Padma Awards 2026: Dharmendra, Uday Kotak, Rohit Sharma honoured
Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar awarded Padma Shri. Check full list
 "Padma Awards 2026: Dharmendra, Uday Kotak, Rohit Sharma honoured")
The Ministry of Home Affairs on January 25 announced the Padma Awards list for 2026. The Padma Awards, among India’s highest civilian honours, are announced every year on the eve of Republic Day. They are conferred in three categories: Padma Vibhushan for exceptional and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of a higher order; and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field of activity.
The Ministry announced 131 Padma awards for 2026, including five Padma Vibhushan, 13 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri which include two cases in which the award for two individuals is counted as one.
V S Achuthanandan
Former Kerala chief minister and veteran communist leader V S Achuthanandan and actor Dharmendra have been awarded the second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, posthumously for 2026, the Home Ministry said on Sunday.
Family of late Achuthanandan welcomes Padma Vibhushan honour
Family members of late Marxist veteran and former Kerala CM V S Achuthanandan expressed joy over the Padma Vibhushan being conferred on him posthumously.
"The honour given to my father is very valuable, and we are happy to accept it," his son V A Arun Kumar said.
"He was a man who took part in and led the freedom movement. Such honours should happen, and we always hope for them," he said, adding that it is a happy moment for the family.
Playback singer Alka Yagnik, former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, actor Mammootty and banker Uday Kotak are among those awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Former Supreme Court judge KT Thomas for public affairs, Hindustani classical musician and violinist N Rajam in art, and eminent Malayalam journalist P Narayanan in literature and education have been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, it said.
Ad guru Piyush Pandey, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha founder Shibu Soren and BJP leader VK Malhotra have been awarded the Padma Bhushan, while actor and comedian Satish Shah has been awarded the Padma Shri posthumously, it said.
Ninety awardees are women, and the list includes six persons from the category of foreigners, NRI, PIO and OCI, and 16 posthumous awardees, it said.
Harmanpreet Kaur
Tennis legend Vijay Amritraj has been awarded the Padma Bhushan; cricketer Rohit Sharma, women’s cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur and hockey player Savita Punia have been awarded the Padma Shri, the statement said.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s Padma Shri follows a historic year for Indian women’s cricket. In 2025, she captained India to their first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup victory, defeating South Africa in the final. With this win, Kaur became the first Indian captain to lift the Women’s World Cup and only the second Indian skipper overall to claim a World Cup at home, after MS Dhoni.
Former Jawaharlal Nehru University vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, former Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Shashi Shekhar Vempati, and actors R Madhavan and Prosenjit Chatterjee are also among those awarded the Padma Shri, the ministry said.
With inputs from agencies
Here's the full list
Padma Vibhushan
- Shri Dharmendra Singh Deol (Posthumous) — Art — Maharashtra
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Padma Bhushan
- Ms. Alka Yagnik — Art — Maharashtra
- Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari — Public Affairs — Uttarakhand
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- Shri Kallipatti Ramasamy Palaniswamy — Medicine — Tamil Nadu
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- Shri Mammootty — Art — Kerala
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- Dr. Nori Dattatreyudu — Medicine — USA
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- Shri Piyush Pandey (Posthumous) — Art — Maharashtra
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- Shri S K M Maeilanandhan — Social Work — Tamil Nadu
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Padma Shri
- Shri A E Muthunayagam — Science & Engineering — Kerala
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- Shri Anil Kumar Rastogi — Art — Uttar Pradesh
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- Shri Anke Gowda M. — Social Work — Karnataka
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- Ms. Armida Fernandez — Medicine — Maharashtra
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- Shri Arvind Vaidya — Art — Gujarat
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(Disclosure: Entities controlled by the Kotak family have a significant holding in Business Standard Pvt Ltd)