These Entrepreneurs Bestowed with Highly Recognised Awards on 71st Republic Day of India

In a developing nation like India, entrepreneurs play a significant role in uplifting the economy. The entrepreneurs not only generate the job, in turn, facilitating in increasing the country’s employment rate but also increment inflow of foreign currencies and exports.  

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Like large, established corporations in India, entrepreneurial companies in India can play a critical role in developing and deploying Winning Leap solutions. Indeed, the large Indian companies of tomorrow will emerge from the entrepreneurial sector of today. A groundswell of entrepreneurial energy in India has sparked recent, well-publicized successes in the e-commerce sector alone, and (our research suggests) the potential for similarly entrepreneurial growth in virtually all of India’s sectors.” 

On 71st Republic Day of India, the country’s government bestowed 141 highly recognized awards to the Indian citizens for their extraordinary contributions in varied spheres. Amid those awardees, eleven were the Indian entrepreneurs, who were honored with Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, in the Trade and Industry category, reported Swarajyamag.  

1. Anand Mahindra Bestowed with Padma Bhushan 

Anand Mahindra, who is a renowned billionaire entrepreneur in India, heads the Mumbai-based conglomerate company, Mahindra Group. The conglomerate firm works in varied spheres--aerospace, automotive, defense, and finance and insurance, among others.

Besides this, Mahindra is a humanitarian and leads the Nanhi Kali programme, which was founded in 1996.

2. Venu Srinivasan Received Padma Bhusan 

Venu Srinivasan, who is a famous industrialist, heads TVS Group and its subsidiaries, TVS Motor Company and Sundaram-Clayton Group. Through the achievements of the cited organizations, Srinivasan proved the mettle of Indian corporations in the international market. 

Further, Srinivasan leads Srinivasan Services Trust (SST) that works in 5,000 Indian villages. Under this programme, the company participates in overall development activities associated with Indian villages ranging from education to environmental development.

3. Sanjeev Bhikchandani Honoured with Padma Shri 

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, who is the Indian Industrialist, administers Info Edge, which operates the oldest Indian job portal,Naukri.com. He is also the co-founder of the academic institution, Ashoka University. Besides this, he oversees subsidiaries of Info Edge--99acres.com, Shiksha.com, and Jeevansathi.com--and has pumped money in several over $1 billion worth startups such as Zomato and PolicyBazaar. 

4. Jai Prakash Agarwal Conferred Padma Shri 

Jai Prakash Agarwal presently heads Surya Roshni Limited, which is based in New Delhi. The company manufactures fans, lighting, LED, Steel, Kitchen Appliances and PVC Pipes across the globe. More so, it administers a social NGO, Surya Foundation, which was founded in 1992 by Agarwal. The NGO aims to promote social awareness among millennials.

5. Gafur Bilakhia Honoured with Padma Shri

Gafur Bilakhia, who follows the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and preaches them, is an entrepreneur who heads a conglomerate company, Bilakhia Group of Companies in Gujarat. 

6. Bharat Goenka Received Padma Shri

Bharat Goenka, who heads Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd, established his company to facilitate businessmen in handling their enterprises better. With his company, he gave an upthrust to technology to help the entrepreneurs in operating their business. 

7. Chewang Motup Honoured with Padma Shri

Chewang Motup, who owns Rimo Expeditions, is the prime organizer of expeditions and treks to the Northernmost region of India, covering Himalaya and East Karakoram, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, and neighbouring country, Nepal, Tibet, and North-eastern state--Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh and other states in the region. More so, he organises Ladakh Marathon, which initiates in 2012, and deemed the toughest marathon in the globe. With his business, Motup gives a rich exposure of the aesthetic side of India to the trekkers. 

8. Vijay Sankeshwar Bestowed with Padma Shri 

Vijay Sankeshwar, which is a renowned industrialist, heads the largest logistics company, VRL Group in India. More so, it is well-known for owning the biggest fleet of commercial vehicles in the country.

9. Nemnath Jain Awarded Padma Shri

Nemnath Jain, who chairs Prestige Group of Industries, was honored by the Indian government for his contribution in varied spheres--social services, agriculture field, and education development, to name a few. Furthermore, he is called as Soya Man of India.

10. Romesh Wadhwani Honored with Padma Shri 

Romesh Wadhwani, who heads the American conglomerate company, Symphony Technology Group, focuses mainly on artificial intelligence (AI) as according to Forbes, nine out of ten subsidiary companies work in the AI sphere.    

11. Prem Watsa Honoured with Padma Shri

Prem Watsa, who has the Indo-Canadian origin, is famously known as Warren Buffett of Canada due to his vast affluence. He heads financial services company, Fairfax Financial Holdings, which was founded in 1985.

These entrepreneurs were awarded one of the highest awards for their contribution to the Indian trade and industry. Their extraordinary performance not only helped them earn a name in the industry but also attributed to the welfare of the Indian economy as a whole.