Several industry captains on this year's honours list

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former diplomat Brajesh Mishra and 13th Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar were today chosen for this year’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.“The only thing I can say is that I am deeply honoured,” Kelkar told Business Standard.

A large number of industrialists, bankers and entrepreneurs have been chosen for the Padma Bhushan. Among them are ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar, Infosys Technologies CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan, ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Chairman K Anji Reddy, Max India CMD Analjit Singh of Max, NIIT Chairman Rajendra S Pawar, GVK Chairman Gunapati V Krishna Reddy and HCL Infosystems Chairman Ajai Chowdhry.

“I am thankful to the government for this recognition. I am also thankful to the leadership and my colleagues at Infosys, without whose support I would not have got this award,” said Gopalakrishnan.

Farida Group Chairman M Rafeeque Ahmed and Orchid Chemicals CMD Kailasam Raghavendra Rao have been awarded the Padma Shri.

Unlike last year, when the inclusion of hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal in the list of awardees caused some red faces in government when it was found that he had been a defaulter to some Indian banks, this time most of the awardees have a solid background of work.