the inevitable march of technology easier to understand and accept by millions of people concerned about their old ways of life yielding to an unfamiliar new one."

2016 has been a year of accolades for Flipkart. Earlier this year, Time Magazine put Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal on the list of 100 Most Influential People in the world. In September 2016, Flipkart has emerged as the 'E-commerce company of the year' in a nationwide consumer study conducted by Business World Group in association with Nielsen. Flipkart also emerged as the top-ranked Indian brand in the Ipsos study of India's most influential brands in April.