Calvin Christ from Mastercard, New Delhi, clinched the top spot at the 22nd edition of The Hindu businessline Cerebration Corporate Quiz 2026, held at the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai. Preetham Upadhya from Barclays, Chennai, finished as first runner-up, while Zaman Khan from Q Company, Kochi, took the second runner-up position in a nail-biting finish.
The event, presented by JK Tyre, powered by IndianOil and held in association with BSE, saw participation surge to nearly double last year’s 3,400. The other three finalists were Alagarsamy AP from Toyota Financial Services, Bengaluru; Naveen Kumar B from Sai Mitra Constructions, Hyderabad; and Meghashyam Shirodkar from HT Media, Mumbai.
Raghuvir Srinivasan, Editor of businessline, underscored the quiz’s growing stature: “The bl Cerebration Quiz has a well-earned reputation of being one of the most popular and toughest events on the corporate quiz calendar of the country... The popularity of the quiz will be evident from the fact that 6,000+ avid quizzers participated across regional qualification rounds this year.”
The finale unfolded across six rounds: the JK Tyre Passing Round, Wordsmash, JK Tyre Around the Board, Buzz Break, IndianOil Passing Round, and Final Countdown. The two passing rounds carried a distinctive lifeline: contestants could invoke a one-time “immunity” option to double their points to 20 instead of the standard 10, with the negative marking capped at just -5 should they get it wrong.
Christ led from the outset, with the contest tightening considerably toward the end. Khan, who described his strategy as keeping his hand away from the buzzer unless confident, dramatically secured third place by correctly answering the final buzzer question of the quiz. “I wanted to finish in the top three... my strategy was to not hit the buzzer even if there was a chance unless I was going for 70-30,” Khan said.
Upadhya, representing Chennai, noted how fiercely competitive the format was, saying that the contest was so close that every single point mattered right through to the final stages.
Christ, the youngest on the dais, described scoring a perfect 20 out of 20 in the preliminary round too. “This is my first shot at Hindu businessline... scoring 20 out of 20 in prelims, it could have gone either way,” he said, adding that the BSE venue made the experience particularly special.
Quiz Master Venkatesh Srinivasan, representing Nexus Consulting, noted that two of the six rounds were new formats introduced this season. “We thought one of the rounds might actually be too easy but turned out that the round actually tripped up the quizzers on stage,” he said. He also pointed to the camaraderie among the six finalists, all part of India’s wider quizzing community, as a hallmark of the event. “The joy is in playing the sport and playing it fair,” he added.
Distinguished guests at the event included Girish Jain, Executive Director (Corporate Communications & Branding), IndianOil; Zubeen Garg, Chief General Manager (Corporate Communications & Branding), IndianOil; Melbin Verghese, ZSM – West, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd; and Vinayak, RSM – West, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd.
Earlier in the day, the Mumbai regional finale, from which Shirodkar qualified, was also conducted at the same venue. The prelims featured 20 questions, followed by four competitive rounds spanning business history to contemporary corporate and popular culture, drawing strong audience engagement. The Mumbai regional as decided only after a tiebreak reflecting the razor-thin margins that defined the competition at every stage.
Published on February 21, 2026