SUMMARY
This year, 118 eminent personalities across various fields were awarded Padma Awards
11 industrialists include Sanjeev Bikchandani, Anand Mahindra, Venu Srinivasan and others
Bikchandani dedicates his award to the Indian startup ecosystem
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The Indian government on the occasion of 71st Republic Day on Sunday (January 26) honoured Padma Awards to 11 industrialists and social entrepreneurs out of 118 eminent personalities across fields of art, trade and industry, literature and education, sports, entertainment, public affairs, and social work among others.
Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikchandani, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, TVS Group chairman Venu Srinivasan were among the names to be awarded Padma Awards for their contribution to the field of trade and industry. The list also included other prominent industry leaders Fairfax Financial Holdings founder and chairman Prem Watsa, transport giant VRL Group chairman Vijay Sankeshwar, and Tally Solutions MD Bharat Goenka among 11 awardees in the category of trade and industry.
In a Twitter post, Bikhchandani shared his excitement on receiving the honour. Bikhchandani is the founder of Info Edge, and runs multiple internet businesses like Naukri.com, Jeevansathi.com, Shiksha.com and 99acres.com others. Info Edge has invested in startups such as Ustraa, Shopkirana, Zomato, Policybazaar among others. In his Twitter post, the entrepreneur said that he is proud to represent the startup community on the list.
Honoured and privileged to find my name in the Padma Shri list.
While I have been given this award the truth is I owe it to the joint efforts and support of so many other people – colleagues, friends and family.
Proud to represent the start up entrepreneur community in this list— Sanjeev Bikhchandani (@sbikh) January 25, 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the list of Padma awards on Twitter. In the post, he congratulated all the awardees and lauded their “exceptional contribution to the society, nation and humanity.”
Replying to PM Modi’s tweet, Mahindra humbly gave the credit to his entire team.
Sir, ?????? for recognising our Rise philosophy—trying to do well AND do good. And there’s an old saying: If you see a turtle on top of a fence, you know for sure it didn’t get there on its own! I stand on the shoulders of all Mahindraites. I will convey your compliments to them! https://t.co/VzckGJGEzE
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 25, 2020
In addition to this, the awardees in the trade and industry included Symphony Technology Group founder and chairman Romesh T. Wadhwani; Surya Roshni chairman Jai Prakash Agarwal, Bilakhia Holdings chairman Gafurbhai M. Bilakhia, Rimo Expeditions founder Chewang Motup Goba, and Prestige Group chairman Nemnath Jain.
Earlier this month, PM Modi met industry leaders to discuss ways to propel India’s economic growth amid the slowdown, nationwide unrest and rising poverty statistics. At the meeting, he had met Mahindra and Srinivasan to discuss ways to enhance the business ecosystem in India.
The meeting was also attended by other business honchos like Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani among others to discuss the state of the Indian economy and the need to create more job opportunities.
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