The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, on Monday, presented three Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and sixty-one Padma Shri Awards for the year 2020, at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-II at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in the presence of Vice President of India, Prime Minister, Union Minister for Home Affairs and other dignitaries.
Doyens of the Indian automotive industry Venu Srinivasan, Chairman of TVS Motor Company and Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, were among those conferred with the Padma Bhushan for their distinguished services in the field of trade and industry.
One of the highest civilian awards of the country, the Padma Awards are conferred in three categories such as Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (for distinguished service of high order) and Padma Shri (for distinguished service in any field).
Interestingly, the duo was conferred with the coveted Padma Shri Award for ‘distinguished service in trade and industry,’ in 2010.
Venu Srinivasan
In addition to holding the chairmanship of TVS Motor Company, Srinivasan, the grandson of the TVS Group’s founder, T V Sundaram Iyengar, is also the Chairman of Sundaram-Clayton Group. Besides, he serves on the board of several companies, including Tata Sons, TVS & Sons and Cummins India. He is also Vice Chairman of Tata Trusts. Besides, he is actively involved in Srinivasan Services Trust, which works in over 5,000 villages in the country.
Srinivasan’s conviction for quality made Sundram Clayton the first auto component company to get Deming Prize in India, followed by TVS Motor Company, which became the first two-wheeler company in the world to get this coveted award.
Anand Mahindra
Anand Mahindra is also the Executive Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra and the Non-Executive Chairman of Tech Mahindra.
Mahindra group is present in varied industrial segments, including aerospace, agribusiness, aftermarket, automotive, components, construction equipment, defence, energy, farm equipment, finance and insurance, industrial equipment, information technology, leisure and hospitality, logistics, real estate and retail.
The grandson of Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Co-founder of Mahindra & Mahindra, Anand Mahindra has served on several influential bodies globally, including the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York and the International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development Board.
Mahindra is currently on the board of Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency. In addition, he was appointed ‘Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honour by the President of the French Republic (2016).
Mahindra is an incisive business commentator and humanitarian with over eight million followers on Twitter. Among his many social change initiatives is the Nanhi Kali programme, which has provided over 330,000 underprivileged girls access to high-quality education for the last two decades.