CEO list in India: CEO email list and company directors

Where directors are recorded, what a CEO list contains, and how to write to the top.

Updated 12 October 2026 · 5 min read

CEO, MD or director: who is who in an Indian company

A list of CEOs in India sounds simple, but titles here follow company law and family ownership as much as job descriptions. Knowing them tells you who signs off a purchase:

Managing director (MD). In most family-owned private companies the MD is the promoter or a family member who runs the business day to day. In a mid-sized engineering firm in Rajkot, the MD decides on almost every large purchase.
Whole-time and executive directors, often the next generation or a professional partner, each looking after sales, finance or a plant.
CEO. Common in startups, listed companies, MNC subsidiaries and professionally run groups. In an MNC's Indian arm the title may be "country head" or "MD, India".
Independent and nominee directors sit on the board but do not run the business, and rarely buy anything for the company.
The other CXOs: finance, marketing, technology and HR heads, who control their own budgets.

In large companies, routine buying sits with a purchase team, not the CEO. Our guide to reaching purchase managers covers that route.

Company directors list: what MCA and others show

Every company director in India has a Director Identification Number (DIN). The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal shows, free, the directors of any company or LLP with their DIN and date of appointment, and for a given DIN, the other companies that person is on. It is the right place to confirm who runs a company before you write.

What it does not give is a way to reach them. Other sources fill parts of the gap:

Annual reports and stock exchange filings of listed companies name the board and key managerial staff.
Company websites often have a leadership page, usually with only a general email address.
LinkedIn shows names and titles, but messages from strangers are easy to ignore.
Chambers of commerce and industry associations publish member directories, mostly for their members.

Our CEO email list and senior management lists

Our CEOs, MDs & Directors list has 38,331 CEOs, managing directors and directors in 224 cities, and almost every row names the person. It works as a CEO email list: 99% of rows have an email address, and 83% a mobile number. 14% also give the exact designation, and 13% the company website. The largest groups are in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. Each list page shows 60 sample rows, so you can judge the fields before you pay.

CEOs and directors by city

One level down

When the CEO is too far from your product, go to the person who owns the budget. Check the mobile and email columns, as they differ from list to list:

Who uses a list of CEOs in India

B2B software and consulting firms with offers that need a yes from the top: ERP, cyber security, cost reduction, ESG reporting.
Wealth managers and portfolio managers looking for promoters with money to invest.
Commercial property, office fit-out firms and premium car dealers.
Corporate gifting firms, ahead of Diwali and the new year, when the MD approves the gift list.
Event organisers, business schools' executive programmes and business publications.
NGOs seeking CSR funds. Companies above the Companies Act's CSR thresholds must spend a share of their profit on CSR, and the board or its CSR committee decides where.
Executive search firms filling senior roles.

Writing to the top: how to get a reply

Check the company first. Confirm on the MCA portal that it is active and that your contact is still a director. Then look for a reason to write now: a new plant, a funding round, an export order, a new office.
Keep the email under 120 words, about their business, with one clear ask. For example: "Mr Rao, your new unit at Sri City starts production this year. We run canteen and housekeeping for factories in the same zone and can share the costs from one of them. Would a 15-minute call next week be useful?"
Treat the assistant as an ally. In larger firms an executive assistant reads the mail first. Ask politely who handles your subject; a referral from the MD's office gets attention further down.
Call mid-morning or early evening, around 10 to 11:30 am or after 6 pm, and keep it short. Owners of smaller firms often answer their own mobile.
Follow up twice, a week apart, then stop, and act at once on any request to be left alone.

Send from a domain set up with SPF, DKIM and DMARC so your mail reaches the inbox, and borrow wording from our B2B cold email templates.

Questions people ask about CEO lists

Is it legal to email company directors in India?

Writing to a business contact about a relevant offer is common, but personal data rules apply. Use the data for a clear purpose, stop when someone asks, and honour removal requests; take advice on how the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its rules apply to you. Anyone can ask us to remove their details.

Can I get the personal number of a big company's CEO?

Rarely, and it seldom helps, because heads of large companies screen their calls closely. A CEO list is most useful for small and mid-sized firms, where the MD often picks up. For large companies, write to the CEO and to the head of the relevant function.

How do I find the directors of one particular company?

Search the company on the MCA portal and open its master data; the directors are listed with their DINs. Our company search guide walks through it, along with GST and Udyam look-ups.